’s “Game of the Century”

In 1956, Bobby Fischer was thirteen years If, 6.e3 c5 old. There was no rating system then, but he 7.dxc5 Qa5 was probably around 2400-2500. At fourteen, 8.Rc1 dxc4 (or, ...Rd8 ) his rating would be somewhere around 2700! 9.Bxc4 Qxc5 10.Bb3 with roughly equal chances. His opponent, Donald Byrne (1930-1976), was one of the USA's strongest players 6... dxc4 during the 1950s and 1960s. (His brother, 7.Qxc4 c6 International Robert Byrne, was 8.e4 Nbd7 also a leading player of that time.) When the 9.Rd1 Nb6 game was played, his rating would have been 10.Qc5!? … a bit over 2600. Byrne was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 2002. Better is 10.Qb3 Be6 11.Qc2 when chances are even. Byrne - Fischer Rosenwald Memorial, New York, 10/17/1956 10... Bg4 1.Nf3 Nf6 11.Bg5!? … 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 Best is 11.Be2. 4.d4 … XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-wq-trk+0 The game returns to a more standard 7zpp+-zppvlp0 formation by transposition. 6-snp+-snp+0 5+-wQ-+-vL-0 4... 0–0 4-+-zPP+l+0 5.Bf4 … 3+-sN-+N+-0 2PzP-+-zPPzP0 The overwhelming favorite here is 5.e4. 1+-+RmKL+R0 White's move is very playable and may have xabcdefghy been chosen to avoid mainstream play - at which Black was already known to be among 11... Na4!!! the best in the country. The exclamation marks are Reuben Fine’s (in 5... d5 "The World's Great Chess Games") and calls 6.Qb3!? … it "a brilliant reply". GM’s Flohr and Botvinnik in "64" called it "a shocking and This move is usually played later. The most stunning move." Fred Reinfeld called it "one popular move is 6.Rc1 … because it is very of the most magnificent moves ever made on clear where the rook belongs. (Sometimes, a chessboard." Only as the game progresses is White plays 6.e3, but here the intention is to the profound depth of this move apparent. be able to play e2-e4 in one move.) 12.Qa3 … 6... dxc4 7.e4 … The knight is taboo. If, 12.Nxa4? Nxe4 Also playable is 7.e3 Be6 (7...c5) 8.Ng5. 13.Qc1 Bxf3

1 Bobby Fischer’s “Game of the Century”

14.gxf3 Qa5+ 16.Bc5 … 15.Bd2 Nxd2 16.Rxd2 Qxa4. Black is clearly better White was counting on this "tempo-winning" and has an extra pawn to boot. move to save him. Plausible is 16.Qxc3 Rfe8 12... Nxc3 17.0–0 Rex7, but Black is winning.

Some GM's who were observing the game 16... Rfe8+ thought Black was lost here! 17.Kf1 …

13.bxc3 Nxe4!! White calmly steps out of check and expects 14.Bxe7 Qb6 to win decisive material. XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+-trk+0 8r+-+r+k+0 7zpp+-vLpvlp0 7zpp+-+pvlp0 6-wqp+-+p+0 6-wqp+-+p+0 5+-+-+-+-0 5+-vL-+-+-0 4-+-zPn+l+0 4-+LzP-+l+0 3wQ-zP-+N+-0 3wQ-sn-+N+-0 2P+-+-zPPzP0 2P+-+-zPPzP0 1+-+RmKL+R0 1+-+R+K+R0 xabcdefghy xabcdefghy

15.Bc4 … 17... Be6!!!!

Taking the rook is not good. This is the “sit-up-and-pay-attention” move 15.Bxf8?! Bxf8 which brought Fischer instant World-wide 16.Qb3 Nxc3! fame. Reuben Fine gave it four exclamation 17.Qxb6 axb6 marks, calling it "(a)n astounding reply ... 18.Rd2 Bb4 which wins in all variations." Black is clearly better. "To have foreseen this spectacular queen 15... Nxc3!! sacrifice several moves in advance – as XIIIIIIIIY Fischer must have done – is extraordinary" 8r+-+-trk+0 wrote Graham Burgess in "The World's 7zpp+-vLpvlp0 Greatest Chess Games.” 6-wqp+-+p+0 5+-+-+-+-0 Well! Not just see it, but also calculate its 4-+LzP-+l+0 soundness from, say, around move eleven!! 3wQ-sn-+N+-0 2P+-+-zPPzP0 18.Bxb6 … 1+-+RmK-+R0 xabcdefghy No better is 18.Qxc3 Qxc5 Black makes one powerful move after 19.dxc5 Bxc3 another. 20.Bxe6 Rxe6

2 Bobby Fischer’s “Game of the Century” and White's position is hopeless. 35.Kg1 …

And certainly not White steps out of the coming pin (...Bd6), 18.Bxe6?? Qb5+ but into a forced mate. 19.Bc4 Qxc4+ 20.Kg1 Ne2+ 35... Bc5+ 21.Kf1 Ng3+ 36.Kf1 … 22.Kg1 Qf1+ 23.Rxf1 Ne2# White lives longer with 36.Kh2 but graciously A rare and exquisite smothered mate which allows Black an elegant finish. lives only in the “might-have-been’s”! 36... Ng3+ Now Bobby executed one of the greatest 37.Ke1 Bb4+ king-hunts in chess history. One can not help 38.Kd1 Bb3+ but be in awe of the imagination, creative 39.Kc1 Ne2+ genius, and courage displayed by Fischer. 40.Kb1 Nc3+ 41.Kc1 Rc2# [or 41...Ba3#] 0–1. 18... Bxc4+ 19.Kg1 Ne2+ Curiously, Fischer did not include this game 20.Kf1 Nxd4+ in his anthology, “My 60 Greatest Games.”

Removes a pawn and clears the diagonal. Fischer undoubtedly knew he could always take a draw by repeated checking with the knight on and off of e2. Such foresight makes the queen sacrifice “safe.”

21.Kg1 Ne2+ 22.Kf1 Nc3+ 23.Kg1 axb6 24.Qb4 Ra4

Notice the work of a Grand Master: more pieces are brought into play even at the cost of a (meaningless) pawn.

25.Qxb6 Nxd1 26.h3 Rxa2 27.Kh2 Nxf2 28.Re1 Rxe1 29.Qd8+ Bf8 30.Nxe1 Bd5 31.Nf3 Ne4 32.Qb8 b5 33.h4 h5 34.Ne5 Kg7

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