No doubt Fischer, his teammates and the spectators were expecting and easy win for Fischer especially since he had the white pieces. That's not to imply that Munoz was a "weak" player!
According to Chessmetrics estimated ratings, Fischer's rating (a little over 2700) put him in the world's top ten. Munoz' estimated rating of about 2486 didn't even put him in the world's top 200 rated players. Still, a rating just shy of 2500 meant Munoz was a pretty good player, probably near IM strength.
It's possible that Munoz and his teammates were not so pessimistic about his chances as everybody else. Remember, in those days there weren't any databases or even Informators, the renown Yugoslav books with about 600 games that were published twice a year. So, there was no way for Fischer to have known of two interesting previously played games by Munoz in which he had beaten Bent Larsen and Fredrik Olafsson in the Student World Team Championship in Iceland in 1957, or the draw he achieved against William Lombardy in the same event. The Ecuadorian master did have some impressive scalps!
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| Cesar Munoz |
During the game, Fischer had to work hard in a very complicated game that he ended up losing. They say that as the game progressed more and more spectators and players approached the table and the silence was heavy. Fischer was described as pale when he resigned and signed the scoresheet.
Fischer had never lost against a Dragon although he had yielded one draw. Besides that, in the 1959 Interzonal at Portoroz, Fischer defeated Bent Larsen in a Dragon that was good enough to make it into My 60 Memorable Games.
Cesar Munoz had a relatively short chess career; it lasted from 1951 to 1969 when he abandoned chess to dedicate himself to other activities, namely President of the National Sports Federation of Ecuador and the Ecuadorian Olympic Committee, where he developed an excellent program.
In the following game Munoz adopted the Dragon Variation which at the time was considered highly questionable because of the Yugoslav Attack. At move 16 he put his Queen in a precarious position and before Fischer realized that he must proceed with caution, Munoz had obtained a winning attack.
[Event "Leipzig Olympiad Qualifying B Group"]
[Site "Leipzig GDR"]
[Date "1960.10.18"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Robert Fischer"]
[Black "Cesar Munoz"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B77"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "1960.??.??"]
{Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5.
Nc3 g6 {At the time this game was played the Dragon Variation had almost
disappeared because no reliable defense had been found to counter the Yugoslav
Attack. Fischer didn't have a very high opinion of the Dragon. In commenting
on Fischer-Larsen, Portoroz 1958 in My 60 Memorable Games he gave his winning
formula..."Pry open the h-file, sac, sac... mate!" In this game his formula
didn't work!} 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 a6 10. Bb3 Qa5 (10... Nxd4
11. Bxd4 b5 12. O-O-O Bd7 13. h4 a5 14. h5 a4 15. Bd5 Rc8 {White is much
better. Klein,D (2366)-Mellema,A (2131) Amsterdam 2011}) (10... Na5 {is likely
the best move here.} 11. Bh6 Bxh6 12. Qxh6 e5 13. Nde2 b5 14. Qd2 b4 15. Na4
Nxb3 16. axb3 a5 17. O-O-O Ra6 18. h4 Be6 19. h5 Qe7 20. g4 Nd7 {In this
complicated position the chances are equal. Hou,Y (2603)-Nakamura,H (2769)
Wijk aan Zee 2013}) 11. O-O-O Bd7 (11... Rd8 12. Kb1 Ne8 13. h4 h5 14. Rhg1 Nc7
15. g4 hxg4 16. fxg4 Nb5 17. Ndxb5 axb5 {White has a winning attack. Mazzoni,
G-O'Hare,E Tel Aviv 1964}) 12. Kb1 Rac8 13. g4 {This is somewhat impatient. At
the time the usual continuation was 13.Nxc6} (13. Nxc6 {and on either 13...
Bxc6 or 13...Rxc6 then 14.Nd5 is very good for white.} bxc6 14. Nd5 Qxd2 (14...
Qd8 15. Bb6 Qe8 16. Nc7 Rxc7 (16... Qd8 17. e5 dxe5 18. Nd5 Qe8 19. Nxf6+ Bxf6
20. Qxd7 {with what is a likely a winning advantage.}) 17. Bxc7 Qc8 18. Bb6 {
White is clearly better.}) 15. Nxe7+ Kh8 16. Rxd2 {is good for white.}) 13...
Ne5 14. Bh6 (14. Nd5 {would have been somewhat better. After} Qd8 15. Nxf6+
Bxf6 16. h4 Nc4 17. Bxc4 Rxc4 18. Ne2 a5 19. h5 {White has a strong attack.})
14... Nc4 15. Bxc4 Rxc4 16. Nb3 {This is an improvement over 16.Nd5 which was
usual at the time.} (16. Nd5 Qxd2 (16... Qd8 {This not as good as it was in
the previous variation because after} 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Nxf6 {black can't
recapture with the B and must further weaken his position.} exf6 19. h4 {
with what should prove to be a decisive advantage.}) 17. Nxe7+ Kh8 18. Bxg7+
Kxg7 19. Rxd2 Re8 20. Nd5 {and white has won a P.}) 16... Qe5 {This places the
Q in a rather precarious position, but at the same time it can take part in
the activities on the Q-side. No doubt Fischer would have preferred to have
seen the tame retreat 16...Qe8} 17. h4 {At the moment the chance of making
headway with the advance h5 is not possible. Also, there is no way of
profitting by trapping black's Q, so white's best chance is to tend to the
threats that are looming on the c-file.} (17. Bxg7 {was much better.} Kxg7 18.
g5 Nh5 19. Nd5 e6 20. Ne3 Rc6 21. Na5 Rc7 22. Ng4 {White has the advantage on
both flanks.}) (17. f4 {Does not trap the Q and after} Bxh6 18. fxe5 Bxd2 19.
Nxd2 Rxc3 20. exf6 Rc7 21. fxe7 Re8 {white can claim no advantage.}) 17... Rfc8
{This pins the N and creates the possibility of ...Rxc2+, but Munoz misses a
promising sacrifice of the exchange.} (17... Rxc3 18. bxc3 Bxg4 19. Bxg7 (19.
fxg4 Nxe4 20. Qd4 Nxc3+ {with a won position for black.} 21. Ka1 Qxd4 22. Rxd4
Bxh6) 19... Kxg7 20. fxg4 Nxe4 21. Qd4 Nxc3+ 22. Kb2 Nxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Qxd4+ 24.
Rxd4 {In this materially unbalanced position both sides would have chances.})
18. Bf4 {Fischer is hoping to exchange h-Pawns, but once again he does not
appreciate the danger of allowing black to keep his dark squared B!} (18. Bxg7
{keeps the advantage after} Kxg7 19. Rhe1 Rxc3 20. bxc3 Be6 21. f4 {and white
is better.}) 18... Qe6 19. h5 {It would have been better to get rid of the B
with 19.Bh6} b5 {[%mdl 32] Well played! Of course opening up the K-side with
19...gxh5 would be an awful choice. Now black's counterplay becomes
significant.} 20. hxg6 fxg6 (20... hxg6 {is wrong.} 21. Bh6 Bh8 22. Qh2 {
and black is in grave danger.} b4 23. Bg5 Bg7 24. Nd5 Rxc2 25. Nxf6+ exf6 26.
Qh7+ Kf8 {with what should prove to be a winning advantage.} 27. Bf4) 21. Bh6
Bh8 22. e5 {[%mdl 8192] Fischer is playing fire by playing for a win, but
doing so is very dangerous.} (22. Qh2 {This does not work with the file closed.
} b4 23. Nd5 Nxd5 24. Rxd5 Rxc2 {and white must abandon his attack and go on
the defensive leaving black with the advantage. The best line being...} 25. Rd2
Rxd2 26. Bxd2 Qf7 27. Bxb4 Be6 28. Nc1 Rb8 {Black is much better.}) (22. Rc1 {
adding extra protection to the c-Pawn was suggested by Hans Kmoch and the
suggestion is confirmed by Stockfish.} Qf7 23. Ne2 {The extra protection
allows this N to get into play.} Be6 (23... a5 {This is interesting!} 24. Qxa5
Ra4 25. Qd2 Be6 26. Ned4 Bc4 27. Nf5 b4 (27... gxf5 28. gxf5 Qe8 29. Rcg1+ Kf7
{with unclear complications.}) 28. Ne3 Rca8 29. Nxc4 Qxc4 30. Qd3 Qf7 31. c3
bxc3 32. Qxc3 Rxa2 {black is better.}) 24. Ned4 {equals.}) 22... b4 {Black is
winning.} (22... dxe5 23. g5 b4 24. gxf6 bxc3 25. Qxd7 Qxd7 26. Rxd7 Bxf6 27.
bxc3 Rxc3 {White has won a piece although the position is tricky.}) 23. exf6 (
23. Ne2 Rxc2 24. Qxb4 Qxe5 {leaves white's pieces scattered and uncoordinated.}
) 23... bxc3 24. Qh2 {The dream of attacking on the h-file is just that...a
dream. As Kmoch observed, there is no continuaion of any promise.} Qxf6 25. Bg5
Qf7 26. Qe2 cxb2 27. Qxe7 Qxe7 28. Bxe7 Rxc2 29. Rxd6 {Munoz demonstrates
flawless technique in bringing home the win.} Ba4 {[%cal Oc2c1]} 30. Bg5 Rf2
31. Be3 Rxf3 32. Bd4 Bxb3 33. axb3 Bxd4 34. Rxd4 Rxb3 35. Rd2 Rcb8 36. Rd7 Ra3
{Fischer resigned.} 0-1
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