In later years he abandoned his youthful aggressiveness and became a more rounded player and, according to Botvinnik, was the best player in the world in the late 1960’s.
If you enjoy attacking chess, his games are worthy of examination.
Here’s one of his wins over Fischer that was played at Skopje in 1967.
Skopje was rebuilt because of a devastating earthquake in 1963 that destroyed about 80% of the city. Following its rebuilding Yugoslavia organized the first in a series of international tournaments to be held in Skopje.
The first tournament featured a field of twelve Yugoslav masters headed by GM Milan Matulovic. The Soviet Union sent two veteran grandmasters, Efim Geller and Ratmir Kholmov. Fischer had just recently returned to international competition and Skopje would be an important stop on his road to the 1967 Sousse Interzonal.
Going into this event, Matulovic, Geller, and Kholmov all had plus scores against Fischer, making them excellent choices to potentially challe Fischer’s chances at taking first place.
Fischer lost his second round game to Geller and after the ninth round, despite being tied for first with Kholmov, Fischer, ever the petty little snot, announced he would withdraw from the tournament unless the spectators were removed from further rounds. The organizers wouldn’t meet the demand and Fischer forfeited his tenth round game (against Knezevic). However, upon a compromise was reached and in a show of true sportsmanship Knezevic agreed to play the forfeited game.
[Event "Skopje"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1967.08.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Robert Fischer"]
[Black "Efim Geller"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B88"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "1967.08.??"]
{[%evp 21,46,113,104,96,123,110,155,176,183,164,163,190,171,147,155,143,109,
146,217,0,-7,-335,-347,-338,-332,-499,-499] B89: Sicilian: Velimirovic Attack}
1. e4 {In tournament play Geller's life time score against Fischer was +5 -2
=3.} c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 {Geller plays the
classical 5...Nc6 instead of the popular and highly analyzed Najdorf 5...a6} 6.
Bc4 {A Fischer favorite as it leads to sharp play.} e6 7. Be3 Be7 8. Bb3 O-O 9.
Qe2 {Preparing to castle Q-side. Wf can plan on seeing a real fight.} Qa5 {
Gekker is going all out for an attack, but this is risky, The standard ...a6
and ...b5 is a safer alternative.} 10. O-O-O Nxd4 {Best. With black's Q on a5
the other two options (10...a6 and 10...Bd7 have proven much less effective.}
11. Bxd4 Bd7 12. Kb1 Bc6 {The point of his 10th move. On c6 the B puts
pressure on white's e-Pawn and allows for a potential break by ...d5} 13. f4
Rad8 (13... d5 {loses the game...} 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. Nxd5 Bxd5 16. Bxd5 Qxd5 (
16... exd5 17. Qxe7) 17. Bxg7) (13... e5 {Appears to limit white's attacking
possibilities by blocking the center, but after} 14. fxe5 dxe5 15. Bf2 {
Black should now play ...Bd7-e6 when white still has the better game, but not}
b5 16. g4 {This is a very sharp position, but the complications favore white.}
b4 17. g5 Nd7 18. Nd5 Bxd5 19. Rxd5 Qc7 20. h4 {White has all the chances.})
14. Rhf1 b5 15. f5 {The idea is to open up lines so he can use his two Bs
which are aimed at the black K. At this point Fischer has established a very
promising position.} b4 {This traps the N, but white has resources that make
up fot it!} 16. fxe6 bxc3 17. exf7+ Kh8 {Black threatens ...Bb5.} (17... Rxf7 {
fails because the B on c6 is loose.} 18. Bxf7+ Kxf7 19. Qc4+ d5 20. Qxc6 dxe4
21. Bxc3 Qc5 22. Qxc5 Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Bxc5 24. Bd4 Bxd4 25. Rxd4 {and white is
winning.}) 18. Rf5 {[%mdl 2048] Keeping up the pressure.} (18. Bxc3 {This is a
good looking movem but after} Qg5 {white's K-side play is gummed up.} 19. h4
Qg4 {and black can claim at least equality.}) 18... Qb4 19. Qf1 {Fischer has a
very strong attack on f6 which, if successfully carried out, would win.
Unfortunately for him, in the complications he mishandles the attack.} Nxe4 {
There is but a single move that keeps the attack going and Fischer fails to
find it.} 20. a3 Qb7 21. Qf4 {[%mdl 8192] What a paradox! Last move this would
have won; this move it loses.} (21. Rh5 {keeep white in the game.} Qd7 (21...
Ba4 22. Qf5 Ng5 23. Bxg7+ Kxg7 24. Rxg5+ Kh8 (24... Bxg5 25. Qxg5+ {mayes}) 25.
Rxd6 {wins as the R cannit be taken.} Rxd6 26. Rg8+ Rxg8 27. fxg8=R#) 22. Bxg7+
Kxg7 23. Qf4 d5 24. Qh6+ Kxf7 25. Qxh7+ Ke8 26. Qg6+ Rf7 {and a draw is a
likely outcome.}) 21... Ba4 {This sudden attack on white's K is an unexpected
blow.} 22. Qg4 Bf6 23. Rxf6 {Losing instantly, but there was no way of saving
the game/} Bxb3 {White resigned.} (23... Bxb3 24. cxb3 Nxf6 25. Bxf6 gxf6 26.
Qd4 c2+ 27. Kxc2 Rxf7 {White is a R down.}) 0-1
No comments:
Post a Comment