Fischer’s Last American Tournament

    Bobby Fischer's last game was the 30th game of his 1992 rematch against Boris Spassky who resigned on his 27th move. I am not 100% positive, but I believe Fischer’s last America tournament was a double round rapid tournament at the Manhattan Chess Club in August of 1971. He won it with the incredible score of 21.5-0.5; he got nicked for a draw by Walter Shipman. 

    At the time, Fischer had just returned from winning candidates matches against Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen. His match against Larsen, played in Denver, Colorado, had just concluded and Fischer, himself, called the club and suggested they arranged a 5-minute double round -robin invitational tournament and he would participate/ 

    Fischer wasn't known for playing in such events although he had played in one in Herceg -Novi, Yugoslavia, where he won easily against top level competition. In this tournament everybody was certain Fischer would win and the question was, would he make a perfect score? He had some close calls, but the only real danger came in his games against Andrew Soltis and Walter Shipman. 

    Against Soltis, who at the time lacked an international title, Fischer had a Rook and some Pawns against a Queen and Pawns. For young reader who aren’t familiar with pre-digital age chess clocks, they had little flags that the minute hand raised and the flag dropped at 12. With both flags hanging and the players moving at lightening speed, Soltis blundered into a lost position. He could have played on and possibly won on time, but Soltis is a class act and so he resigned. 

    Against Walter Shipman, Fischer tried hard to to win a drawn Rook and Pawn endgame, Fischer blundered away his Rook but his connected, passed Pawns enabled him to secure the draw. 

 

 

    In the following game Fischer crushed GM Robert Byrne. On the March 1971 USCF rating list Fischer was #1 at 2771 and Byrne was ranked #7 at 2527. Note that ratings are a reflection of results, not strength although it’s obvious that the strongest players will have the best results. Ratings across decades do not compare to each other. For example, on the latest USCF rating list Fabiano Caruana is #1 at 2876 and there are 3 other players rated over 2800. Today a rating in the 2500s will only get you ranked below 35th place.

[Event "Manhattan CC 5-minute Tmt"] [Site ""] [Date "1971.08.08"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Bobby Fischer"] [Black "Robert Byrne"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B57"] [Annotator "Stockhish 171."] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "1971.??.??"] [EventType ""] {B57: Sicilian: Sozin Attack} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 d6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Bc4 {A Fischer favorite. The Sozin Attack is white's most aggressive lines. Ot pften leds to direct play against black's K and sacrifies are frequently seen.} Qb6 {Sharp. 6...Bd6 is mre frequently seen.} 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. O-O e6 9. Bf4 Qxb2 {Risky at best. More prudent is 9...Qc5} 10. Qd3 Qb4 11. Rab1 Qc5 {Black has lost a lot of time with his Q for the dake of picking up a P. How big is the price tag going to be?} 12. Rfd1 {A sly move. The threat is 13.Na4 forcing the Q away from defending the d-Pawn} e5 (12... Be7 13. Na4 Qa5 14. Bxd6 {and white is practically winning.}) 13. Bg5 Be7 14. Bxf6 {Forcing black to weaken his K-side.} (14. Na4 {is not as efficient as the text.} Qa5 15. Bxf6 gxf6 16. Nc3 {is roughly equal.}) 14... gxf6 15. Ne2 {Even in a 5-minute game it's surprising that Fischer missed the tactical shot 15.Nd5!} ( 15. Nd5 Bd8 (15... cxd5 16. Bxd5 {snags the R on a8.}) 16. Ne3 Bc7 {Black has a solid, but camped position that offers few real prospects.}) 15... Be6 { [%mdl 8192] This results in more weaknesses around his K. A neutral move like 15,,,a4 and waiting for defe,opments seems like his best choice.} 16. Bxe6 fxe6 17. Rb7 {Clearly this leaves black in a difficult position, but there was an even better move,} (17. Qh3 Kf7 18. Qh5+ Kg7 19. Rb7 d5 20. Rd3 {and there is no defense against Rg3}) 17... Kf7 18. Rdb1 {[%mdl 1024]} d5 19. Ng3 h5 20. h4 {Very good. He doesn't wan the N driven off...it's going to leap into action from g3.} a5 21. Qf3 Kg6 (21... Qxc2 {would not have worked any. better.} 22. exd5 cxd5 23. Nxh5 {and white is winning.}) 22. R1b3 a4 23. Rc3 Qd6 24. Nxh5 { [%mdl 512] The finishing blow.} f5 (24... Rxh5 25. Qg4+ Kh6 26. Rg3 Rg5 27. hxg5+ fxg5 28. Rh3+ Kg7 29. Qxg5+ Kf7 30. Rh7+ Kf8 31. Qg6 {mate next move.}) 25. exf5+ exf5 26. Rxe7 {[%mdl 512] A beautiful finish.} (26. Rxe7 Qxe7 27. Rxc6+ Kf7 28. Qxf5+ {Black is hopeless.}) 1-0