Dutch GM Jan Timman was an excellent analyst and his book Curacao 1962 - The Battle of Minds That Shook the Chess World is a great work, but many of the games were lightly annotated, as was this one, and in some cases he did not give any analysis to support his statements. Benko also went over this game in front of an audience ans some of his analysis was also faulty.
The days are long gone when simply having a title was sufficient to intimidate us non-GMs into believing that a move was good or bad just because they said so! That does not to take anything away from their accomplishments though because they are miles ahead of the rest of us in their chess skill! These days though a good engine can see more in a few seconds than they ever could.
In the tournament Benko was involved in a couple of controversies. This was the tournament where he slapped Fischer in an argument over the use of the one second, Arthur Bisguier, that was available to both of the US players. Benko was also involved in a brouhaha involving Paul Keres.
Benko played a decisive role in destroying Keres' chances of winning the tournament. Keres had beaten Benko 4-0 in the 1959 candidates and in Curacao he was on his way to repeating the performance. Then came the 20th round (out of 28).
Keres slipped up and came within a hair of losing, but managed to escape with a win in a mutual time scramble. Benko, right when he had a perpetual check, knocked over a couple of pieces and exceeded the time limit while putting them back. That was the bare bones story, but it wasn't so simple.
Keres had been the hunt for first place for the whole tournament and his slide began with the Benko game. In horrible time pressure Benko incorrectly sacrificed a piece which left him with nothing better than the perpetual check. With only seconds left on his clock, Benko made the move that forced the perpetual, but his piece was sitting slightly off the square. After he made the move and punched his clock, Keres immediately punched it back and told Benko, ”Adjust your pieces!” Surprised, Benko let his clock run a second or two before desperately trying to adjust his pieces, but it was too late; his flag fell and he was forfeited.
Although angry, Benko didn't complain and wrote that he thought to himself that he was going to extract revenge by beating Keres when they met again. Then came their final game. It was one of the most important in Keres' career because he was still in the hunt for first. A draw would allow him to conduct a playoff against Petrosian to see who played Botvinnik for the World Championship; a win would make him the outright challenger.
In that final game between the two, the game was adjourned with Benko a bit better. Benko wrote in Pal Benko: My Life, Games, and Compositions that Petrosian and Geller secretly came to him with an offer to help him win the adjourned game against Keres. Benko claimed that he was disgusted by their actions and told them the game would be a draw with best play and demanded that they leave. However, when play resumed Keres made a mistake and lost. That was Benko's story.
In his book Timman told it a little differently. Timman reported that it was Korchnoi and Averbach (one of the Soviet contingent) who had paid Benko the visit and given him some analysis. Benko didn't really need their analysis because he was already one of the world's foremost endgame experts.
Then came the last round and Petrosian was white against Filip who was mired in last place while Keres was playing Fischer. Everything was in Petrosian's favor and it was generally conceded that he would be the winner, but he could only draw with Filip and Keres yielded a draw to Fischer.
There was one game left, Geller vs. Benko, and if Geller won he would tie with Keres for second place. In trying to win, Geller overreached and adjourned in a lost position. Play resumed the next day and Benko, again in time pressure, had to make three moves before the end of the time control and ended up losing on time.
As a result, Keres had to play a match (which he won) with Geller to determine second place. Later, Keres claimed that Benko had deliberately lost, in Keres's words, "just to screw me.” Benko claimed that he would never had done such a thing.
[Event "Curacao Candidates"]
[Site "Willemstad CUW"]
[Date "1962.06.14"]
[Round "22"]
[White "Robert Fischer"]
[Black "Pal Benko"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "1962.05.02"]
{C11: French Defense} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 {Fischer always had
trouble against the French defense. In fact, he suffered his first loss in a
US Championship when Edmar Mednis created a sensation by defeating Fischer and
he used the French to do it. Earlier in this tournament Fischer had played the
classical 4. Bg5 against Petrosian and Benko, but didn’t get any advantage,
so here he tries something different.} Nfd7 5. f4 {Steinitz introduced this
move with the idea of supporting the e5 Pawn.} c5 6. dxc5 {Nobody plays this
any more. The preferred move is 6.Nf3} Bxc5 7. Qg4 {This move used to be
played by Tarrasch and Janowski back in their day. The fact that it is still
considered best shows that they understood something about chess.} (7. Nf3 {
Looks good, but it does mot worl out well after} Nc6 8. Bd3 a6 {and it’s
hard to suggest a good plan for white.}) 7... O-O 8. Bd3 f5 $15 (8... Qe7 9.
Nf3 f6 10. Qh4 g6 11. exf6 Nxf6 {White stands slightly better. Gulamali,K
(2307)-Kaufman,L (2360) Internet Chess Club INT 2012}) 9. Qh3 Bxg1 {What’s
with this rather surprising move?! You have to back to Monte Carlo, 1901 where
Alapin played it against Janowski. Black’s move seemingly makes no sense
because he trades a developed piece for an undeveloped one. The idea is that
black will get very active piece play.} (9... Nc6 10. Nf3 Be7 11. Be3 Nc5 12.
Nd4 Nxd3+ 13. cxd3 {is equal. Ovetchkin,R (2485)-Baranyai,S (2270) Rotterdam
1998}) 10. Rxg1 Nc5 {[%mdl 32]} 11. Bd2 {One annotator claimed that Fischer
was likely familiar with the Janowski - Alapin game and since white didn’t
get anything special with 11.g4 Fischer had prepared this as an improvement.
Fischer had a lot of knowledge of old games, but it might be a stretch to say
he was familiar with that game. A more logical explanation might be that
Fischer simply understood the position and realized that a sudden unsupported
attack won’t lead to anything, so he stuck with the basics...develop your
pieces.} (11. g4 {Aggressive and quite playable.} Nxd3+ 12. cxd3 Nc6 13. gxf5
Rxf5 14. Bd2 a6 15. O-O-O {with equal chances. Janowski,D-Alapin,S Monte Carlo
1901}) 11... Nc6 {There is nothing wrong with 11...Nxd3+ White could choose
either 12. Qxd3 or 12.cxd3 and again, neither side has much to work with. Also,
because the idea of black’s 9th move is active piece play he does not want
to exchange his only developed piece.} 12. Nb5 {This move was soundly
criticized for being too optimistic and 12.O-O-O with equality was recommended
instead. Is that a correct assessment? Stockfish does, indeed, recommend 12.
O-O-O and evaluates the position as ever so slightly in white’s favor and
after 12. Nb5 the evaluation drops a couple of hundredths, so you would think
there just can’t be that much difference in the two moves. Besides, Fischer
gets his N on the excellent square d6. Sometimes GMs take into account nuances
that engines don’t!} Qb6 13. O-O-O Bd7 {Threatens 14...Nxe5} 14. Nd6 {
One commentator observed that this looks like an ideal square for the N, but
it’s not because on d6 it has no effect on the game whereas if it was back
on c3 it could be used to defend against black’s attack that is now probably
near decisive. Engines think the position is almostr deafd equal.} (14. Kb1 {
A pass to demonstrate the threat.} Nxe5 15. fxe5 Bxb5) 14... Na4 {It was
suggested that the point to this is that white can’t play the natural
defense 15.b3...or so it was thought before engines. GM Jan Timman called it
“vicious.” While it is the best move, it’s hardly vicious.} 15. Bb5 (15.
b3 {is a perfectly satisfactory defense. For example...} Qd4 {As per the great
Dutch GM Timman who claimed white gets annihilated after this, but he didn’t
give any followup.} 16. c3 Nxc3 17. Bxc3 Qxc3+ 18. Kb1 Nb4 {...and here is why
there is nothing wrong with 15.b3...} 19. Bxf5 Qxh3 20. Bxh3 Rxf4 21. Nxb7 {
Black's attack is at and end and the position offers equal chances.}) 15... Nd4
{[%mdl 128] This is interesting. Forty years later at an Open tournament in
Curacao, no less, Benko was showing this game to an audience and claimed he
could have gotten a huge advantage with 15.. .Nxb2, but in the game he decided
to launch an even sharper attack. The fact is, had he played 15...Nxb2 he
might very well have lost!} (15... Nxb2 16. Kxb2 a6 (16... Nxe5 {This loses
after} 17. fxe5 Bxb5 18. Qb3 a6 19. Be3) 17. g4 {White must counterattack as
quickly as possible.} axb5 18. gxf5 Qc5 19. a3 exf5 20. Qc3 {Black has no
attacvk and white has the better position.}) 16. Be3 Ne2+ {The point of his
previous move...the attack on b2 is intensified.} 17. Bxe2 {[%mdl 8192] Is
this forced? It's not and it's bad enough to merit teo question marks!} (17.
Kb1 {No. This is the crucial defense. Black is now at a crossroads. Take the
exchange or complicate the issue with 17...d4.} d4 {The right choice.} 18. Bxa4
Bxa4 19. Bf2 Rac8 {with a strong attack.}) 17... Qxb2+ {To quote Fritz 17's
commentary, Black is clearly winning. To quote the legendary New York Yankee
catcher Yogi Berra, It ain't over til it's over.} 18. Kd2 Qb4+ 19. Kc1 {
Benko could have taken a draw here, but of course, here he has a winning
advantage; over four Ps according to Stockfish. The problem is, time pressure
is looming.} Nc3 {Attacking the q-Pawn, R and B.} 20. Rde1 Nxa2+ 21. Kd1 Nc3+
22. Kc1 d4 {One annotator mistakenly gave this move a question mark and
recommended the somewhat weaker 22...a5. Actually, black has several ways to
win. Black has to play this move at some point anyway.} 23. Bf2 (23. Bxd4 {
was a stronger defense.} Na2+ 24. Kd1 Qxd4+ 25. Qd3 Qxf4 26. Bf3 {but even
here black has a decisive advantage.}) 23... Rfc8 {[%mdl 544] A fine concept.
The purpose is not to put pressure on the c-Pawn, but to transfer the R to the
a-file.} 24. Bd3 (24. Nxc8 Qa3+ 25. Kd2 Ne4+ 26. Kd1 Qa1#) 24... Na2+ 25. Kd1
Nc3+ 26. Kc1 Rc5 {More controversy between annotators! One gave this move a
questions mark claiming it wasn’t his best option. Timman gave it a ! saying
Benko breathes new life into his attack. What does Stockfish say? Benko’s
move is perfectly good.} 27. Qh4 {Timman wrote that despite his awkward
situation Fischer defends as stubbornly as possible. This move provides extra
cover for his B on f2 and allows his K to escape via d2 without running the
risk of being mated at once. That said, Benko is clearly winning,} (27. g4 {
was the only other plausible try, but after} Ra5 28. Bxd4 Ra1+ 29. Kd2 Ne4+ 30.
Ke2 Qd2+ 31. Kf3 Rxe1 {the game is over.}) 27... Ra5 28. Kd2 {Oddly, black has
no effective discovered check because doing so would allow the K to slip away
to safety.} h6 {[%mdl 8192] With this terrible move, probably as a result of
time pressure, Benko turns the tables on himself! His plan was to play 29...
Ne4 and 30...g5, but this is way too slow. There’s no direct mate here, so
the positional move 28...Bc6! keeps Fischer’s K in the center of the board
where it remains in grave danger.} (28... Ne4+ 29. Ke2 Ra3 30. Kf1 {and white
is suddenly in a position to start a counterattack on the K-side.} Nxd6 {
results in head whirling complications that should eventually favor white. but
that evaluation is theoretical.} 31. exd6 Qxd6 32. g4) (28... Ra2 {Black has
no forced win, but by keeping up the pressure he can continue to make white's
life very difficult.} 29. g4 Bc6 30. Bxd4 Nb5+ (30... Qxd4 {would lose.} 31.
gxf5 Ne4+ 32. Nxe4 Bxe4 33. Rxg7+ Kxg7 34. Qe7+ Kh8 35. Qf6+ Kg8 36. Qxe6+ Kf8
37. Qf6+ Ke8 38. Qh8+ Ke7 39. Qxh7+ Ke8 40. Qh8+ Ke7 41. Qh4+ Kd7 42. Rxe4 Qd5
43. Qh7+ Kc6 44. Qg6+ {White wins.}) 31. Ke2 Nxd4+ 32. Kf1 Nf3 {wins for black.
}) 29. g4 {[%cal Rg4f5] This sudden counterattack leaves black busted.} fxg4 (
29... Ne4+ {comes up short, The complications are enorrnous and in the end
white is left with a theoretically won position, but practically speaking it's
probably black's best chance.} 30. Ke2 Qd2+ 31. Kf1 Qxf4 32. gxf5 Nd2+ 33. Ke2
Rxe5+ 34. Kd1 Rxe1+ 35. Rxe1 Qxd6 36. Kxd2) 30. Rxg4 (30. Qxg4 {is a self mate.
} Ne4+ 31. Ke2 Qd2+ 32. Kf3 Qxf2+ 33. Kxe4 Bc6#) 30... Kh8 (30... Kf8 31. Rxg7
Nb1+ (31... Kxg7 32. Rg1+ {mate next move.}) 32. Ke2 Qd2+ 33. Kf3 {Black can
delay, but not prevent mater.} Qxd3+ 34. cxd3 Bc6+ 35. Kg4 Kxg7 36. Qe7+ Kh8
37. Kh5 Rxe5+ 38. Rxe5 Be8+ 39. Kxh6 Bf7 40. Qxf7 {mate next move.}) 31. Qxh6+
{[%mdl 512] Black resigned.} (31. Qxh6+ gxh6 32. Nf7#) 1-0
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