MARK RUBERY CHESS

In 1961 the 50-year-old Samuel Reshevsky challenged the 18 year old Bobby Fischer to a sixteen game match for a prize fund of $6000 which was at the level of world championship matches at that time. Although Fischer was the reigning American champion and Reshevsky was already past his peak, many of the world’s leading GMs all forecasted a victory for the older player as in a match experience is a vital factor. After eleven games the scores were tied at 5.5-5.5 and with the tension rising an eye witness wrote the following:

‘The two players stopped talking to each other and they would not ride in the same car from their hotel to the venue. Reshevsky wanted air conditioning in the playing room; Fischer thought it was too cold. Both were determined to win and neither would concede anything to the other.’

A dispute prior to the 12th game saw Fischer abandoning the match (the beginning of what was to be an unfortunate pattern) and thus giving victory to Reshevsky by default. The problem arose when the sponsor, Mrs Piatigorsky, changed the time of the game in order to attend a concert given by her husband, Grigory Piatigorsky, who was a prominent cellist of the time.

Reshevsky, Samuel - Fischer, Robert [E51]

New York/Los Angeles m Los Angeles (7) 1961

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4 (Having struggled with the Kings Indian in earlier games Fischer makes a switch to the NimzoIndian) 5.e3 0–0 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 Na5 9.Nd2 c5 10.0–0 b6?! (10…dxc4 11 Nxc4 Nxc4 12 Bxc4 Qc7 13 Qe2 e5 with equality) 11.cxd5 exd5 12.f3 Re8 13.Re1 Be6

14.Ra2 Rc8 15.Nf1 cxd4 16.cxd4 h5?! (‘With Roman straightforwardness Fischer prevents g4 and the activation of the white knight via g3. Mednis in his book ‘How to beat Bobby Fischer’ calls it the losing moment but this evaluation is too severe and obviously comes from the result of the game’-Kasparov. 16… Qd7 was to be preferred) 17.h3 h4 18.Rf2 Qd7

19.e4 dxe4 20.fxe4 Bb3 (Black could have plunged into some interesting complications with 20…Qxd4!? where the apparently strong 21 e5 is convincingly met by 21…Rxc1! 22 Bh7+? Nxh7 23 Qxd4 Rxe1 with a ton of pieces for the queen. With 21 Bb2 Qd8 22 Rxf6! gxf6 23 Qh5 Kasparov demonstrates the White’s attack is almost decisive-although such pyrotechnics were not quite Reshevsky’s style) 21.Qd2 Bc4 (21…Nc4!? 22 Qg5! -Kasparov) 22.Bc2 Nb3 23.Bxb3 Bxb3 24.e5 Nd5 25.Qg5 Qe7 26.Qg4 Rc6 27.Bg5 Qxa3?? (A fatal mistake and a rare tactical lapse from the future world champion. Black could still resist by giving up a pawn via 27…Qe6 28 Qxh4 Bc2 with the idea of a blockade on the light squares)

SEE DIAGRAM

28.Qd7 1–0 (28…Rce6 29 Qxf7+ Kh7 30 Re4 is crushing) From 1946 to 1956, probably the best in the world, though his opening knowledge was less than any other leading player. Like a machine calculating every variation, he found moves over the board by a process of elimination and often got into fantastic time pressure. – Bobby Fischer (on Reshevsky)