chessgames.com

Robert James Fischer vs Ratmir Kholmov
Havana CAP 1965  ·  Spanish Game: Closed Variations. Chigorin Defense (C98)  ·  0-1


Click Here to play Guess-the-Move
Given 11 times; par: 52 [what's this?]

explore this opening
find similar games 1 more Fischer/Kholmov game
PGN: download | view Help: general | java-troubleshooting

TIP: If your system is incapable of running Java (e.g. some mobile devices), you should pick the Java viewer "None (text only)" from the pulldown below. If you need to install Java, visit www.java.com.

Java Viewer:  What is this?
For help with the default chess viewer, please see the Chess Viewer Deluxe Quickstart Guide.

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 3 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing >
Oct-02-08   AnalyzeThis: It's an excellent game, no question.
Oct-02-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  arsen387: <drukenknight: If Fischer was black and Spassky white in this, they would call it the game of the century...> The most hilarious thing about this post is that it is very very close to reality. This game is a real gem. Kholmov produced several such masterpieces during his career
Oct-02-08   drukenknight: Does 26 hxg4 offer any better chances? Bringing a pawn to the center might be better. I am using the crappy chesslab pc and it gives something like:

26. hxg4 Qd8
27. Qb7 Qd7
28. Qxa6 c3
29. a4 bxa4
30. Qxa4 Rb8
31. Qxd7 Rxd7
32. Ra6 Rxb4
33. Rxe6 which is not bad. And not the last word I'm sure.

ALso does anyone get the feeling Fischer is playing the whole soviet team here? The moves are so solid and deep..

Oct-02-08   AnalyzeThis: Fischer was so strong with White in the Ruy Lopez. Kholmov spectacularly accepts doubled pawns and throws in a temporary piece sacrifice. Perhaps Kholmov's best ever game.
Oct-02-08   drukenknight: Someone asked about how much extra time was added due to the cable transmission. According to Wade/OCOnnell it added about 2 minutes per move, which I assume means about 1 min for black and 1 for white. So about 80 min. extra for a 40 move session.

No less than 5 of FIscher's opponents were in bad time trouble in this tournament. INcluding Geller who banged out 7 moves in the last minute in going on to victory. Its not clear from the book but Lehman, Cobo and Robatsch may have all lost on time in their game w/ Fischer.

In this game, both players played rapidly up to blacks' 17th, which kholmov spent 4 min on. Fischer then spent 25 min on 19 b4 and Homov spent 14 in replying Nd4 so I guess he was probably out of prepared analysis by that point. Black spent another 19 min on 22..RxB so I guess that is not so obvious either.

Oct-04-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: Kholmov was a dangerous player on the black side of the closed Ruy, with 36 wins against 28 losses in this database. Here's a list of his wins. You'll see several notable scalps, such as Fischer, Gheorghiu, Tringov, Shamkovich (twice), Matanovic, Lein and Vasiukov: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

I particularly like this game with Fischer and this one: A Lein vs Kholmov, 1972

Oct-04-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Resignation Trap: <drukenknight> After 26.hxg4 Qd8 (The solid 26...Rfd8 is also good.) 27.Qb7 Qd7 28.Qxa6 we have this position:


click for larger view

With White's Queen out of play, an undefended Rook on a1, and active Black Rooks, it's time to attack!

28...Bh4! and now if
a) 29.Rf1 or 29.Re2 Bxf2+! should win.
b) 29.g3 Bxg3! leads to a winning attack.
c) 29.Be3 Rxe3! 30.fxe3 Bf2+ 31.Kh1 Qe7 32.g3 Bxg3 also is winning.

Oct-04-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: <Resignation Trap> In your analysis, instead of 28...Bh4, I would bet that 28...Rxf2 straight works. For example 29. Kxf2, Bh4+ 30.Ke2 Bxe1 31.Kxe1 (if 31.Be3, Rxe3+ mates quickly) Rd1+ 32.Kf2 Qd4+ 33.Kg3 Rd3+ 34.Kh2 Qxe5+ 35.Kg1 Rd1+ 36.Kf2 Qe1+ 37.Kf3 Rd3+ 38.Kf4 e5#. The bottom line is the same: sending the white queen to grab a faraway pawn in this position makes white a sitting duck.
Oct-04-08   drukenknight: the b pawn did not have a useful life..
Oct-05-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Resignation Trap: <Fusilli> Your line, 26.hxg4 Qd8 27.Qb7 Qd7 28.Qxa6 Rxf2! would have been a fantastic way to finish Fischer off. At first I thought that White had a better defense than the one you proposed: 29.Kxf2 Bh4+ 30.Ke2 Bxe1:


click for larger view

Analysis

I thought that White would be able to muddle through with 31.Bf4, but that also fails: 31.Bf4 Bc3 32.Rh1 (32.Rf1 Rd2+ 33.Bxd2 Qxd2+ 34.Kf3 Qd3+ 35.Kf2 Bd4+ 36.Ke1 Qb1+ 37.Kd2 c3+ 38.Ke2 Qc2+ 39.Kf3 Qd3+ 40.Kf4 g5#) Rd2+! 33.Bxd2 Qxd2+ 34.Kf3 Qd3+ 35.Kf2 Bd4+ 36.Ke1 Qg3+ 37.Kd1 Qxg4+ 38.Ke1 Qe4+ 39.Kf1 Qb1+ 40.Ke2 Qc2+ 41.Ke1 Qxg2 42.Rh3 c3!

Oct-05-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Resignation Trap: Here's the position after Black's 37th move:


click for larger view

Hans Kmoch in the January 1966 issue of <Chess Review> proposed:

38.Rf7+ Kg6 39.Rb7 Kh5 40.Ra2! Bh4 41.Ke4 Rg3 42.Bc5 with the point that either 42...Rxh3 43.Rb6 or 42...Rxa3 43.Rxa3 Rxa3 44.Rb6 leads to the fall of the Black Pawn on e6 "and a probable turn of the tables".

Position after 43.Bc5 (Kmoch's analysis):


click for larger view

The best I can find for Black is 42...Rgf3 43.Ra1 (43.Rb6? Bg5! 44.fxg5 hxg5 followed by ...Rf4#) Bg5! 44.Rf7 Bd8. I can't find a forced win for Black, however.

Oct-06-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: <<Resignation Trap>, 38.Rf7+ Kg6 39.Rb7 Kh5 40.Ra2! Bh4 41.Ke4 Rg3 42.Bc5 Rxh3 43.Rb6 is quite an interesting line. How about 43...Bg3. For example:

a) 44.Be3 Bh2! and 45. Re2?? loses to Rxe3+! 46.Rxe3 Rxe3+ 47.Kxe3 Bg1+. Then if 45.Bc5 Bxf4 46.Rxe6 (taking the bishop gets white mated, of course) and the white e-pawn is threatening, but black has passed pawns too. For example: 46...Be3 threatens 47...Rh4+ winning, so white has to move the rook from e6 and black can exchange bishops and I think he might be fine.

b) 44.Rxe6 Bxf4! 45.Rxa6 (45.Kxf4?? Rh4+ 46.Kf5 Rf3#) Be3 and I'm not fully sure what's going on.

Oct-14-08   jerseybob: This was one of two ugly losses as white in a Lopez that the out-of-practice Fischer suffered during this tourney, the other being against Ivkov. Kavalek played the recommended improvement 19.b3 against Cuellar at Sousse 1967 and lost, maybe not the fault of the move. Nonetheless, Fischer seems to have discarded this line and gone for 17.Nf5 in later games, like against O'Kelly at Buenos Aires 1970. So also Reshevsky in his magnificent win against Smyslov in the 1970 USSR v World Match.
Dec-22-08   zzzzzzzzzzzz: the rat catches a fisher
May-29-09   totololo: In the same tournament Bobby lost two games in the closed Spanish with d column opened because of the black rooks penetration on D and after that on the G column.The oponents were Holmov and Ivkov from the same chess school. In '67 L.Stein payed the price of the hard learned lesson in one of the best played games bu Fischer.
May-29-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <The oponents were Holmov and Ivkov from the same chess school.>

Same school? They're not even from the same country.

May-30-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Eyal: Apparently it was the "penetrate on the d-file and then on the g-file in the closed Spanish" school...
May-31-09   totololo: To keypusher

Ivkov(Serbs) and the Russians had a coordinated system of chess training byb their national federations under the control of the Soviets.

May-31-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: I think Bobby was intimidated by his opponent's name. The Kholmov region is part of Siberia, near the arctic circle. In the 20th century the Russians sent many thousands of political prisoners to the labor camps there. Alexander Szholzenitsyn wrote about it in his series of books "The Gulag Achipelago".
May-31-09   AnalyzeThis: Either that, or Kholmov played a great game.
May-31-09   Lt.Surena: Now Yugoslavia was part of Soviet Union? lol !! Western Propaganda machine at its best ! The same spin that created Bobby vs. Russians (Oh yea, Keres, Tal, Petrosian were Russian in the eye of the liers not Estonian, Lativian, Armenian). All to demonize the opponenets. The lunatic loses 7 games in 63, complains/bi@tches/moans about everything and still the spin masters aligned with him. Well, the one-time wonder put his tail between his legs and ran in 72 when he ran out of bag of tricks. The spin master were left with eggs on their faces !!
May-31-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: I think Bobby was caught up in "Freezer Fear"! ahhhhh
May-31-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <totololo: To keypusher

Ivkov(Serbs) and the Russians had a coordinated system of chess training byb their national federations under the control of the Soviets.>

No, they didn't. And the Yugoslavs would have beaten you black and blue if you suggested anything of the kind to them.

Is Tito forgotten so soon?

Jun-01-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: The Yugoslavs were always independent. Tito advocated a 'rotating presidency', whereby each Balkan country would hold the title of president of the Yugo federation for, I think, one year apiece. Such power sharing was unheard of in Moscow.

The Yugos are slavs, and have a kinship with russian slavs (as opposed to the Croations or muslims in the Yugo federaton) but Tito's bunch were never owned by Moscow.

Jul-08-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Ulhumbrus: After 18...fxe6 White has the bishop pair and Black's e pawn is doubled. White has no need to pay an undue price in order to gain more. On the other hand Black threatens ..Nd4 followed by ..exd4, ...d3 and ...d2. 19 Ng4 Nd4 20 Nxf6+ Bxf6 21 cxd4 exd4 22 Qg4 d3 23 Qxe6+ Kh8 24 e5 Be7 25 Bxd3 cxd3 26 Bd2 may be adequate.
Jump directly to page #    (enter number from 1 to 3)
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 3 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing >

Secrets of Opening Surprises
NOTE: You need to pick a username and password to post a reply. Getting your account takes less than a minute, totally anonymous, and 100% free--plus, it entitles you to features otherwise unavailable. Pick your username now and join the chessgames community!
If you already have an account, you should login now.
Please observe our posting guidelines:
  1. No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
  2. No spamming, advertising, or duplicating posts.
  3. No personal attacks against other users.
  4. Nothing in violation of United States law.
Blow the Whistle See something which violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform an administrator.


NOTE: Keep all discussion on the topic of this page. This forum is for this specific game and nothing else. If you want to discuss chess in general, or this site, you might try the Kibitzer's Café.
Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.
Spot an error? Please submit a correction slip and help us eliminate database mistakes!
This game is type: CLASSICAL (Disagree? Please submit a correction slip.)

Featured in the Following Game Collections [what is this?]
Ratmir Kholmov: +1, -1, =0
from Fischer's rare defeats. by nikolaas
Spanish Game (12...Nc6 13.dxc5)
from Bobby Fischer by guardian1984
Even you my Fischer !
from Chess is a liberating game. by arielbekarov
Cool temporary N sac which gains a pass pawn and wins the game
from Positional masterpieces by arsen387
barb's favorite games 2
by barb
"The Formula" by Jeremy Silman; Moves 16-20
from Games from Chess Mentor by The Brain99
69 "Buena Vista Social Club"
from Herkus' favorite games by Herkus
apexin's favorite games
by apexin
Hinchliffe's favorite games
by Hinchliffe
Cool Moves by Kholmov
by Resignation Trap
estrategia y tactica de suetin
by LESTRADAR
Havana CAP 1965
from Favorite Games #4 (1960-1979) by wanabe2000
Chigorin
from Ruy Lopez by KingG
Black Perl
by Sink
Game 58
from Russians versus Fischer by Anatoly21
Closed Chigorin Defense
from The Ruy Lopez by chessman95
Fischer gets a lesson-geat break-thru+ strategy by Kholmov
from Richard Taylor's favorite games by Richard Taylor


home | about | login | logout | F.A.Q. | your profile | preferences | Premium Membership | Kibitzer's Café | new kibitzing | chessforums | new games | Player Directory | World Chess Championships | Opening Explorer | Guess the Move | Game Collections | ChessBookie Game | Chessgames Challenge | Little ChessPartner | privacy notice | contact us
Copyright 2001-2009, Chessgames.com
Web design & database development by 20/20 Technologies