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Rodolfo Argentino Redolfi vs Bobby Fischer
Mar del Plata (1959), Mar del Plata ARG, rd 6, Mar-29
Sicilian Defense: Canal Attack. Main Line (B52)  ·  0-1

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a
1
b
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d
e
f
g
h
White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
Notes by Stockfish 9 v010218 (minimum 6s/ply)better is 15.e5 Ne8 16.f4 e6 17.Nce2 Na6 18.Nf3 Qc7 19.c3 Nc5 ⩲ +0.52 (22 ply)= 0.00 (29 ply)better is 18...Qc7 19.Qf2 a6 20.Rd2 Rd7 21.Rfd1 Rcd8 22.h3 h5 = -0.08 (25 ply)better is 19.Nc6 Qxc6 20.Qxd8+ Rxd8 21.Rxd8+ Bf8 22.Rxb8 Qc7 ⩲ +0.57 (25 ply)= -0.12 (26 ply) after 19...Qa3 20.f4 e6 21.Nf3 Nd7 22.Ng5 b5 23.Qh4 Nf8 24.Rxd8 better is 20...Rd7 21.f4 Rcd8 22.Rd2 Bxd4 23.Rxd4 Nc6 24.Rxd7 Rxd7 = -0.11 (26 ply) 21.f4 e6 22.Nf3 Nc6 23.Bb6 Rxd1 24.Rxd1 Re8 25.Ng5 f5 = +0.42 (25 ply) 21...Qxe3 22.Qxe3 Bxd4 23.Kf2 Nc6 24.Rfd1 Bxe3+ 25.Kxe3 -+ -4.69 (25 ply)= +0.08 (27 ply) after 22.f4 e6 23.Nf3 Nd7 24.Rcd1 b5 25.Ne5 Qc7 26.Bd4 bxc4 better is 23...Rcd8 24.f5 g5 25.Rd2 h6 26.Rfd1 Bxd4 27.Rxd4 Rxd4 = -0.11 (26 ply)= +0.45 (27 ply)better is 24...bxc6 25.Rxd6 exd6 26.f5 Qe5 27.Rd1 d5 28.fxg6 hxg6 = +0.08 (25 ply) ⩲ +0.58 (23 ply) after 25.f5 Qxf5 26.Qxf5 gxf5 27.Rxf5 e6 28.Rg5 h6 29.Rg3 Kh7 better is 25...b5 26.c5 R6c7 27.Rfd1 Bf6 28.Qd2 Qxd2 29.R1xd2 Bc3 ⩲ +0.52 (22 ply)better is 26.Rd5 Qc3 27.Rfd1 Re8 28.Bb6 Rc6 29.Rd7 Rd6 30.R7xd6 ⩲ +1.18 (24 ply) 26...Rxd7 27.Rxd7 b5 28.c5 Bf6 29.g4 e6 30.Kg2 Rd8 31.Qd2 = +0.50 (25 ply)+- +2.69 (25 ply)better is 31.g4 h6 32.h4 b5 33.g5 Bc3 34.Qf3 Re6 35.f5 gxf5 36.R7d5 ± +2.33 (22 ply) ± +1.62 (27 ply) 34...axb5 35.Rbd7 h5 36.R7d3 Qc1 37.Rd1 Qc7 38.Rd7 Qb8 ⩲ +1.32 (25 ply) 35.bxa6 Rxa6 36.Rbd7 h5 37.a4 Re6 38.Rd1 Qc3 39.R1d3 Qc1 +- +2.84 (26 ply) 35...axb5 36.Qg2 Re1 37.Rbd7 b4 38.Re2 Rxe2 39.Qxe2 Bd4 ⩲ +1.07 (29 ply) 36.Rdd7 axb5 37.Rxe7 Rxe7 38.Rxe7 Bd4 39.Re1 Qc3 40.Qe2 +- +3.17 (32 ply) 36...axb5 37.Rdd7 Be1 38.Qd4+ Qxd4 39.Rxd4 Re2+ 40.Kg1 ⩲ +1.37 (26 ply)+- +7.06 (26 ply)better is 39.Qd4+ Qxd4 40.R3xd4 Rb2+ 41.Kh1 Bc5 42.Rd2 Rb1+ 43.Kg2 +- +7.55 (23 ply) ± +1.85 (33 ply) 40.Qg2 Bg1+ 41.Qxg1 Rxg1 42.a8=Q Qe1 43.Qf3 Rf1 44.Qxf1 ± +1.69 (33 ply)-+ mate-in-2; 41.Kg2 Qf1# -+ mate-in-10-1

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
FEN COPIED

Annotations by Stockfish (Computer).      [35434 more games annotated by Stockfish]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Nov-02-04  WMD: This game was played in the round after Fischer's famous loss to Letelier where he blundered away a drawn endgame(Fischer vs Letelier, 1959). Bobby must still have been groggy because his lowly ranked opponent completely outplays him, only to blunder himself in what can only have been time pressure.
Nov-02-04  iron maiden: Yet another example of Fischer's time-hoarding strategies employed to pull something out of a bad endgame.
Mar-02-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: I'm unsure what <iron maiden> is getting at, but arguably the single worst move of Fischer's career was played the day before in his loss to Letelier, and it's hard to imagine being able to play at anything like full strength after that one.
Jan-01-08  Petrosianic: Man, what a lucky escape for Fischer. He's totally hosed. Even in time pressure, 39. Qd4+, elminating all counterplay just screams out to be played. And 40. Qxc5, allowing the mate in 2 in a winning position is like Christmas in March for Bobby. Ho, ho, ho.
Jan-01-08  D4n: Fischer played this end-game strongly.
Jan-02-08  Petrosianic: He couldn't have. It never reached the endgame. In fact, he's still lost right up to the last move.

Coming right after the Letelier game, these must have been the oddest two rounds of Fischer's life.

Feb-26-08  pan.skoczek: am i missing something or is ...21 Q x B on e3 or the N on d4 a lost piece for white Fischer played...21 Q to a5?
Jun-11-08  Xeroxx: Yes 21...Qxe3 actually wins a piece for Fischer.
Jun-11-08  RookFile: Strange. Fischer would have seen this in a blitz game, later on.
Jan-07-09  notyetagm: 39 ?


click for larger view

<Petrosianic: Man, what a lucky escape for Fischer. He's totally hosed. Even in time pressure, 39. Qd4+, elminating all counterplay just screams out to be played.>

Wow, White deserved to lose this game for not playing 39 ♕f2-d4+!, trading off the queens and probably forcing Fischer's instant resignation.

(VAR) 39 ♕f2-d4+! 0-1


click for larger view

Jan-07-09  notyetagm: 21 ... ?


click for larger view

<Xeroxx: Yes 21...Qxe3 actually wins a piece for Fischer.>

<RookFile: Strange. Fischer would have seen this in a blitz game, later on.>

Amazing that Fischer missed 21 ... ♕c3x♗e3!, winning a piece by use of the <PINNING> tactic 22 ♕f2x♕e3 ♗g7x♘d4.

(VAR)
21 ... ♕c3x♗e3! 22 ♕f2x♕e3 ♗g7x♘d4 <pin>


click for larger view


click for larger view


click for larger view

Jun-28-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  FSR: 21...Qxd4! 22.Bxd4 Bxd4 works equally well. So Fischer missed TWO different simple wins of a piece on move 21. Particularly given that his queen was under attack and he had to move it someplace, it's unbelievable that he didn't see either of these.
Jun-28-09  AnalyzeThis: White must have been in ridiculous time trouble to miss the two-penny trap at the end of this game. A good 1600 player with any time to think would understand what was going on.
Jun-29-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  FSR: Yeah, this looks more like a game between 2 C players than a game from an international tournament where one of the players was a world-class grandmaster.
Jul-17-09  technical draw: Fischer misses winning a piece then white misses winning the game. Even Steven.
Oct-12-10  Funicular: strange, white can either trade queens off @ move 39 or even play 40 a8=Q, and thats it for black. Say 40... Rb2, then simply Qxb2+! and if 40 Bxf2 then 41 Qd5, white being still the exchange up and still threatening the forced queen exchange. Note that a2 cannot be captured because of Rd2. The black queen can't do absolutely nothing, hence a forced 1-0
Aug-01-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  FSR: I'm too lazy to look it up at the moment, but I think that Mednis in <How to Beat Bobby Fischer>, at the conclusion of his annotations of the Letelier disaster, says something like this:

<The following day, Fischer played terribly against tailender Redolfi, reaching a dead-lost position a piece down. That game does not appear in this book because Fischer <won it>!>

Aug-01-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <FSR>: Mednis also went on about Fischer's fighting qualities, with something to the effect that the finish to this game was too much to overcome psychologically-not that I would blame anyone for playing as Fischer did vs Redolfi.
Nov-07-14  Goldengab: To clarify this ending once for all:

Houdini 3 PRO
-------------

40. a8=Q Bxf2 41. Qd5 Rb2 3. Qe5+ Kh6 4. Qg5+ Kg7 5. Qe5+ = draw

40. Qg2 White wins instantly

So, Fischer was a genius, yes. Fischer was lucky, yes.

Nov-20-17  sea7kenp: One of my Favorite books (yes, Descriptive) is "Chess Traps, Pitfalls and Swindles". In my opinion, this qualifies as a First Class Swindle on Black's part!
Mar-06-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  kingscrusher: Fischer seemed tactically not himself here. Almost as if he was trying hard to lose. Maybe he was tired from the travelling or something, or not sleeping well the night before this game.
Mar-06-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: Tough to imagine being anything like on top form after Fischer's debacle the previous round; grandmasters are not automatons.
Mar-16-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  kingscrusher: <perfidious> Agreed - and this point is made more emphatically in an entire tournament - Buenos Aires where he only scored 3 wins. I was laughing about this morning because I was checking all the wins from the tournament prior to that - and it is a surprising mismatch of statistics -

Mar del Plata 1960 - 13 wins one draw one loss

Buenos Aires 1960 - 3 wins .. 11 draws and 5 losses

Fischer is definitely human! :)

Wiki has:
" Fischer experienced the only failure in his competitive career[173] at the Buenos Aires Tournament (1960), finishing with 8½/19 (+3−5=11), far behind winners Viktor Korchnoi and Samuel Reshevsky with 13/19.[174] According to Larry Evans, Fischer's first sexual experience was with a girl to whom Evans introduced him during the tournament.[175][176] Pal Benko said that Fischer did horribly in the tournament "because he got caught up in women and sex. Afterwards, Fischer said he'd never mix women and chess together, and kept the promise."[177] Fischer concluded 1960 by winning a small tournament in Reykjavík with 4½/5,[178] and defeating Klaus Darga in an exhibition game in West Berlin.[179] "

And this does add to the back story of Fischer crushing Benko, as Fischer knew full well of Benko's distractions the night before :)

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