From the publisher:
“Initially things looked gloomy for Bobby Fischer. Because he had refused to participate in the 1969 US Championship, he had missed his chance to qualify for the 1970 Interzonal Tournament in Palma de Mallorca. Only when another American, Pal Benko, withdrew in his favour, and after the officials were willing to bend the rules, could Bobby enter the contest and begin his phenomenal run that would end with the Match of the Century in Reykjavik against World Champion Boris Spassky.
Fischer started out by sweeping the field at the 23-round Palma Interzonal to qualify for the next stage of the cycle. In the Candidates Matches he first faced Mark Taimanov, in Vancouver. Fischer trounced the Soviet ace, effectively ending Taimanov’s career. Then, a few months later in Denver, he was up against Bent Larsen, the Great Dane. Fischer annihilated him, too. The surreal score in those two matches, twice 6-0, flabbergasted chess fans all over the world. In the ensuing Candidates Final in Buenos Aires, Fischer also made short shrift of former World Champion Tigran Petrosian, beating the hyper-solid “Armenian Tiger” 6½-2½.
Altogether, Fischer had scored an incredible 36 points from 43 games against many of the world’s best players, including a streak of 19 consecutive wins. Bobby Fischer had become not just a national hero in the US, but a household name with pop-star status all over the world. Jan Timman chronicles the full story of Fischer’s sensational run and takes a fresh look at the games. The annotations are in the author’s trademark lucid style, that happy mix of colourful background information and sharp, crystal-clear explanations.”
Where does history start? I’ve always thought history is what happened before you were born. For those of us, like Jan Timman and myself, who learnt our chess in the 1960s, perhaps chess history is what happened before World War 2. The events of the late forties were full of names familiar to us from tournaments of our time.
This book covers Bobby Fischer’s career in the years 1970 and 1971. More like current affairs than history for our generation. We all remember it well: we were around at the time and some of us will be familiar with many of the games. But, for younger readers, Fischer’s games from half a century ago will be ancient history. If we turn the clock back another five decades we reach 1921 and the Lasker – Capablanca World Championship match. Now that really does feel like ancient history, even to me.
Fifty years on, it seems like a good time to revisit the games with the aid of today’s powerful engines and greater knowledge. Jan Timman is ideally qualified to do just that.
Readers of Timman’s other recent books will know what to expect: clear annotations based on explanations rather than variations, along with entertaining anecdotes and background colour to put the games into context.
We have all 43 games (44 if you include a win by default) from the 1970 Interzonal and 1971 candidates matches, along with a selection of 19 games from earlier in 1970.
After withdrawing from the 1967 Interzonal, Fischer played in two relatively minor tournaments the following year, and, in 1969, played only one serious game, in a New York league match. The chess world was uncertain whether or not he’d ever play again, let alone fulfil what appeared to be his destiny and become world champion. Exciting, but also worrying times.
After an 18 month absence, Bobby agreed to take part in the 1970 match between the USSR and the Rest of the World, even ceding top board to Larsen. Chapter 1 takes us from this event, via Rovinj/Zagreb, the Herceg Novi blitz and Buenos Aires, to the Siegen Olympiad.
In round 7 of Rovinj-Zagreb, Fischer was black against one of the tournament’s lesser lights, the Romanian master Ghitescu.
Timman informs us: It has never been brought up before, but Fischer was demonstrably lost in this game, after having taken too much risk.
Here’s the critical position with Ghitescu to play his 23rd move. Where would you move your rook?
[fen]r4r2/pb5k/1p1p1p2/2pPbP2/2P3pP/2N2R2/PP2N1P1/R5K1 w – – 0 23[/fen]
The exchange sacrifice 23. Rf4! would have been very strong. Black cannot accept the sacrifice, because he would have been strategically losing. Also after 23… Rg8 24. Re4 Rae8 25. Rf1, White is winning.
I may be wrong but I would have thought Rf4 would be automatic for master strength players today. Wouldn’t it also have been automatic for, say, Petrosian, back in 1970?
Instead, the game continued 23. Rd3 Rad8 24. Ng3 (24. b3 would have maintained the advantage) 24… Ba6, when Fischer took control of the game, eventually bringing home the full point. If he’d lost that game, perhaps chess history would have been very different.
Here’s the complete game.
[pgn]
[Event “Rovinj/Zagreb”]
[Site “Zagreb”]
[Date “1970.04.20”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Ghitescu, Theodor”]
[Black “Fischer, Robert James”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “E82”]
[PlyCount “94”]
[EventDate “1970.04.12”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “17”]
[EventCountry “CRO”]
[SourceTitle “MCD”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 b6 7. Bd3 Bb7 8. Nge2
c5 9. d5 e6 10. O-O exd5 11. exd5 Nbd7 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 Ne5 14. f4 Nxd3 15.
Qxd3 Qd7 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. f5 g5 18. Qh3 Be5 19. Qxh6 f6 20. Rf3 Qh7 21. Qxh7+
Kxh7 22. h4 g4 23. Rd3 Rae8 24. Ng3 Ba6 25. b3 b5 26. cxb5 Bxb5 27. Nxb5 Bxa1
28. Nxd6 Bd4+ 29. Kf1 Re5 30. Nc4 Rxd5 31. Ne3 Rd7 32. Nxg4 Rg7 33. Nf2 Rfg8
34. Nfe4 Kh6 35. h5 Rg4 36. Ke2 Be5 37. Kf2 R4g7 38. Rf3 Rg4 39. Rd3 a6 40. Rf3
Bd4+ 41. Kf1 Be5 42. Kf2 a5 43. a4 Rd8 44. Ke3 Rb8 45. Kf2 c4 46. bxc4 Rb2+ 47.
Kf1 Rb4 0-1
[/pgn]
The strategic insights Timman brings to positions like this are, for me, what makes this book so instructive. Here’s another example: Gligoric – Fischer from Siegen, with Gligoric to make his 39th move.
[fen]8/8/2pk1p1r/p1p2PpP/1r1bP3/1PNR2K1/P7/7R w – – 0 39[/fen]
It’s not dissimilar to the previous example, and indeed both positions arose from King’s Indian Defences. Here, a white knight is fighting against a dark-squared bishop outside the pawn chain.
White could have obtained a winning position with 39. Nb1!. The strategic plan is simple: White is going to bring his knight to c4 and install his king on g4. Black has nothing to offer in exchange; his doubled c-pawn will be blocked, and his pieces are barely able to display any activity.
Again, the complete game:
[pgn]
[Event “Olympiad-19 Final A”]
[Site “Siegen”]
[Date “1970.09.22”]
[Round “8”]
[White “Gligoric, Svetozar”]
[Black “Fischer, Robert James”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “E94”]
[PlyCount “130”]
[EventDate “1970.09.05”]
[EventType “team-tourn”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “GER”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2002”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2001.11.25”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2001.11.25”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
[WhiteTeam “Yugoslavia”]
[BlackTeam “US of America”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “YUG”]
[BlackTeamCountry “USA”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. d5 Nbd7 8. O-O
Nc5 9. Qc2 a5 10. Bg5 h6 11. Be3 Ng4 12. Bxc5 dxc5 13. h3 Nf6 14. Nxe5 Nxd5 15.
cxd5 Bxe5 16. f4 Bd4+ 17. Kh1 Qh4 18. Qd3 c6 19. Qf3 h5 20. f5 Bd7 21. Bc4 g5
22. Rad1 Rae8 23. dxc6 Bxc6 24. Bd5 Re5 25. Bxc6 bxc6 26. Rd3 Rfe8 27. Qg3 Qxg3
28. Rxg3 f6 29. Rd3 h4 30. b3 Rb8 31. g3 hxg3 32. Kg2 Rb4 33. Rc1 Kf7 34. Kxg3
Ke7 35. Re1 Kd6 36. Rh1 Re7 37. h4 Rh7 38. h5 Rh6 39. Kf3 Ke5 40. Ne2 a4 41.
Ng3 c4 42. bxc4 Rb2 43. Nf1 Rxh5 44. Rxh5 Rf2+ 45. Kg3 Rxf1 46. Rh8 Kxe4 47.
Ra3 Rg1+ 48. Kh2 Rc1 49. Rxa4 Rc2+ 50. Kh1 c5 51. Ra3 Kxf5 52. Rh2 Rc1+ 53. Kg2
g4 54. Rh1 Rc2+ 55. Kf1 Kg5 56. Rh8 f5 57. Rg8+ Kh4 58. Ke1 f4 59. Kd1 Rg2 60.
Ra6 f3 61. Rh6+ Kg3 62. Rhg6 Kf4 63. a4 Rg1+ 64. Kd2 f2 65. Rf8+ Kg3 0-1
[/pgn]
Chapter 2 covers the 1970 Interzonal at Palma, Mallorca. You won’t find very many brilliant miniatures in this book, but Fischer’s win against Rubinetti is an exception.
[pgn]
[Event “Interzonal-08”]
[Site “Palma de Mallorca”]
[Date “1970.12.02”]
[Round “17”]
[White “Fischer, Robert James”]
[Black “Rubinetti, Jorge Alberto”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B87”]
[PlyCount “47”]
[EventDate “1970.11.09”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “23”]
[EventCountry “ESP”]
[SourceTitle “IZT”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Bc4 a6 7. Bb3 b5 8. O-O
Bb7 9. Re1 Nbd7 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bh4 Nc5 12. Bd5 exd5 13. exd5+ Kd7 14. b4 Na4
15. Nxa4 bxa4 16. c4 Kc8 17. Qxa4 Qd7 18. Qb3 g5 19. Bg3 Nh5 20. c5 dxc5 21.
bxc5 Qxd5 22. Re8+ Kd7 23. Qa4+ Bc6 24. Nxc6 1-0
[/pgn]
Chapters 3-5 offer Fischer’s 6-0 shutouts against Taimanov and Larsen, and the final match against former champion Tigran Petrosian.
[fen]r4k2/r2b1ppp/p4n2/2NpR3/1P6/3B1P2/P5PP/R5K1 w – – 0 22[/fen]
This position interested me. Any well-read player from my generation will recognise this as coming from the 7th Fischer – Petrosian game, where Bobby played 22. Nxd7+, a move garlanded with various numbers of exclamation marks by many commentators both at the time and later.
Here’s what Timman has to say.
The praise with which this move has been showered is unbelievable. Byrne commented: ‘This exchange, which wins the game, was completely overlooked by the press room group of grandmaster analysis. Najdorf, in fact, criticized it(!), suggesting the incomparably weaker 22. a4.’
Kasparov, too, was full of praise. ‘A brilliant decision, masterfully transforming one advantage into another (…) Petrosian was obviously hoping for the “obvious” 22. a4 Bc6 23. Rc1 Nd7 24. Nxd7+ Bxd7 with possibilities of a defence.
In Chess Informant 12, Petrosian himself and Suetin give two ‘!’s to the text move.
True, not all commentators were so pronounced in their praise. Spassky and Polugaevsky limited themselves to the conclusion that White exchanged one advantage for another and didn’t give an ‘!’ to the move.
However, the general drift was that Fischer had done something highly instructive, adding a new facet to strategic thinking in chess. I was very impressed at the time, but I also had doubts. There were no computers yet, and young players looked to the great players on the world stage as their examples. So, Fischer must have understood it better than I did.
Yet, I am almost certain that in this position, or a similar one, I would have opted for Najdorf’s move. And almost half a century after the event, it turned out that the Argentinian had simply been right!
Timman goes on to demonstrate that, indeed, 22. a4 is clearly winning, whereas Fischer’s 22. Nxd7+ Rxd7 23. Rc1 would have given Petrosian defensive chances if he’d chosen 23… d4 rather than the passive Rd6.
See for yourself:
[pgn]
[Event “Candidates f Fischer-Petrosian +5-1=3”]
[Site “Buenos Aires”]
[Date “1971.10.19”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Fischer, Robert James”]
[Black “Petrosian, Tigran V”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B42”]
[WhiteElo “2760”]
[PlyCount “67”]
[EventDate “1971.09.30”]
[EventType “match”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “ARG”]
[SourceTitle “Candidates”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “2”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. O-O d5 8.
c4 Nf6 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. exd5 exd5 11. Nc3 Be7 12. Qa4+ Qd7 13. Re1 Qxa4 14.
Nxa4 Be6 15. Be3 O-O 16. Bc5 Rfe8 17. Bxe7 Rxe7 18. b4 Kf8 19. Nc5 Bc8 20. f3
Rea7 21. Re5 Bd7 22. Nxd7+ Rxd7 23. Rc1 Rd6 24. Rc7 Nd7 25. Re2 g6 26. Kf2 h5
27. f4 h4 28. Kf3 f5 29. Ke3 d4+ 30. Kd2 Nb6 31. Ree7 Nd5 32. Rf7+ Ke8 33. Rb7
Nxf4 34. Bc4 1-0
[/pgn]
What comes across from this book is the remorseless power and logic of Fischer’s play in this period, as well as his determination to play for a win in every game. Short draws were never on his agenda.
In the past, there was a tendency to annotate by result or reputation, and this seems to have been what happened here. These days, we can all switch on Stockfish and annotate by computer, while neglecting the human, the practical element.
Timman’s annotations, both here and in his previous books, strike me as getting the balance just about right. Call me old-fashioned, but I’d rather have verbal explanations than long engine-generated variations.
Older readers will enjoy reliving memories of the golden days of the Fischer era, while younger readers will learn a lot of chess history. Players of all levels will benefit from the annotations, which, because of their lucidity, are accessible to anyone from, say, 1500 upwards.
The many anecdotes add much to the book, although serious historians might feel frustrated that they’re not always sourced. There are also several pages of photographs: while their quality, as they’re printed on matt paper, isn’t perfect, they’re still more than welcome.
There are a few typos and mistakes regarding match scores and tournament crosstables which more careful proofing might have picked up, and the English, in one or two places (you may have noticed this from the extracts I quoted), might have been more idiomatic. Slightly annoying, perhaps, but this won’t really impede your enjoyment of the book.
In spite of these slight reservations, this is an excellent book which is warmly recommended for players of all strengths. Next year will see the 50th anniversary of Fischer – Spassky. Might we hope that Timman will cover this match in a future volume?
One last thought: I wrote at the beginning of this review about how people of different ages have different perspectives of history. If Capablanca and Alekhine had been granted long lives, they would have lived to see these games. What would they have made of them? What would they have made of Bobby Fischer?
Richard James, Twickenham 10th August 2021
Book Details :
- Softcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: New In chess (17 May 2021)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10:9056919784
- ISBN-13:978-9056919788
- Product Dimensions: 17.27 x 2.54 x 23.62 cm
Official web site of New in Chess