Tartajubow vs. Bobby Fischer (Personality)

 

    The weather the past couple of weeks has seen temperatures in the single digits and low teens and today we woke up to a temperature of minus 10 (F) or minus 23 Celsius. No doubt many readers will get a chuckle out of our predicament because that’s normal for them, but not for us. 

    Even more annoying than the cold and off and on snow flurries is the shouting of the local weathermen (and women) who seem to be armed with a thesaurus as they try to find more forceful ways to sensationalize and tell us how cold it is. There is no need to shout. I know 10 below is cold, so forget the hype...just give me the forecast.

    Being holed up indoors means a chances to experiment with Fritz 20 a bit. As many readers know, Fritz 20 has AI-driven historic players that you can play against: Lasker, Capablanca, Tal, Fischer, Karpov and Morphy. 

    The program is designed to mimic their openings and style of play. I can’t really say how accurately the program accomplishes the task, but recently I played Bobby Fischer two games and, just like what would have happened in real life, I lost badly. 

 

 

 

[Event "Fritz 20 Personality"] [Site "?"] [Date "2026.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Tartajubow"] [Black "Bobby Fischer (Personality)"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B52"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"] [PlyCount "70"] [EventDate "2026.01.29"] {B52: Sicilian: Moscow Variation} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ {Like Tartakpwer and Rossolimo. I am addicted to playing this against the Sicilian. Against 2. d6 it is teh Moscow Variation; against 2.Nc6 it is the Rossolimo Variation. If 2.Bb5 has any value at all it is that it allows white to bypass the massive mountains of theory in the Open Sicilian lines} Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Nxd7 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Ngf6 7. Nc3 Rc8 (7... g6 8. O-O Bg7 9. Be3 O-O 10. f3 Rc8 {is frequently seen.}) 8. O-O g6 9. Bg5 {This is out of place here.} (9. f3 {was the other move I considered here and it's probably a bit better.} Bg7 10. Kh1 a6 11. Be3 O-O 12. Bg1 Qc7 13. a4 {with equal chances.}) 9... Bg7 10. Qd2 Rc4 {Clever... it prevents my intended 11.Bh6. There is also a hidden attack on the e-Pawn.} 11. Rad1 {Defending the N and so Bh6 is still on.} (11. Bh6 Bxh6 12. Qxh6 Rxd4) 11... Qb6 {Agai, Bh6 is prevented.} 12. Nb3 {Again, Bh6 is back on!} Qa6 { The only reason I cn see for this move is that it gets the Q out of range of a white N on d5 for whtever that is worth.} (12... O-O 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. Qxd5 { A complicated position that offers equal chances.}) 13. Bh6 {Finally! The only problem is that it is quite harmless because black has plenty of counterplay and there does not seem to be any way of attacking his K in the center. Honestly, I was so intent on playing this that I did not realize it lost the e-Pawn otherwise I would have played 13.Rfe1} Bxh6 14. Qxh6 Nxe4 15. Nxe4 Rxe4 {So, black has won a P, but white actually has sufficient compensation; in fact, Stockfish's evaluation is only –0.19. I now spent some time trying to decide on whether or not to play 16.Qg7 which leads to huge complications.} 16. Rfe1 {At this point I was beginning to feel that I was on the path to defeatt, but black's advantage is only a modest =/+.} (16. Qg7 {This is the best move, but I rejected ot thinking my Q was too far out of play. After} Rf8 17. Qxh7 Ne5 18. Qh3 f5 19. Qh6 Rf6 20. Qh8+ {Black can repeat moves or try} Rf8 21. Qh6 f4 22. Nd4 Qxa2 23. b3 Qa6 24. Qh3 f3 25. Qc8+ Kf7 26. Qe6+ {and black must take the draw.}) 16... Qc4 {This was my last chance to plau Qg7 with any effect.} 17. Rxe4 (17. Qg7 Rf8 18. Rxe4 Qxe4 19. Qxh7 Qe2 {and black is slightly better.}) 17... Qxe4 {[%mdl 128]} 18. Qg7 {At this point this is a losing move. Hunkering down on the defensive with moves like h3 and withdrawing the Q to c1 offered the best chance.} Rf8 {This is a weak move that allows white back in the game!} (18... Qe5 {leaves white little choice...} 19. Qxe5 Nxe5 20. f4 Nc4 21. Nd4 Kd7 22. b3 Ne3 {and black has excellent winning chances.}) 19. Qc3 {It would have been a bit better to play 19.Qh7, but I thought getting ny Q back into play was more important than regaining the P.} Kd8 {Better was 19...Qc6 which maintains a small advantage.} 20. Qd3 { [%mdl 8192] Panic! I thought getting Qs off the board would help my defensive chances in the ending which is now lost for white. In reality, white missed the opportunity to strike back.} (20. Na5 {This attack on b7 at least equalizes.} {Stockfosh's analysis after 30 minutes runs} Nb6 21. Rd4 Qe6 22. Nxb7+ Ke8 23. Qa5 Rg8 24. Rd1 Qg4 25. Re1 Kf8 26. a3 Qc8 27. Qxa7 Qc7 28. Qa6 Kg7 29. Na5 Rc8 30. b3 d5 31. h3 e6 32. Re2 Qc5 33. b4 Qd4 34. Nb3 Qd1+ 35. Kh2 Ra8 36. Qb5 Nc4 37. Rxe6 Qxc2 38. Qxd5 fxe6 39. Qb7+ Kf6 40. Qxa8 Qxb3 41. Qh8+ Kf5 42. Qxh7 Nxa3 43. Qf7+ Ke5 44. Qxg6 {with a theoretical draw.}) 20... Qxd3 21. Rxd3 {[%mdl 4096] Black is a P up and has a theoretical win/} Ne5 22. Rc3 Kd7 23. Kf1 Ng4 24. h3 Nh6 25. Nd4 Rc8 26. Rxc8 Kxc8 {KN-KN} 27. Ke2 Kd7 28. Ke3 d5 29. Kd3 e5 30. Nb5 a6 31. Nc3 Kd6 32. g3 Nf5 33. Ne2 e4+ 34. Kd2 Ke5 35. Nc3 b5 {White resigned. Further play is pointless. Not only is he a P up, but his pieces occupy dominating positions.} 0-1