An Easy Win for Fischer

    A 15-year-old Bobby Fischer dominated the 1958/59 US Championship that was held in New York City and in the process played some remarkable games including a win over Samuel Reshevsky. 

    In US Championships Fischer had already pulled off his “Game of the Century” against Donald Byrne and in this event his game with Reshevsky was the attention grabber. 

    This game was different though because it was less Fischer’s brilliant play and more Reshevsky’s blunderfest in the opening. Openings were never Reshevsky’s strong suit. I remember Pal Benko writing about the time he was working with Reshevsky and in the mornings they worked on Reshevsky's openings. After a lunch break they returned to their studies and Reshevsjy had already forgotten what they had covered that morning. 

    Fischer was up on all the latest opening analysis in this game.. Later Reshevsly claimed he had seen it, but forgot about it. Maybe he had seen it, but his statement just confirmed what Benko was to observe 20 years later! 

 

 

[Event "19558/59 USChampionship,, New York"] [Site ""] [Date "1958.12.??"] [Round "6"] [White "Bobby Fischer"] [Black "Samuel Reshevsky"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B35"] [WhiteElo "2636"] [BlackElo "2693"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "1958.12.??"] [Source ""] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2016.04.26"] [SourceQuality "1"] { B35: Sicilian: Accelerated Dragon} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 {At the time Reshevsky was experimenting with the Dragom. As soon becomes clear, he was not totally familiar with it.} 5. Be3 Bg7 6. Nc3 {Fischer had no interest in playing the Maroczy Bind (5...c4).} Nf6 7. Bc4 {At the time this was Fischer's trademark move and today it is the most common.} O-O 8. Bb3 {At the time this move was being heavily analyzed. The Fischer-Pa nno gamr in the 1958 Interzonal went 8.f3 Qb6 and then Fischer took an hour and a half (!) before playing 9.Bb3.} Na5 $2 {In a sensational case of chess blindness Reshevsky thought for several minutes before making this losing move. With it he walks into a nifty, but for a GM of his caliber, simple trap. Analysis in several chess magazines has warned readers about the trap. Black should play either 8...d5 or 8...Re8} 9. e5 Ne8 {This is also a very poor move.move. It's possible that Reshevsky was not ye t aware that he had blundered because otherwise he woulf have tried 9...Nxb3 which is the lesser evil.} (9... Nxb3 {this at least prevents the sacrifice on f7, but after} 10. exf6 Nxa1 11. fxg7 Re8 (11... Kxg7 12. Qd2 Kg8 13. O-O {white is winning, but he still has some wotk to do.}) 12. f4 {Here, too, white has a decisive advantage, but the win is hardly forced.}) 10. Bxf7+ {[%mdl 512] White is clearly winning. Either way black captures the B leads to a lost position.} Kxf7 (10... Rxf7 11. Ne6 {Black still loses the Q.}) 11. Ne6 {[%mdl 512] Thiis trap (including this move) had been published in both Russian and British chess magazines and Fischer as well as several Master spectators were aware of it. Later, Reshevsky told a New York newpaper that he had seen the nalysis, but forgot about it. Black could resign here as engines put him over 7 Pawns down, but apparently to resign after 11 moves was unthinkable, so he played on until adjournment.} dxe6 12. Qxd8 Nc6 13. Qd2 Bxe5 14. O-O {Fifty yeard later this same position was reached on a game between teo strong masters and white played 14.O-O-O and also won.} Nd6 {The trap Reshevsky fell for in this game is still catching people! In 2025 in a tournament in Spain black played 14...b6...and lost.} 15. Bf4 {Exchanges accentuat e white's matcrlal advantage.} Nc4 {Fischer has a Q vs. 2Bs, a technical win, but some technique is still required.} 16. Qe2 Bxf4 17. Qxc4 Kg7 18. Ne4 {[%mdl 32]} Bc7 19. Nc5 Rf6 20. c3 e5 21. Rad1 Nd8 22. Nd7 Rc6 23. Qh4 Re6 {[%mdl 32]} 24. Nc5 Rf6 25. Ne4 Rf4 26. Qxe7+ Rf7 27. Qa3 {Fischer now switches his attention to the -side where he gets his P majority underway.} Nc6 28. Nd6 Bxd6 29. Rxd6 Bf5 30. b4 {[%mdl 32]} Rff8 31. b5 Nd8 32. Rd5 Nf7 33. Rc5 a6 34. b6 Be4 35. Re1 Bc6 {In spite of his material infeiority Reshevsky has been putting up a manly defense.} 36. Rxc6 $1 {This sacrifice of the exchange is the most efficient way to win, White gets a passed P and an easy enging.} bxc6 37. b7 Rab8 38. Qxa6 {The rest is simple.} Nd8 39. Rb1 Rf7 40. h3 Rfxb7 41. Rxb7+ Rxb7 42. Qa8 {Black resigned.} 1-0