Thursday, September 10, 2020

A Lesson By Bobby Fischer

 

    One of the characteristics of Fischer's games was their strategic clarity and the following game against Olicio Gadia (July 2, 1928-May 1, 1988, 59 years old), the Brazilian champion in 1959 and 1962, illustrates that quality quite well. 
    The game was played at Mar del Plata in 1960 where Fischer (17 years old) and Spassky (23 years old) tied for first with a 13.5-1.5 score, a full two points ahead of Bronstein. Olafsson finished 4th with 10.5-4.5. 
     The tournament was an exciting one. Fischer and Spassky met in an early round. Spassky played 1.e4 and amazingly, Fischer did not play the Sicilian and Spassky played the King's Gambit! After a bitter fight Spassky won. 
     Thereafter, for round after round, both of them battered down their opposition. With one round to go, Fischer trailed Spassky by half a point. In the last round Fischer had white against the lowly placed Luis Marini of Argentina and Spassky had black vs. Bernardo Wexler of Argentina who finished in sixth place. Both games saw sacrifices: Fischer sacrificed a piece and the exchange and won; Spassky sacrificed a Queen for two minor pieces and drew. And so they ended up tied for first.
     Whether you have seen Fischer's game against Gadia before or not, it's worth playing over again because the strategy Fischer uses is one that is frequently seen in Sicilian positions.

Robert Fischer - Olicio Gadia

Result: 1-0

Site: Mar del Plata

Date: 1960.03.31

Sicilian Najdorf

[...] 1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.♘xd4 ♘f6 5.♘c3 a6 Fischer faces his favorite defense. 6.♗c4 His favorite way of meeting the Najdorf. 6...e6 7.♗b3 b5 8.O-O ♗b7 The main move here is 8...Be7. Although b7 is a good square for this B in the Najdorf, there is a lot to recommend for keeping it on c8 for the moment. For one thing it defends e6. Obviously an immediate sacrifice on e6 is not good, but with his next move Fischer continues with his strategic plan of attacking e6 with f2-f4-f5. 9.f4
9.♗xe6 This has been tried a few times, but unless black defends poorly the best white can hope for is a draw. 9...fxe6 10.♘xe6 ♕d7 11.♘d5 ♗xd5 12.exd5 and black is better.
9...♘c6 This questionable. Better are 9...Be7 or even 9...Nbd7 10.♘xc6 ♗xc6 So, with his last move black has eliminated one of the pieces that was attacking e6, but with his nexr move, Fischer continues the attack on e6. Note that black is not without threats of his own. He threatens both ...Nxe4 and ...b4. 11.f5 With the obvious threat to take on e6, but this move also is dangerous to black because it threats to open up the position with black's K still in the center. Already, even though the engines evaluate this position as quite equal, practically black is facing a difficult defensive task.
11.e5 Might be tempting, but after 11...dxe5 12.fxe5 ♕xd1 13.♖xd1 ♗c5 14.♔h1 ♘g4 black would win.
11...e5 Black would like to keep the P on e6 to shield f7, but doing so also has its disadvantages. This P-structure is very familiar in the Sicilian. If given enough time, black can play ...O-O and maneuver his Q to b7 when he would have pressure on white's e-Pawn. But, time is something black doesn't have. (11...♕d7 12.fxe6 fxe6 and e6 is weak as well as his Ks position.)
11...b4 This has been tried here, but it is tactically faulty. 12.fxe6 bxc3 13.exf7 ♔d7 14.e5 and with a lot of luck black may be able to survive. Using Stockfish 12 I ran some Shootouts from this position and white scored +1 -1 +4, but in practical play the odds are likely to favor white and no player of black would want to face constantly being on the defense.
11...b4 12.fxe6 fxe6 Declining the sacrifice is even worse. After 13.♘e2 Now taking the e-Pawn is too risky so black's best chance is 13...d5 14.♘f4 Still attacking e6. 14...♗c5 15.♔h1 ♕e7 Black successfully defends e6 and he has developed his pieces, but now the issue is the safety of his K which has no safe haven.
12.♕d3 Defending the e-Pawn.
12.♗g5 Was much better as the e-Pawn cannot be taken. 12...♕b6 13.♔h1 ♘xe4 14.♘xe4 ♗xe4 15.f6 g6 16.♖e1 ♗c6 17.♕d2 with excellent compensation for the P. Note that in effect black is playing without his B and R.
12.♗g5 ♗e7 This a better defense, bit it, too, is not very good for black. 13.♗xf6 ♗xf6 14.♗d5 ♕b6 15.♖f2 O-O 16.♗xc6 ♕xc6 17.♘d5 and white's N which is far superior to black's B gives him a huge strategic advantage.
12...♗e7 Black decides the best plan is to try and get castled.
12...♕b6 With the idea of attacking the e-Pawn is a plausible alternative. 13.♔h1 ♕b7 14.a4 ♘xe4 This avoids complications that arise from 14...b4
14...b4 15.♘d5 ♗e7 16.♗h6 In this positions Shootouts resulted in white scoring +1 -0 =4, but here, too, black's defense must be near perfect.
15.axb5 axb5 16.♖xa8 ♕xa8 17.♘d5 ♘c5 18.♘c7 ♔d7 19.♘xa8 ♘xd3 20.cxd3 ♗xa8 21.♗xf7 with roughly even chances.
13.♗g5 Fischer plans to eliminate the N and place a piece on d5. 13...♕b6 14.♔h1 O-O 15.♗xf6 ♗xf6 Which piece should white place on d5, the B or the N? 16.♗d5 Excellent! This trades off black's last defender of d5 and allows white to get a well posted N vs black's horrible B.
16.♘d5 This is the wrong piece because after 16...♗xd5 17.♗xd5 ♖ac8 18.c3 While white has a good B vs black's bad B, breaking through is not going to be easy. 18...b4
16...♖ac8 17.♗xc6 ♖xc6 This is not good at all. It was better to fight back with 17...Qxc6
17...♕xc6 This at least hinders Nd5 because of the threat to the c-Pawn. 18.♖f2 ♕c4 19.♕f3
19.♕xc4 ♖xc4 20.♖e2 ♖fc8 An even with his bad B the advantage has swung to black owing to his strong Rs.
19...♕b4 20.♖b1 ♖xc3 21.♕xc3 ♕xe4 and black is offering stout resistance.
18.♖ad1 This keeps the black Q from going to d4.
18.♘d5 ♕d4 and black has managed to equalize in all variations. For example 19.♕xd4 exd4 20.♘xf6 gxf6 21.♖fd1 ♖xc2 22.b3 (22.♖xd4 ♖xb2 23.♖xd6 a5 and black is even a little better!) 22...♖fc8 23.h3 ♖b2 24.♖xd4 ♖cc2 25.♖xd6 ♖xg2 26.♖g1 with a likely draw.
18...♖fc8 19.♘d5 Success! 19...♕d8
19...♕d4 would run into 20.♘xf6 gxf6 21.♕g3 winning the Q. The point of 18.Rad1
20.c3 White has a strategically won position. This is the type of position Fischer was aiming for when he played 13.Bg5 to eliminate the N on f6. 20...♗e7 This position is another one where Fischer demonstrated his genius. Many players would not hesitate to play 21.f6. 21.♖a1 This is a strategic idea that we often see in the games of great players...a sudden shift of play to a different sector of the board. In this case to the Q-side. Black has no counterplay at all against the threat of a4.
21.f6 ♗xf6 22.♘xf6 gxf6 23.♕h3 followed by a R lift to continue the attack. There is little back can to here but sit and wait.
21...f6 Black sets himself up for disaster with this move, but there really wasn't a good defense.
21...♗f8 What else?! 22.a4 bxa4 (22...♖b8 23.axb5 axb5 24.♖a7) 23.♖xa4 and white doubles Rs on the a-file.
22.a4 ♖b8 This hangs the R on c6.
22...♖c5 23.axb5 ♖xb5 24.b4 ♖cb8 (24...♖a8 25.♘xe7 ♕xe7 26.♕xb5 axb5 27.♖xa8 ♔f7 28.♖fa1 g6 29.♖8a7) 25.♖xa6 Black can play on but he remains strategically lost.
22...♕e8 a last effort to resist the inevitable 23.axb5 axb5 24.♕xb5 ♔f8+⁠−
23.♘xe7 Gadia resigned. (23.♘xe7 ♕xe7 24.♕d5 wins the R)
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1 comment:

  1. Many of Fischer's games, like Capablanca's, seem so clear and simple that you start believing you could have played them yourself. But some how it never quite works out in real life

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