2 Fischer - the Opening and the End games

Over 50 years ago now, Bobby Fischer exploded onto the chess world with what was described as the "the Game of the Century". This was the 'Opening game' referred to in the title. Let me begin by quoting from an article by Rene Chun in the Atlantic Monthly (Dec 2002) , thus:

"Contrary to popular belief, Fischer didn't emerge from the womb a full-blown grand master. While he was learning the game, as a child in Brooklyn, he was essentially a hotshot club player—a prodigy, to be sure, but not obviously world-championship material. But at age thirteen, in 1956, Fischer made a colossal leap. That year he became the youngest player ever to win the U.S. Junior Championship. He also dominated the U.S. tournament circuit. What was astounding wasn't simply that a gawky thirteen-year-old kid in blue jeans was suddenly winning chess tournaments. It was the way he was winning. He didn't just beat people — he humiliated them. The thing he relished most was watching his opponents squirm. "I like the moment when I break a man's ego," he once said, during a Dick Cavett interview.

Later in the year he played a game so remarkable that it was immediately dubbed "the Game of the Century." Fischer faced Donald Byrne, then one of the top ten U.S. players, at the Rosenwald Memorial Tournament, in New York. The now legendary battle was packed with more chess pyrotechnics than are typically seen during the course of an entire match. There were complex combinations, ingenious sacrifices, danger and apparent danger—enough to make Fischer, who won, a chess god overnight. Asked to explain his sudden emergence on the world stage of chess, Fischer shrugged and said, "I just got good."

The Fischer-Byrne duel was dissected in newspapers and magazines around the world and won Fischer the Brilliancy Prize, an annual chess award that recognizes particularly imaginative play ... Even the Russians, loath to acknowledge so much as the existence of American players, grudgingly tipped their hats. After the Fischer-Byrne game, Mikhail Botvinnik, the reigning world champion, reportedly said, "We will have to start keeping an eye on this boy"."

Here is the game itself.



One of the more authorative annotations of the game can be found here. There is also an interesting "easy read" commentary here (with a diagram for each move).



To see "every one of his 736 tournament and match games presented with insightful explanations and analysis" then you might consider buying 'Bobby Fischer – Career and Complete Games' by Karsten Müller - reviewed at 'New In Chess'.

You will probably know all about the Fischer-Spassky World Championship match but just in case you missed it - here is one of the most revealing articles about Fischer ever written - on the eve of his historic win. It is entitled "A Mystery Wrapped in an Enigma" (by William Lombardy, Fischer's second in Reykjavik).

And so the remarkable (and extremely controversial) 'End game' referred to in the title of the post. This time I will look to ChessBase to set the scene, thus:

"After winning the World Championship match against Boris Spassky in 1972 Bobby Fischer disappeared from public view for 20 years. In 1992 he returned to play a chess match with Boris Spassky in 1992. Fischer was 49 years old, Spassky was 55. The venue was the Yugoslav town of Sveti Stefan, an island resort just off the coast of Montenegro. The prize fund was US $5,000,000, of which the winner – the first player to win ten games – got 3.65 million. Victory went to Fischer. The match sponsor was Jezdimir Vasiljevic, President of Jugoskandic Bank, and a crony of Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic."

The game they played in the first round was called "The Return of the King" and attracted much praise eg from Karpov, who said "one game was extremely good, game 1". I like the comment of a certain 'Patzer2' at chessgames.comwho says:

For a while Fischer was indeed back and showing signs of his former brillance in this strange and unlikely rerun of the 1972 championship. The matchup and calling it a "championship" may have been a joke to serious players, but the quality of games such as this are real and historic reminders that Fischer was a world class player even 20 years past his prime.

What's impressive here is how Fischer wins the game first on the Queenside and then focuses on an even more brilliant switch to the Kingside. Then after Spassky sacrifices a Knight for the attack, Fischer quickly returns a piece of his own to counterattack in 39. Bxf4! and tops it off with another piece offering in 42. Nf5!! to continue the attack and secure the win."



Here's an excerpt from Yasser Seirawan's book 'No Regrets':

"Right after the game Bobby and Boris held a postmortem and considered that the position after 17.Nxh6 was critical. Boris was sure that 17...f6 was a mistake. The players immersed themselves in the forcing sequence 17...Bxa1 (probably the best practical try) 18.Qxa1 Qxd6 19.Qxh8+ Ke7.

The next day Bobby, Eugene Torre, Svetozar Gligoric, Yvette Nagel and I spent a late afternoon analyzing this position. It is an excellent position for practical work. I suggest you take a few minutes and look at the lines following 20.Qxh7 and 20.Qg7.

Initially, Bobby was strongly for 20.Qxh7!, munching a pawn. He got bogged down over the line 20...Rf8 21.h4 (to clear the back rank and pound home h4-h5) 21...Qd2 22.Re3. White seems to be on a joyful attacking crunch, but his pieces are misplaced: 22...Qxc2! 23.Qg7 (since 23.h5 runs into ...Qd1+ and Qxh5+) 23...Qc1+ 24.Kh2 Qc5!, again restraining h4-h5. Now Black has two passers on the queenside and his king can trot to safety.

Fischer spent a lot of time trying to make 25.e5 Bd5! 26.h5 work, but came away dissatisfied. At length he was talked into declining the h7-cutie. "Man, I really want that guy!" he exclaimed. We began looking at 20.e5 Rxh8 (20...Qd2!?) 21.exd6+ Kf6 22.Re7 Bd5 before Fischer's "Nah!" ended things there. Finally, 20.Qg7 Rf8 21.Ng8+ Rxg8 22.Qxg8 a5!? (White's queen is trapped) 23.Qg7 a4, when despite being an Exchange down Black is still kicking. Indeed, the whole line isn't forced, as Black doesn't have to sac the Exchange. Bobby was vexed. "You guys are busted. Give me a sec to find the killer!" Finally Bobby said, "First, give me my pawn!" and produced 20.Qxh7! Rf8 21.Qg7 Qd2.

Bobby now uncorked his killer: 22.Qa1!! What a shot! Suddenly, White has a crushingly coordinated attack. He threatens 23.Nf5+ gxf5 24.exf5+ Kd7 25.Rd1, picking up Black's queen. If 22...Qxh6, then 23.Qxa7 regains the piece with an easy win. A line like 22...Rc8 23.Nf5+ Ke6 (23...gxf5 24.exf5+ Kf8 25.Qh8 mate) 24. Nd4+ Ke7 (White has gotten his knight back into the game, all with tempo!) 25.Rd1 Qc3 26.Qxa7 nets two pawns and the attack. We were forced into the ending 22...Qc3 23.Qxc3 bxc3 24.f3 a5 25.Ra1 Ra8 26.Ng4 a4 27.Kf2 a3 28.Ke3 a2 29.Kd4 Ra3 30.Ne3 - and this is hopeless for Black! (Fischer) We all had to concede that Bobby is as sharp an analyst as ever."

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1 Fischer - compared to John Lennon

Fischer - comparisons with other celebrities

I am not alone in comparing Bobby Fischer's behaviour with that of other celebrities - though John Nash is perhaps more appropriate from a psychological point of view, thus:

"In many ways Fischer's story resembles that of the mentally unstable Nobel Prize winner John Forbes Nash Jr., the mathematician who inspired the book and Oscar-winning movie A Beautiful Mind, but without the happy ending. Both Fischer and Nash were the best at their chosen professions. Both were widely considered to be geniuses. Both were also supremely arrogant, rebellious, eccentric, and - although respected - not necessarily well liked by colleagues. Fischer left the United States to live in exile. So did Nash. Even eerier, while in the grip of schizophrenia Nash was an anti-Semite and was convinced that Communists (the men at MIT wearing red ties) were observing him." (from Rene Chun's excellent summary of Fischer's life)

Fischer can also be usefully compared with another chess genius, Paul Morphy, thus:

"No longer merely a former world chess champion, he has grown to almost mythic size, leaving behind him a trail of rumors and a chess world that is still reaching out for him in the void.

Much the same kind of effect was created in the 1850s when Paul Morphy, a New Orleans chess prodigy then recognized as the world champion, returned in triumph from Europe and soon simply stopped playing. Morphy was regarded as one of the game's true innovators. Fischer revered him. They are the only two Americans ever acclaimed as world chess champions, and there remains that striking parallel in their careers. "Fischer's like Morphy," says international master Igor Ivanov, a Soviet defector. "What's the story with you Americans? You win the title, go home and don't play any more."

Later in his life, after abandoning chess altogether, Morphy suffered from delusions of persecution and withdrew into his own private world. Occasionally he strolled the streets of New Orleans, muttering, in French, "He will plant the banner of Castille upon the walls of Madrid, amidst the cries of the conquered city, and the little king will go away looking very sheepish." He died of apoplexy, at age 47.". (from William Nack's excellent article)

Shall I compare thee to ... John Lennon!

Now we are 40 years on from Bobby Fischer's triumph in Reykjavik it is increasingly hard to find anything new or meaningful about the man himself. One of the problems of writing about any historical figure is that, in most cases, the writer did not grow up in the same world and has no experience of societal norms at that time. For example, those of you who didn't live during the Cold War period cannot understand on a gut level, how it shaped one's mental scenery. I was pretty young when he won the title and, because I had no experience of previous title matches, simply assumed that this was the way chess matches were played. The ignorance of youth. I didn't realise that Fischer was uniquely responsible for changing the chess landscape forever in terms of financial reward and popularity.

But, for some reason, he occupies a similar place in my life to Lennon. On a subconscious level I somehow believe that the way they lived their lives will help me to understand my own motivations. We are all affected by the way our 'idols' live their lives - unfortunately they often feel no responsibility for the huge effect they have on those who follow them (of any age, not just youngsters). We are all looking for answers and so we naturally check out the way others live their lives. Of course Lennon, as usual, had his own take on this, thus "My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.".

To justify my talking about Lennon in a post about Fischer (John and Yoko were/are chess players incidentally), here are a couple of the former's quotes which Fischer might (?) have said himself:

"The only reason I am a star is because of my repression. Nothing else would have driven me through all that if I was 'normal'."

"I'm not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I've always been a freak. So I've been a freak all my life and I have to live with that, you know. I'm one of those people."

"When I was about twelve, I used to think I must be a genius, but nobody’s noticed. Either I’m a genius or I’m mad, which is it? ‘No,’ I said, ‘I can’t be mad because nobody’s put me away; therefore I’m a genius.’ Genius is a form of madness and we’re all that way. But I used to be coy about it, like me guitar playing. But if there’s such a thing as genius – I am one. And if there isn’t, I don’t care."

"People like me are aware of their so-called genius at ten, eight, nine."

"I was different, I was always different. Why didn't anybody notice me?"

"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."

"Part of me suspects that I'm a loser, and the other part of me thinks I'm God Almighty. ".

"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."


Fisher and Lennon contrasted

Let's begin with another quote from Lennon, this time it contains an emotional insight that perhaps Fischer did NOT have - to his great cost:

"When you're drowning, you don't say 'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,' you just scream.".

So Lennon screamed out for 'Help' throughout his life - whilst Fischer hid himself away. One of the commentators at 'Crooked Timber talks about what might have happened to Fischer if help had been available, thus:

"It seems pretty likely to me that Fischer had Asperger’s syndrome, and probably suffered manic/depressive and psychotic episodes, as many people so affected do. Learning chess and multiple languages at a young age is a giveaway. His antisemitic rantings are quite likely the product of the associated psychosis, and no doubt seemed to him quite reasonable. Had he been born 30 years later, he quite probably would have been properly diagnosed and treated, and would have lead a reasonably normal life. Would he still have been a chess master? Who knows?"

And another comment in the same vein - from 'EndridCold' (in a YouTube commentary), thus:

"What is more disappointing is that his (Fischer's) family & so called friends allowed him to fall through the cracks. Not much was known about clinical depression & chemical imbalances back then. Who knows, something as simple as 100 mgs of Doxepin per day might well have been a God's send. Had those around him dragged him kicking & screaming to the proper docs, there is no telling where he could have taken chess.".

I think that this comment by 'EndridCold' is quite profound. Fischer arguably had much less support than Lennon, with his Beatle mates to keep him company and provide support. But then Fischer was adept at pushing people away eg if he ever suspected that they talked about him in any way to the media they were immediately 'banished' from his life. In contrast we remember how McCartney, noticing that Lennon was experiencing a bad drug trip, took time to sit with his friend and even 'take a trip' himself - just to keep him company.

The lifestyle of the Beatles, and the wonderful camaraderie they built up over the years, highlights the isolation of a dedicated chess player such as Fischer in a dramatic way. We see that it is not just Fischer's reported reclusiveness and lack of social skills that were to blame for the difficulties he suffered but also his lifestyle. There is something courageous in taking on the role of professional chessplayer and it isn't just the lack of financial reward. Most are not 'geeky' or antisocial by nature - yet they risk being perceived as such or even finding to their horror that, in time, they actually begin to develop such characteristics to some degree. What I am saying is that chess players may not be antisocial - contrary to the popular view. That they make sacrifices in real life as well as in the game itself!

Let Aunt Mimi have the last word

After discussing the experience of having 'difficulties' childhood with one's mother, it seems appropriate to talk about Lennon's mother too. If you are fascinated by such questions as whether Lennon would have achieved what he did without the impetus derived from the his difficult childhood I unreservedly recommend you read 'Imagine This: Growing Up with my Brother John Lennon' by Julia Baird (his half-sister) and also watch the film "Nowhere Boy"- even if Paul McCartney (who did not attend the premiere) was quoted as saying, “it wasn’t like that…this didn’t happen, and that most certainly didn’t happen.”

I'll finish with an obvious song choice from John. Apparently "Lennon wrote this while he was undergoing 'Primal Scream' therapy. He was dealing with a lot of issues that were detailed in the lyrics. He lost his mother at a crucial period in his life to a drunk driving off duty policeman who ran her over in a crosswalk and his aunt Mimi raised him, which explains the line, "Mother you had me, but I never had you." His father, a merchant seaman, left him for the sea and work. "I wanted you, you didn't need me" explains his feelings about his dad. A very painful youth, his primal screaming on this song lets you feel his pain. (thanks, Bob - Boston, MA)

Mother, you had me but I never had you
I wanted you, you didn't want me
So I, I just got to tell you
Goodbye, goodbye

Father, you left me but I never left you
I needed you, you didn't need me
So I, I just got to tell you
Goodbye, goodbye

Children, don't do what I have done
I couldn't walk and I tried to run
So I, I just got to tell you
Goodbye, goodbye

Mama, don't go
Daddy, come home
Mama, don't go
Daddy, come home
(repeat last stanza)


"The Guitar's Alright For A Hobby John.. But You'll Never Make A Living From It"
- Aunt Mimi.

Links (Fischer related)

Fischer quotes

Images (1)

Images (2)

His information

Useful information

His career and complete games (German GM Müller has annotated pretty much every single tournament game Fischer ever played that is available)

Various biographies

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