wwall: This was the 1st game in the Spassky-Geller quarter final Candidates match played on the Black Sea coast. Bondarevsky was Spassky's second and Gufeld was Geller's second. The match was played from April 2, 1968 to April 17, 1968. They had met 23 times before, with 6 wins for Spassky, 4 wins for Geller and 13 draws.Geller surprised Spassky with 1.e4, as he was known as a 1.d4 player.
10.Re1 was a bit unusual. 10.Be3 was more common.
11.Bg5 was Geller's idea from home analysis. Bondarevsky thought 11.Be3 was better. White wants to play 12.Bxc6. If 11...Be6, then 12.Bxc6 bxc6 13.Nbd4. If 11...f6, then 12.Bf4. Spassky's move of 11...h6 surprised Geller, who spent 40 minutes before playing 12.Be3. The main line he was considering was 12.Bh4, expecting 12...g5 13.Bg3 Nf5, but Spassky said he was considering 12...f6 if 12.Bh4 was played.
Perhaps 14.Bd3 is better than 14.Bxc6.
Instead of 16.c3, if 16.f3?, then 16...Bxc2 17.Qxc2 Nxd4 18.Nxd4 Qxd4+ 19.Qf2 Qb4.
18...Bc2 looked OK. 18...Bf5 looks like a good alternative. If 18...Qxd4?!, then 19.Nxd4 c5 20.Nb3 helps White.
After 21...c5, best is 22.Nf5 Bd7 23.Ne7+ Kh7 24.Nxd5 Rxa2 25.Nxb6 Rxe1+ 26.Rxe1 Be6 should draw.