Ego crusher

Raymond Keene

The quality of play in the Fischer- Spassky 'world chess championship' is cer- tainly not as accurate as that which we have been accustomed to see in the classic series of Kasparov-Karpov encounters. What Spassky-Fischer lacks in pure quality is, though, entirely compensated for by the tremendous verve and dash of what has turned out to be a series of most exciting and bloodthirsty games. The clashes have been full of content, and recall, to my mind, the caveman battles between Alekhine and Bogolyubov for the world title played in 1929 and 1934, rather than the technical expertise and virtuosity dis- played in the Alekhine-Capablanca match of 1927. I have always felt that Alekhine and Capablanca were the stylistic forebears of Kasparov and Karpov respectively.

The chief danger when facing Fischer is that once he starts to win he can continue to cause an unstoppable collapse in the morale of his opponent. Spassky lost the closely contested game 7 and for games 8 and 9 he was clearly not the man he had been during the first six games of the match.

I commence this week with a fresh visit to game 8, subsequent analysis of which has revealed hitherto unsuspected possibi- lities.

Spassky — Fischer: Game 8, Sveti Stefan, 1992; King's Indian Defence.

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 f3 0-0 6 Be3 Nc6 7 Nge2 a6 8 Qd2 Rb8 9 h4 h5 10 Bh6 e5 11 Bxg7 Kxg7 12 d5 Ne7 13 Ng3 c6 14 dxc6 Nxc6 15 0-0-0 Be6 16 Kbl Ne8 17 Nd5 b5 18 Ne3 Rh8 19 Rd Qb6 20 Bd3 Nd4 21 Nd5 Qa7 22 NO Nf6 23 Nfe3 BxdS 24 cxd5 RbcS 25 Rcfl Qe7 26 g4 Nd7 27 g5 Kf8 28 Rf2 Ke8 29 Bfl Nc5 30 Bh3 Rc7 31 Rcl (Diagram). Position after 31 Rcl In this position, Fischer unleashed the apparently decisive coup 31 . . . Ncb3 when after 32 cxb3 Nxb3 33 Rc6? Spassky lost comfortably. It has subsequently been established that Spassky had no less than two good alternatives on move 33. They are as follows: a) 33 Qc2! Nxcl 34 Qdl! and following with Rc2 White will inevit- ably win the black knight. The other variation is 33 Qc2 Rxc2 34 Rfxc2! Nxcl 35 Rc8+ Qd8 36 Kxcl QxcS 37 Bxc8 Ke7 38 Bxa6 Ra8 39 Bxb5 Ral + 40 Kd2 Rhl 41 Bfl Rxh4 42 Bg2 Rh2 43 Keg h4 44 ICf2 h3 45 Kgl Rxg2+ 46 Nxg2 hxg2 47 Kxg2 when White wins the king and pawn endgame (this is analysis which I did with Kasparov after the game).

The other variation is: b) 33 Qc3 Rxc3 34 Rxc3 Nc5 35 b4 Nb7 36 Rc8+ Nd8 37 Rfc2 with the murderous threat of Rc2c7, when White wins. After 33 Qc3 Black has to play 33 . . . Nxcl but then 34 Qa3 leaves the knight trapped while White has possibili- ties of capturing all Black's queenside pawns, with the black king stuck awkward- ly on e8.

So, a great missed opportunity for Spass- ky, who lost from what could have been one of his best and most interesting games.

Fischer — Spassky: Game 9; Ruy Lopez.

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Bxc6 dxc6 5 0-0 f6 6 d4 exd4 7 Nxd4 c5 8 Nb3 Qxdl 9 Rxdl Bg4 10 f3 Be6 11 Nc3 Bd6 12 Be3 b6 13 a4 0-0-0 14 a5 15 e5 Be7 16 Rxd8 Bxd8 17 Ne4 Kc6 18 axb6 cxb6 19 Nbxc5 Bc8 20 Nxa6 fxe5 21 Nb4+ Black resigns.

In game 9 Spassky was evidently de- moralised and lost almost without a strug- gle. 17 . . . Kc6 is a terrible blunder in a position already known to chess theory, to which Black has to play 17 . . . Bxb3 18 cxb3 f5 in order to restrict White's advan- tage to a minimum.

Game 10 was a long draw, while in game 11 Fischer extended his lead in wins to 5-2.

Fischer — Spassky: Game 11.

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 g6 4 Bxc6 bxc6 5 0-0 Be 6 Rel e5 7 b4 cxb4 8 a3 c5 9 axb4 cxb4 10 d4 exd4 11 Bb2 d6 12 Nxd4 Qd7 13 Nd2 Bbl 14 Nc4 Nh6 15 Nf5 Bxb2 16 Ncxd6+ Kf8 17 Nxh6 f6 18 Ndf1 Qxdl 19 Raxdl Ke7 20 Nxh8 Rxh8 21 Nf5+ gxf 22 exf5+ Bey 23 f4 Rc8 24 fxe5 Rxc2 25 e6 Bc6 26 Rcl Rxcl 27 Rxcl Kd6 28 Rdl + Ke5 29 e7 a5 30 Rcl Bd7 31 Rc5+ Kd4 32 RxaS b3 33 Raj Beti 34 Rb7 Kc3 35 Kfl b2 36 Ke3 BO 37 g4 Kc2 38 Kd4 b1=Q 39 Rxbl Kxbl 40 Kc5 Kc2 41 Kd6 Black resigns.

Running score:

Fischer 1 1/2 1/2 0 0 1/2 1 1

1 1/2 1

Spassky 0 1/2 V2 1 1 V2 0 0

0 I/2