| Dec-03-03 | | Petrosianic: This is what I call "The Immortal Mutual Fear Game". It starts out as a real slugfest with fireworks on both sides of the board. Fischer sacrifices a piece but gets lots of play for it. Right in the heat of battle, both sides agreed to a draw. Fischer said of it afterwards that he was afraid of losing to a Soviet Grandmaster, and Averbakh was afraid of losing to a kid. Result: Game drawn due to mutual fear. A historically significant encounter too. White is a piece up at the end, and had Averbakh gone on to win it, Fischer might easily have not made it into the 1959 Candidates. |
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| Dec-03-03 | | Benjamin Lau: Funny how even Fischer can "chicken out" of a struggle sometimes. Something he would probably never do in the 70s. (Unless you count Karpov, but I'm not going *there* again. ;-) |
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Dec-03-03
 | | technical draw: <Averbakh was afraid of losing to a kid> Fischer Fear! And he was only 15 years old. (Fischer that is). |
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Dec-03-03
 | | Honza Cervenka: After 21...Ne5 22.Rxb2 Qh3+ 23.Ke1 Rae8 black's counter-play looks sufficient, but position is very unclear. It is no wonder that both players were satisfied with a draw. |
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Jun-12-05
 | | Hesam7: Does anybody know who proposed the draw?
<From 'Evans On Chess', July 22, 1994, 'ONLY A DRAW':Even Bobby Fischer, who was famous for fighting every game to a finish, took an occasional grandmaster draw. At Portoroz in 1958, the young American shook hands to split the point with veteran Yuri Averbach in a wild position that could go either way. Years later I asked Bobby why they agreed to a premature draw. "I was afraid of losing to a Russian grandmaster and he was afraid of losing to a kid," he stated candidly.> |
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| Jun-12-05 | | ughaibu: As it's black's move, white must've offered the draw. |
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| Jun-12-05 | | sibilare: Here is an interview with the Russian GM.
http://www.worldchessnetwork.com/En... |
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Jan-27-07
 | | sisyphus: Larry Evans' interview with Averbakh implies Fischer offered the draw: <In round 7, facing Averbakh for the first and last time, Fischer embarked on a risky piece sacrifice instead of settling for 14...g5 (or Qb6) 15 h4 gxh4 16 g5 hxg5 17 Bxg5 Bg6. At the end, he offered a draw in an unclear setting.> |
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May-12-07
 | | plang: Averbakh pointed out, that at the time this game was played, the stronger 8 e5 had not yet been discovered. White gets nothing special out of the opening but seeks complications with 12 g4. Although there has been discussion regarding the draw offer in this game Fischer had the option of taking a perpetual check with 21 Qh3+ anyway. |
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May-12-07
 | | Pawn and Two: Regarding who offered the draw in this game, here is Averbakh's statement from the book, "Russians versus Fischer". In the position after move 21.Rb1, Averbakh states, <In this wild position we each had 10 minutes left to the time control, when suddenly I heard almost in a whisper: "Draw?". Since I was satisfied with my tournament position and there was no point in taking a risk, I decided not to tempt fate and I agreed to a draw (to be fair I should mention that after 21...Qh3+ 22.Rg2 Qh1+ 23.Rg1 Qh3+ the game could have ended in perpetual check.> |
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| Jan-31-08 | | Helios727: After 21... Qh3+, could no white avoid a perpetual with 22 Ke1 ? |
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Feb-01-08
| | Pawn and Two: <Helios727> After 21...Qh3+, White could have avoided a perpetual with 22.Ke1. Averbakh may have been indicating that he would have played 22.Rg2 in response to 21...Qh3+. The judgement of the players to draw appears to be correct, as Fritz indicates the position is equal after 21.Rb1: (.00) (23 ply) 21...Rae8 22.Bf3 Rxe3 23.fxe3 Rxe3 24.Rxb2 Ne5 25.Rb8+ Kxg7 26.Rb3 Nxc4. (.00) (23 ply) 21...Rb8 22.Qd2 Qh3+ 23.Ke1 Ne5 24.Rxb2 Rxb2 25.Qxb2 Rxe3 26.fxe3 Qxe3. (.00) (23 ply) 21...Ne5 22.Rxb2 Re8 23.Rb3 Qh3+ 24.Ke1 Nxc4 25.Bxc4 Rxc4. (.00) (23 ply) 21...Qh3+ 22.Ke1 Rb8 23.Qc2 Rxe3 24.fxe3 Qxe3 25.Rh1 Ne5. |
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| Jul-14-08 | | rwbean: Rybka 2.3.2a follows the Fritz line of "Pawn and Two" with 21...Rae8 up to the end, but then thinks Black is slightly better in that position: (after 21...Rae8 22. Bf3 Rxe3 23. fxe3 Rxe3 24. Rxb2 Ne5 25. Rb8+ Kxg7 26. Rb3 Nxc4) 27. Rg2 h5 28. Rf2 Rxb3 29. Qxb3 Qd4 30. Kg1 Ne5 31. Be2 c4 32. Qg3 Qc5 33. Qf4 a5 (-0.34, 24 ply) A tough one to analyse! Black has four passed pawns for the rook, and three are connected. |
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| Oct-11-09 | | Keith Dow: I have a win for Fischer with:
21...Rae8
22. Bf3 Rxe3
23. fxe3 Rxe3
24. Rxb2 Ne5
25. Rb8+ Kxg7
26. Rb3 Nxc4
27. Rg2 a5
28. Qa1+ Kh7
29. Qd1 a4
30. Rd3 Qf4
31. Rf2 Qf5
32. Be2 Qh3+
33. Ke1 Qh1+
34. Rf1 Qh4+
35. Rf2+ Re4
36. Rf3 f5
37. Qb1 h5
38. Qb7+ Re7
39. Qb5  |
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Oct-11-09
 | | Chessical: <Keith Dow> I do not believe that there is a forced win for either side, for instance: <21....Rae8> 22. Bf3 Rxe3 23.fxe3 Rxe3 24. Rxb2 Ne5 
click for larger viewand now:
<25.Rb3> Nxc4 26. Rg2 Kxg7 27. Qa1+ Kh7 = or,
<25.Rb3> Qxc4+ 26. Kg2 Nd3 27. Rf1 Kxg7 = |
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Oct-11-09
| | Pawn and Two: <Chessical> Fritz agrees with your analysis. The position after 21...Rae8 is equal. After 21...Rae8 22.Bf3 Rxe3 23.fxe3 Rxe3 24.Rxb2 Ne5, Fritz indicated White's best move is 25.Rb3: (.00) (24 ply) 25...Nxc4 26.Rg2 Qh1+ 27.Kf2 Qh4+ 28.Kf1, or (.00) (24 ply) 25...Qxc4+ 26.Kf2 Rd3 27.Rxd3 Nxd3+ 28.Kg3. |
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Oct-12-09
 | | RandomVisitor: After 13.Rg1:
1: Yuri Averbakh - Robert James Fischer, Bad Portoroz izt Rd: 7 1958
click for larger viewAnalysis by Rybka 3 : <21-ply> <1. (-0.29): 13...Bxf3> 14.Bxf3 Nbd7 15.Qd2 Nb6 16.b3 Nh7 17.Bh1 Ng5 18.0-0-0 Qf6 19.h4 Qxc3+ 20.Qxc3 Bxc3 21.hxg5 hxg5 22.Bxg5 Re2 23.Bd2 Bxd2+ 24.Rxd2 Rae8 25.Bf3 R2e7 26.Rh1 Nd7 27.Kb2 Kg7 28.g5 2. (-0.17): 13...Na6 14.Kf1 b5 15.Nxe4 Rxe4 16.Bd3 Rxc4 17.Bxc4 bxc4 18.Qc1 Rb8 19.Qxc4 Nc7 20.Rb1 Nfxd5 21.Bd2 Qf8 22.Kg2 Bxb2 23.a4 Bg7 24.a5 Re8 25.Rb7 a6 3. (-0.18): 13...b5 14.cxb5 Nbd7 15.g5 Bxf3 16.Bxf3 hxg5 17.Qc2 Ne5 18.Be2 Qd7 19.0-0-0 g4 20.Rg3 gxh3 21.Rh1 Neg4 22.Rhxh3 Nxe3 23.fxe3 Re5 24.Kb1 Rae8 25.Bf1 Ne4 26.Nxe4 Rxe4 27.a3 Rg4 |
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| Oct-12-09 | | WhiteRook48: draw because they didn't want to lose to each other??? |
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Feb-17-10
 | | TheFocus: When asked about this game, Fischer replied, “Averbakh was afraid of losing to a child, while I was afraid of losing to a grandmaster. That’s why we agreed to a draw.” |
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| Feb-18-10 | | ycbaywtb: the things fischer said, so unusual |
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Feb-03-13
 | | Garech: A disappointing finish!
-Garech |
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