It was Fischer’s second attempt and this time he set a record by winning the title at the age of 13 making him the youngest player ever to win the title. Fischer placed 20th at Lincoln, Nebraska the previous year.
Fischer, a member of the Manhattan Chess Club, was a dark horse and started off with a first round draw with Arthur Feuerstein who was one of the favorites, but then he won three in a row.
After the fourth round Fischer was tied with George Baylor at 3.5-0.5. In round 5 Fischer defeated Baylor to take sole possession of first. Charles Henin was tied for second with with Sydney Geller while Baylor, Thomas Levine and Kenneth Blake tied for fourth place.
In round 6 Fischer lost to Henin, while Feuerstein, Geller and Baylor won. The standings were now 1) Heinin 2-3) Geller, Fischer and Baylor 4) Feuerstein.
Geller and Baylor lost in round 7 while Fischer, Henin, and Feuerstein won. The standings were now 1) Heinin, 2) Fischer, 3-4) Feuerstein and Geller, 5-6) Baylor and Kenneth Blake, 7-9) Thomas Levine, David Kerman and Frank Jobin.
In round 8 Heinin, Geller and Baylor drew while Feuerstein, Fischer and Levine won and the lead again shifted. Fischer and Henin were tied for first with 6.5-1.5, Feuerstein had 6-2 and Geller 5.5-2.5. They were followed by Baylor, Levine, Blake and Jobin at 5.0-3.0.
Henin faltered again in round 9 drawing with Jobin while Fischer, Feuerstein, and Geller won. The standings were then: 1) Fischer (7.5), 2-3) Heinin and Feuerstein (7.0), 4) Geller (6.5), 5-6) Kerman and Jobin (5.5), 7-10) Baylor. Levine, Blake, and Sanford Greene (5.0) and 11) Joseph Tamargo (4.5)
In the final round Fischer won on adjudication over Kerman. Feuerstein, Baylor, Levine and Tamargo won while Geller, Greene and Blake drew. Among the leaders, besides Kermin, Jobin also lost.
Surprisingly, there was only one forfeit (Charles Weldon to William Butler in the second round) and nobody withdrew. An examination of the crosstable reveals a lot of names that will be familiar to older players as many of them went on to become prominent local players.
The following is an amazing game by Fischer where his tripled Pawns are offset by open files for his Rooks. At the time of the tournament Grossguth had an Expert’s rating of 2022.
According to a post on Chessgames.com supposedly by his oldest daughter, Carl Grossguth (December 6, 1935 – April 18, 1962) died of suicide. However, that is in conflict with the following clipping from the Boston Globe:
[Event "Boylston Chess Club"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1960.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carl Grossguth"]
[Black "George Bart"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[PlyCount "43"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d4 b5 6. dxe5 bxa4 7. exf6 Qxf6 8.O-O Bc5 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Bg5 Qg6 11. Qd5 Ba7 12. Rad1 Bb7 13. Qxd7 Ne5 14. Nxe5 Qxg5 15. Qxc7 Bc8 16. Nc6 Bh3 17. Qg3 Qxg3 18. hxg3 Bg4 19. Rd2 h6 20. b3 Bb6 21. Nd5 Ba7 22. Nc7 1-0
Carl Grossguth - Robert J. Fischer
Result: 0-1
Site: Philadelphia, PA USA
Date: 1956
Sicilian Najdorf
[...] 1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.♘xd4 ♘f6 5.♘c3 a6 This game was the first one in which Fischer played the Najdorf. It may have been his first game ever to be published when John W. Collins annotated it the August 20, 1956 issue of Chess Life in his in his Games By USCF Members column. 6.♗e2 This is the Opocensky Variation remains one of the most commonly played lines. It is preferred by players who want a quieter game than the fireworks that often occur in other lines. In the 1950s and 1960s more aggressive variations such as 6.Bf4 (Fischer-Sozin), 6. Bg5 (Main Line) and 6. f4 (Amsterdam Variation) were favored.\ In the early 1970s Karpov began to make his mark with long-term positional ideas in the Opocensky involving the strategic control of d5. The in the 1980s and 1990s, Kasparov demonstrated that black could maintain excellent chances against the Q-side and center. Against the Opocensky black aims to take the initiative with the thematic ... b5 and ...d5 breaks. 6...e5 7.♘b3 ♗e7 8.♗e3 This is rarely played today. Collins suggested either 8.O-O (almost always played today) or 8.Bg5 (rare, but good) and the even more rare 8.Qd3 as slightly better. 8...O-O 9.♕d2 White prepares to castle long, but 9.O-O and 10.f4 is simpler and stronger. (Collins) . Also, interesting is 9.g4?! (9.g4 ♗e6 10.g5 ♘fd7 11.♕d2 with an interesting position.) 9...b5 10.f3
10.a4 ♗b7 11.axb5 axb5 12.♖xa8 ♗xa8 13.♗xb5 ♘xe4 14.♘xe4 ♗xe4 15.f3 Breyther,R (2325)-Movsziszian,K (2485)/ Correspondence 1993. This sharp position was eventually drawn.
10.♘d5 can lead to some interesting play after 10...♘xd5 11.♕xd5 ♕c7 12.♕xa8 ♘c6 13.O-O ♗b7 14.♕xf8 ♗xf8 with a very unclear position.
10...♗e6 11.g4 White is unaware that he needs to forestall black's next move (...d5) and to that end he should play either 11...O-O-O or 11...Rd1
11.♖d1 ♘bd7 12.O-O ♕c7 13.g4 as in Serra Azul da Fonseca,L (2062)-Gauche,C (2261)/Dois Irmaos BRA 2011.
11.O-O-O ♗c4 12.g4 ♗xe2 13.♘xe2 a5 14.g5 Conti,J (2063)-Guerrero Forero,R (2192)/Bogota 2010
11...d5 Black has equalized and achieved his strategical objective; he also threatens ...d5. 12.g5 This allows black a strong attack. Better was 12.exd5 (12.exd5 ♘xd5 13.♘xd5 ♕xd5 14.♕xd5 ♗xd5 15.O-O-O with approximate equality.) 12...d4 13.gxf6 ♗xf6
13...dxe3 isn't as good. 14.♕xd8 ♗xd8 15.fxg7 ♗h4 16.♔d1 ♖d8 17.♗d3 ♗f2 and black's advantage is minimal.
14.O-O-O Best. (14.♗xd4 exd4 15.♘d5 ♗h4 Strongly favors black.) 14...dxe3 15.♕xd8
15.♕xe3 would be a bad boo-boo. 15...♗g5 16.♖xd8 ♗xe3 17.♖d2 ♖d8 18.♖hd1 ♘c6 19.♗d3 ♘b4 with a winning advantage.
15...♖xd8 Here white may want to consider easing his defensive burden somewhat by exchanging Rs and playing Rhd1. 16.♘c5 ♘c6 A genius move. Collins commented that Botvinnik had often shown that he had no dogmatic aversion to doubled Ps and here Fischer shows none to tripled Ps which control six important squares. 17.♘xe6 Collins passed over this move in silence. Theoretically there's not much choice, but 17.Rxd8+ would have put both players to a serious test!
17.♖xd8 ♖xd8 18.♘xa6 b4 19.♘d5 ♗xd5 20.exd5 ♖xd5 21.h4 to stop ...Bg5 21...b3 22.axb3 ♘d4 23.♖h2 (23.♗d3 ♖a5 wins at once ) 23...♖a5 24.♔b1 ♘xe2 25.♖xe2 ♖xa6 26.♖xe3 ♗xh4 27.♖xe5 g6
17...fxe6 White's position is strategically lost and now he makes a mistake that loses the exchange. 18.♖hf1 (18.♖xd8 ♖xd8 19.♗d3 ♗g5 and white's position is still losing.) 18...b4 19.♘a4 ♘d4 20.♖xd4 this is neither better nor worse than alternatives. (20.♖de1 ♖ac8 21.c3 ♗h4 and white is getting slaughtered.) 20...♖xd4 21.♗d3 ♖ad8 22.♔d1 ♗g5 The threat is 23...Rxd3+ 24.cxd3 Rxd3+ followed by ...Rd2 or ...e3-e2 with a won ending. 23.♔e2 This fails to parry the threat, but there was really nothing better. (23.♘c5 ♗f4 and white is nearly paralyzed.) 23...♗f4
23...♖xd3 was still possible. 24.cxd3 ♖c8 and the threat of ...Rc2+ is fatal to white. 25.♖e1 ♖c2 26.♔f1 ♖f2 27.♔g1 ♗f4 and white hopeless.
24.h3 ♖c8 (24...♖xd3 Once again, this is crushing. 25.cxd3 ♖c8 etc.) 25.♖d1 ♖c6 26.b3 ♔f7 White is almost in Zugzwang. 27.h4 ♔f6 28.h5 a5 29.♘b2 ♖xd3 Finally. Grossguth resigned. A brilliant game by Fischer! (29...♖xd3 30.♘c4 ♖xd1 31.♔xd1 ♔g5 mops up.) Powered by Aquarium
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