Lajos Portisch vs Robert James Fischer (1970)

Lajos Portisch vs Robert James Fischer
Siegen ol final 1970 · Nimzo-Indian Defense: Normal. Bronstein (Byrne) Variation (E45) · 1/2-1/2

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explore this opening	find similar games	8 more Portisch/Fischer games
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Oct-08-04		WMD: Q: How did you get along with Fischer? P: I think we always had good relations. I still remember our last game at the Siegen Olympiad in 1970. It was on a Sunday and we both showed up to the game in black suits. Because it was Sunday and out of respect for each other. Unfortunately many things have changed. I always paid a lot of attention to stories like the one I read in Alekhine's book. When he was about to lose the match against Euwe he showed up in evening dress. It was probably very difficult for him to have to resign the world title, but he didn't show that. I'm always saying that many chess players do not realise that they should show some respect for their opponents.

Nov-03-04		WMD: This game is analysed in Kasparov's OMGP-III. 8.Ba3! 'An excellent novelty, prepared by Portisch after the failure in his game with Fischer in Santa Monica, which went 8.Qf3 0-0 9.e4 dxe4 10.Nxe4 Nxe4 11.Qxe4 Qd7!!' 14...Nh5 'And Black immediately makes a bad mistake! It seems to me that Fischer's handling of such complicated positions, when the opponent had the initiative, was not very successful. This was not his sort of play - too ragged and difficult for the development of a clear plan.' 25.Bxc5!! 'a brilliant stroke, radically solving the problem of the a3 bishop'. 28.Qf3? 'Portisch nevertheless misses the win, by making the worst of possible moves. Later he pointed out 28.Qe4! Qg5 (28...Nxe6 29.axb5) 29.Kh1 h3 (29...Nd3 30.Qf3!) 30.g3 Nd3 31.e7!, winning.' 28.Qxc4 is given by Kasparov as an alternative win.

Nov-03-04		tamar: 15 d5! puts Black's game in crisis. 15...exd5 16 Rxd5 would fork the Queen and Knight on h5. 15...Ne5 as played is little better as 16 fxe6 Qxe6 17 Bxh5 Rxh5 18 Rxd8+ Kxd8 19 Qd1+ also forks on h5. It is amazing Fischer survived this sequence. On the off-chance that he reads chessgames.com, can he tell us if he was surprised by this variation?

Nov-03-04		WMD: Yes, I was.

Nov-03-04		tamar: <WMD>=RJF? Buying GKK's book? I don't think so!

May-01-05		refutor: this game really shows off fischer's defensive skills, i would love to have white's position for most of this game

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