Incidentally, I noticed that often the best defense was snatching at least some of the material offered, because it reduces the number of attackers. Unfortunately you cannot do it always.

I did not steal them. Seriously, they were removed on purpose by the director (visibility etc.)

Bronstein himself admitted he did not bother to stop and think here, "I trusted, in spite of my preliminary calculations, that my opponent had found a clear-cut mating finish after 15...Bxd6, and I avoided it in favor of something worse, which I still regret today." This was all he would have had to do, this sac was EASY to refute. http://www.mark-weeks.com/aboutcom/...

DrMAL: Now the very strong move that was not played. As I stated before if black does manage to amazingly find each surviving move, the sequence is:

15.Qxe2 Nf8 16.Rad1 Be6! 17.Ne5 f6 18.d5 Bc8! 19.Bb3 fxe5 20.d6+ Be6 21.d7 Kh8! 22.dxe8Q Qxe8 23.Bd5 Qg6! and from here there are probably multiple ways for white to win (e.g., also 24.Qe3 and maybe even 24.Rd2 or 24.Bxb7). With help from Houdini to make sure black plays his best, here is one example:

24.Qc4 Re8 25.Kh1 a5 26.Rde1 Bh4 27.Re3 Kh7 28.Bxe6 Nxe6 29.g3 Be7 30.Qd5 Ng5 31.Rfe1 Nxe4 32.Rxe4 Rd8 33.Qxb7 Bxc5 34.Rxe5 Bd4 35.Re6 Qf5 36.Qg2 c5 37.b3 Rf8 38.R6e4 Qg6 39.Rf4 Rd8 40.Qb7 Bc3 41. Re2 Qd3 42.Qe4+ Qxe4+ 43.Rfxe4 Bd4 44.Re8 Rd6 45.Ra8 Bc3 46.h4 Kg6 47.Kg2

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From here, black really does not have anything constructive to do, just sit and wait to see how white will win. I will use the move Houdini gives as marginally best among several equivalent ones, white makes progress in a similar fashion no matter what anyway:

47...Rd1 48.g4 Rd4 49.Kf3 Rd1 50.Re6+ Kf7 51.Rc6 Rd3+ 52.Ke2 Rd2+ 53.Ke3 Rd7! 54.h5! Ke7 55.Rac8

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At this point black is totally lost, I leave it to the reader to enjoy the win of their choice.

Back to the question of this game that Soltis misled so many on: Given the choice between playing a solid, probably winning move versus a sac that is easily refuted for a draw which would you choose? To me, the answer to this was and still is, OBVIOUS. This game got a lot of drama attached to it, even was prized. Like the "Evergreen Game" Anderssen vs Dufresne, 1852 where white also had a good game but played a sac that should have drawn (his opponent made a blunder later on, causing a lucky win), this game is similar so I saw the connection between the two.

Spassky played a brilliant game indeed up to move 15, he had a big advantage that, as I showed, was actually winning. If he had played the best move, he probably would have won by force. Instead he gambled on a sac that should have drawn. This does NOT exemplify great chess it exemplies great luck.

< JoergWalter: Bronstein, 200 OPEN GAMES: <It was the devil who prompted me to reply 1...P-K4??. The fact that Spassky, like Spielmann in the last century, very much likes to play the King's Gambit had gone completely out of my head. And when it was too late to take my first move back, I remembered that about 100 years ago Anderssen, playing Neumann, had tried to construct a defense around ...B-Q3 and ...N-K2. This idea appealed to me, but I overdid things and spent a pointless tempo on the mysterious ...P-KR3. Spassky's strong reply, 9 N-K4 (this is why Black's knight should be on KB3) immediately gave White a decisive advantage. There was nothing to be done, but with 14...P-K7 Black set White the tricky question: 15 R-B2 or 15 N-Q6? I had no doubt at all that the clear 15 R-B2 would follow, since the more elegant choice, 15 K-Q6, allowed the Black king in certain variations to escape the impending trouble. When Spassky still in fact plunged into the whirlpool of complications I committed my final error: I trusted, in spite of my preliminary calculations, that my opponent had found a clear-cut mating finish after 15...BxN 16 Q-R7+ K-B1 17 PxB PxR=Q+ 18 RxQ PxP 19 Q-R8+ K-K2 20 R-K1+ N-K4 21 QxNP, and I avoided it in favour of something worse, which I still regret today. However, to everyone his due. The blue bird soaring in the clouds, that is, the beauty prize, was won in this way by the future world champion.> >

Your analysis and comments will help many on this site to see the actual truth regarding the moves 15.Qxe2!, and 15.Nd6?.

It is clear that White was trying at all times to get the h1 Rook into action along the h-file. Thus he avoided castling. Interesting.

It's great having gamblers at my table because they'll crash and burn sometime down the road, hopefully after I take their stack. We even see some of those kamikaze players at the World Series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNcZ...

My web page on this game ... just did a complete re-do, and also added a video on this game, as well.

But this proved to be a critical error, because Black could have drawn at the end by perpetual check with 22 ..Ne6! 23 Ng6 Qc5+ 24 Kh1 Qb5! 25 Bc4 Qc6 26 Qf7+ Kh7 27 Qf5 Ng5! forcing 28 Nf8+ and Ng6+.>

<Larsen vs Spassky, 1970>

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