Bobby Fischer (1943-2008) was bom in Chicago and learned the chess moves early in 1949 from his sister, Joan, who was 11-years old. She often bought different games at a local candy store to keep Bobby amused. For the next year or so he occasionally played against the boys in the neighborhood whom he had taught the game.
By 1950, the family was living in Brooklyn, New York and in November his mother sent a postcard to the chess columnist of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Hermann Helms, asking if he knew any boys Bobby's age that he could play chess with.
Helms suggested Bobby go to a chess exhibition held on
January 17, 1951, where he played in a simultaneous exhibition given by Max Pavey.
Bobby lost quickly, but Carmine Nigro, President of the Brooklyn Chess Club was watching and invited him to join the club. The rest is history.
Although Fischer started his tournament career in 1953, his earliest known games games only date back to the summer of 1955 when he played in the U.S. Junior Open in Lincoln.
Few games from that event are extant and it seems that Chess Review gave it no coverage while the coverage in Chess Life was more about the local organizers than the players.
In the following game, Fischer got defeated by Kenneth Warner, who also finished with a 5-5 score and took 12th place on tiebreaks.
The 17-year old Warner has slipped through the cracks of chess history. All that is known of him is that he was the Bakersfield, California High School champion in 1954 and 1955. He tied for 36th-38th place in the 1954 U.S. Junior championship in Long Beach, California. And, he won the Fresno, California Junior Championship in 1955.
During the event some of the players, including Fischer, were staying at the homce of one of the organizers, Alexander Liepnieks and Fischer was on the receiving end of taunts by a couple of the other players. You can read an excellent account in the Nebraska State Chess Archives HERE. The article also has some rare photos
.
Robert Fischer–Kenneth Warner0–1B58US Junior Open, Lincoln, Nebraska1Lincoln, NE USA15.07.1955Stockfish 16
B76: Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack 1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 d6 6.e2 g6 7.e3 g7 8.f3 0-0 9.d2 a6 The best way for black
to equalize here is with the sharp 9...d5 10.0-0-0 a5 10...d5 is still
the best move. 11.xc6 bxc6 12.exd5 cxd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.xd5 c7
Here, too, white is better, but Korchagina,V (2176)-Solovjov,S (2419) St
Petersburg 2008 ended in a draw. 11.b1 This safety precaution covering
the a-Pawn is better than the immediate 11/g4 d8 12.g4 12.c4 was a good
option. Then after xd4 13.xd4 b5 14.e3 Threatening Bb6 b8 15.b3
white stands slightly better. 12...xd4 A good nove. Black wants to place
his B on the more active square e6. 13.xd4 e6! 14.e3 d7 This
prevents 15.Bb6, but a better way of neutralizing the threat. 14...dc8
This sets a trap. 15.b6 xc3 Watch this... 16.bxc3 xg4 Threatening ...
Qxa2# 17.xa5 xe3 18.de1 c8 with the advantage. 14...dc8 15.g5
This is the best reply. Now after h5 16.xg7 xg7 17.d5 xd5 18.xd5 c5 The chances are equal. 15.f4 White's chances on the K-side are
more promising than black’s on the Q-side. xd4 15....Rdc8 was still a
promising alternative. 16.xd4 aiming for f5. f6 This move is a poor
one that should have resulted in Fischer gsaing a decisive advantage. 16...f6 This unlikely looking move had to be played, but white still comes out on
top. 17.c4 Much stringer than 17.f5 17.f5 f7 18.d5 xd5 19.exd5
White is clearly better. 17...f7 18.xf7+ xf7 19.h4 dc8 20.h5
and white should win. 17.f5 d7 18.h4 White is still better after this,
but 18.g5 was even better. 18.g5 e8 19.d5 and there is no way to defend
e7. 18...b5 19.f3 It was still preferable to play 19.g5 ac8 20.xb5
The following moves involve some imprecise play by both sides, but it must be
remembered that at the time both players were non-Masters so it's hard to be
too critical. Also, some of the moves required a Stockfish level of abilty to
go deep into the position to find the best moves. axb5 Black is unaware of
any danger and plays to open the a-file for an attack, but a better plan would
have been 20...Qxb5 and then ...Qc5 hoping to exchange Qs 21.h5 This is the
wrong P push and it allows black right back into the game. However, after
Stockfish's top choice of 21.g5 which lead to an eventual win, the position
gets very complicated and precise play would be required. c4 22.e3 a8 23.a3 Black should now play 23...b4 and the chances would then be equal. Instead,
his next move gives Fischer a chance to regain the advantage. a4 24.c3 24.c1 Fischer could hardly be faulted for not seeing this unlikely retreat! gxf5 25.exf5 h6 26.hg1 and black's position is quite precarious. 24...xe4 Obvious...and bad. 24...b3 keeps the upper hand. 25.d4 xa3 26.xc4 bxc4 27.hxg6 a2+ 28.c2 b3+ 29.b1 a2 30.e2 a4 31.c1 with a slight advantage. 25.xe4 He should have played 25.Rc1 when
the threat of hxg6 would lead to a winnning position. xe4 26.h6 26.d2
stays on course, but that's hard to see! xg4 27.hxg6 e4+ 28.a1 xf5 29.gxh7+ h8 30.hf1 g5 31.xf7 is equal. 26...e2 27.d2
This was no doubt played to prevent ...Qc2+, but it's a losing blunder. 27.c1 is the only good defense. e4+ 28.a1 b4 and white can hang on with 29.hxg6 bxa3 30.gxf7+ xf7 31.b4 Black has a slight advantage, but
probably not enough to win. 27...xd2 28.xd2 e4+ White resigned because
the R is lost. 0–1
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