chessgames.com
Members · Prefs · Laboratory · Collections · Openings · Endgames · Sacrifices · History · Search Kibitzing · Kibitzer's Café · Chessforums · Tournament Index · Players · Kibitzing

Chessgames premium membership fee will increase to $39 per year effective June 15, 2023. Enroll Now!

Robert James Fischer vs Boris Spassky
Spassky - Fischer World Championship Match (1972), Reykjavik ISL, rd 4, Jul-18
Sicilian Defense: Fischer-Sozin Attack. Leonhardt Variation (B88)  ·  1/2-1/2

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

Annotations by Stockfish (Computer).      [30457 more games annotated by Stockfish]

explore this opening
find similar games 55 more Fischer/Spassky games
PGN: download | view | print Help: general | java-troubleshooting

TIP: You can get computer analysis by clicking the "ENGINE" button below the game.

PGN Viewer:  What is this?
For help with this chess viewer, please see the Olga Chess Viewer Quickstart Guide.
PREMIUM MEMBERS CAN REQUEST COMPUTER ANALYSIS [more info]

THIS IS A COMPUTER ANNOTATED SCORE.   [CLICK HERE] FOR ORIGINAL.

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 7 OF 7 ·  Later Kibitzing>
May-24-19  john barleycorn: <harrylime: Robert Fischer is the GREATEST.

Discuss>

Fischer is the Greatest. Nothing to discuss.

May-24-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  harrylime: <Diademas: <harrylime: Robert Fischer is the GREATEST. Discuss>

Groundbreaking and original thoughts.
Is this a conclusion you just reached after strenuous studies and comparative analysis?>

You been in a COMA this last 70 years ?

May-24-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  Diademas: : <harrylime: <Diademas: <harrylime: Robert Fischer is the GREATEST. Discuss> Groundbreaking and original thoughts. Is this a conclusion you just reached after strenuous studies and comparative analysis?> You been in a COMA this last 70 years ?>

Well, for 19 of them I hadn't even been born.
Sarcasm not your strength?

May-24-19  john barleycorn: <Diademas: : ...

Sarcasm not your strength?>

not in the last 19 years.

May-24-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  harrylime: <Diademas: : <harrylime: <Diademas: <harrylime: Robert Fischer is the GREATEST. Discuss> Groundbreaking and original thoughts. Is this a conclusion you just reached after strenuous studies and comparative analysis?> You been in a COMA this last 70 years ?> Well, for 19 of them I hadn't even been born.
Sarcasm not your strength?>

Actually itz my GREATEST STRENGTH .

You ok ? lol lol

May-25-19  Keyser Soze: <The problem is, you're bonkers. Especially about anything that touches, however lightly, on Bobby Fischer.>

LOL. Also Kasparov, Short, Abdel Irada, Susan Polgar, etcetc

May-25-19  john barleycorn: <Keyser Soze: ...

LOL. Also Kasparov, Short, Abdel Irada, Susan Polgar, etcetc>

However, take note you won't make it there. your miserable condition is not worth it.

May-25-19  Keyser Soze: Busted.

Course, your criminal friend already rent his life for it! Useless on this one broda..Hows him btw? Happy? LOL

Say hi to that old failipina, old man

May-25-19  john barleycorn: <keyser soze> as I said, you are not worth it. Get your attention from <tpstar> et al.
Sep-08-19  N.O.F. NAJDORF: <It is known that Spassky is not a big worker or hard worker in chess. He is quite lazy, so he didn’t work too much on chess. This was the main reason he was defeated by Fischer. If you recall the games, it was game number four when Spassky with black showed a fantastic novelty which was prepared by him and his team. I know this novelty. But, what happened is Spassky didn’t make the effort to memorize it, because it was winning by force.

Geller told me when they started to repeat this before the game, Spassky, after three or four moves into the novelty, said, “Oh, this is not so important, because I will find it [the moves] over the board.” So, he didn’t remember the moves and he didn’t win the game, which was already won at home.

This was extremely important because Spassky won the first game, a strange game. Better not to say that Spassky won the game, but that Fischer lost the game. Then, Fischer didn’t appear for the second game, and Fischer won the third game, so if Spassky had won game number four with black, he most probably would have won the match.>

I was going to mention that interview, which I saw a while ago but can't find online any more.

It's frustrating that Karpov doesn't go into any detail about the winning variation.

He also claimed that Spassky missed a win in game 13, again without elaborating.

According to Gligoric, the idea of playing ... Rd8 before ... Rh8 was given by Olafsson in his match bulletin, but I seem to remember that the idea was not his.

Sep-08-19  N.O.F. NAJDORF: 'I found ways that Spassky could get a winning position in the opening of the Alekhine Defence. Fischer played the Alekhine Defence and Spassky missed a very big advantage.'

https://www.stabroeknews.com/2015/f...

Sep-08-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  gezafan: <ToTheDeath: Karpov:

<It is known that Spassky is not a big worker or hard worker in chess. He is quite lazy, so he didn’t work too much on chess. This was the main reason he was defeated by Fischer. If you recall the games, it was game number four when Spassky with black showed a fantastic novelty which was prepared by him and his team. I know this novelty. But, what happened is Spassky didn’t make the effort to memorize it, because it was winning by force.

Geller told me when they started to repeat this before the game, Spassky, after three or four moves into the novelty, said, “Oh, this is not so important, because I will find it [the moves] over the board.” So, he didn’t remember the moves and he didn’t win the game, which was already won at home.

This was extremely important because Spassky won the first game, a strange game. Better not to say that Spassky won the game, but that Fischer lost the game. Then, Fischer didn’t appear for the second game, and Fischer won the third game, so if Spassky had won game number four with black, he most probably would have won the match.>>

Karpov's claim that Spassky probably would have won the match if he had won game four is just another backhanded way to demean Fischer. If Spassky had won game four the score would have been 12 to 9 with Fischer needing but a draw in the last three games to win the match. Fischer still would have won the match.

Sep-09-19  RookFile: From what I've seen Karpov has actually been pretty complimentary towards Fischer. I think Karpov does have some contempt for Spassky, especially the latter's work ethic.
Sep-09-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  harrylime: <<RookFile: From what I've seen Karpov has actually been pretty complimentary towards Fischer. I think Karpov does have some contempt for Spassky, especially the latter's work ethic.>>

A primed motivated Spassky against a Karpov without his Soviet RED CARPET backing ???

I'm going Boris.

EVERYDAY OF THE WEEK.

Mar-11-20  Ulhumbrus: Karpov may have been right. Spassky may have underestimated Fischer.
Apr-30-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  Joshka: <gezafan> <backhanded way to demean Fischer> This is done all the time on Bobby's page, so what else is new;-) Anyone know what the "novelty" is that would have won for Spassky according to Karpov? Got to meet Karpov once, and had I known about this, would have asked him straight off about Game 4! thanks in advance
Apr-30-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  saffuna: <Karpov's claim that Spassky probably would have won the match if he had won game four is just another backhanded way to demean Fischer.>

Fischer won the match from 0-2 down. He most likely could have won the match from 1-3 down.

The result is the result. It's not science, it's a competition.

Apr-30-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <Joshka: <gezafan> <backhanded way to demean Fischer> This is done all the time on Bobby's page, so what else is new;-) Anyone know what the "novelty" is that would have won for Spassky according to Karpov? Got to meet Karpov once, and had I known about this, would have asked him straight off about Game 4! thanks in advance>

Going by the commentary on the previous page, the missed move is 21....Rd8, which incidentally is <not> clearly winning, according to the engines, anyway.

SF 13 likes 21....Be3 best (-1.79, 43 ply). The main line runs 21....Be3 22.Nd4 Bf4 23.Nf3 Bxf3 Qxf3 Bxe5 25.c3 Rb8 26.Qe2. Not exactly a crystal-clear win.

21....Rd8 is -1.42 and 21...h5, Spassky's choice, is -1.23.

There is more engine analysis posted on the previous page. The position probably looked simpler to the Soviets in 1972 than it does to us now, with silicon assistance.

Dec-08-21  King.Arthur.Brazil: Hearing the Karpov's comments, I think the wrong move wasn't 19...♖d8 20.♖d1. In my opinion, Spasski would have to follow with 20...♗c6 keeping pressure. If directly 20...♗a6 Fisher would protect with 21.♗c4 immediately, to avoid the pin. With that move there's no pin, but the threat of 22...♗xb5 followed by 23...♕xe5. Other advantage is that White cannot answer 21.♘d4? because lose the ♘. Then, after the 'textual' 21.♘d6 h5 22. ♗c4 h4 23. h3 ♗e3, is this a winning line? It threats the sequence 24... ♗f5 and 25...♕g3. I guess that things are not so easy for white.
Apr-14-22  technical win: And whatever happened to that <john barleycorn> character, anyway?
Apr-14-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  fredthebear: Well, he Rog'd Off, and that's the last we've heard. Certainly have to give him credit for that. One rumor of many has it that he went on tour with Kate Bush.
Apr-14-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  harrylime:

Bobby took the foot off the gas in the latter third of the match.

IOtz just how it iz

He'd been up against COLD WAR Soviet Commie cheats in chess all his life ...

He just wanted the title ...and he just switched off his main engines to crusie into being a World Champion.

Jun-20-22  CapablancaDisciple: These are the times plus a few comments for this game from a website called crackteam.org:

<<Game 4, July 18th, 1972

Fischer Spassky
White Black
1. e4 (0:07) c5 (0:00)
2. Nf3 (0:07) d6 (0:00)
3. d4 (0:07) cxd4 (0:00)
4. Nxd4 (0:07) Nf6 (0:00)
5. Nc3 (0:07) Nc6 (0:00)
6. Bc4 (0:08) e6 (0:01)
7. Bb3 (0:08) Be7 (0:01)
8. Be3 (0:16) 0-0 (0:02)
9. 0-0 (0:16) a6 (0:02)
10. f4 (0:18) Nxd4 (0:03)
11. Bxd4 (0:18) b5 (0:03)
12. a3 (0:25) Bb7 (0:04)
13. Qd3 (0:25) a5 (0:07)
14. e5 (0:33) dxe5 (0:08)
15. fxe5 (0:33) Nd7 (0:09)
16. Nxb5 (0:41) Nc5 (0:11)
17. Bxc5 (0:44) Bxc5+ (0:12)
18. Kh1 (0:44) Qg5 (0:26)
19. Qe2 (0:54) Rad8 (1:03)
20. Rad1 (0:59) Rxd1 (1:10)
21. Rxd1 (0:59) h5 (1:19)
22. Nd6 (1:02) Ba8 (1:19)
23. Bc4 (1:06) h4 (1:33)
24. h3 (1:15) Be3 (1:40)
25. Qg4 (1:23) Qxe5 (1:50)
26. Qxh4 (1:28) g5 (2:00)
27. Qg4 (1:37) Bc5 (2:05)
28. Nb5 (1:48) Kg7 (2:05)
29. Nd4 (1:48) Rh8 (2:12)
30. Nf3 (1:49) Bxf3 (2:15)
31. Qxf3 (1:49) Bd6 (2:15)
32. Qc3 (1:51) Qxc3 (2:15)
33. bxc3 (1:51) Be5 (2:16)
34. Rd7 (1:56) Kf6 (2:19)
35. Kg1 (1:59) Bxc3 (2:20)
36. Be2 (2:02) Be5 (2:22)
37. Kf1 (2:05) Rc8 (2:22)
38. Bh5 (2:05) Rc7 (2:23)
39. Rxc7 (2:06) Bxc7 (2:24)
40. a4 (2:06) Ke7 (2:25)
41. Ke2 (2:08) f5 (2:28)
42. Kd3 (2:14) Be5 (2:29)
43. c4 (2:15) Kd6 (2:30)
44. Bf7 (2:16) Bg3 (2:32)
45. c5+ (2:18) 1/2-1/2

As can be seen, Fischer was 7 minutes late, and moved quickly until move 8. It looks like Spassky was quite familiar with the variation and did not start working hard until moves 19 and 20, at which point he was actually behind Fischer on time. Fischer used just over two hours for his first 40 moves, which, as we will see, was somewhat typical for him in this match.

How I recorded the moves:

When a move was made, I observed the time on my watch, made the appropriate computation, and wrote down the total time taken by that player up to that point in the game.

Every few moves, the black and white closed circuit TV in the playing hall and cafeteria switched to a camera view in which it was possible to see the times on the chess clock. When this happened, I could correct, if necessary, the total time used by the player who was not on the move. For this reason, these times are probably accurate to plus or minus one minute.

The time control was 40 minutes in 2 1/2 hours.

The Garde chess clock was used in this match.

The clock was set to 3:27 1/2 at the start of each game. Before the days of digital quartz clocks, a player was given an extra minute for each hour at the start of the game, presumably an acknowledgment that the wind-up clocks were not completely accurate, to be sure that no one received less than the correct amount of time.

However, I recorded the total time used by a player as 0:00 until the time on his clock passed 3:30. (So I can correct my note above, and state that Bobby Fischer was about 9 1/2 minutes late to this game.)>>

Jul-04-22  N.O.F. NAJDORF: 31...Rh4 32. Bb3 Rf4 33. Qd3 Rd4 34. Qf1 Bd6 35. Kg1 Qh2+ 36. Kf2 Rf4+ wins the queen

31...Rh4 32. Bd3 Bd6 33. Kg1 Qh2+ 34. Kf1 Rf4
wins the queen

31...Rh4 32. Qd3 Rd4 33. Qe2 Rxd1+ 34. Qxd1 Bd6 35. Kg1 Qh2+ 36. Kf2 Qf4+ 37. Ke1 Qh4+ wins a piece

It seems to me that white's best chance after

31...Rh4

is

32. Bf1

with the possibility of playing Qc3

or Rxd6

Jul-06-22  N.O.F. NAJDORF: After

31...Rh4 32. Bb3 Rf4

white could still play

33 Qc3

After

31...Rh4 32. Bb3 Bd6

white is forced to give up the exchange

but after

31...Rh4 32. Bb3 Bd6 33. Rxd6 Qxd6 34. Qc3+ f6 35. Qxa5 Qg3 36. Kg1 g4 37. Qa7+ Kg6 38. Qf2

I can't see a win for black

Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 7)
search thread:   
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 7 OF 7 ·  Later Kibitzing>

NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion.

Please observe our posting guidelines:

  1. No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
  2. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts.
  3. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members.
  4. Nothing in violation of United States law.
  5. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members.
  6. No trolling.
  7. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited.
  8. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers.

Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times.

Blow the Whistle

See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator.


NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific game only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.
All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration.

This game is type: CLASSICAL. Please report incorrect or missing information by submitting a correction slip to help us improve the quality of our content.

Featured in the Following Game Collections[what is this?]
Game #4
from The Fischer-Spassky Reykjavik 1972 match by dac1990
Sicillian Sozin
by chocaholic
#4first draw
from fischer-spassky by kevin86
World Championship Game #4
from Road to the Championship - Bobby Fischer by Fischer of Men
johntabler's favorite games
by johntabler
partij 7
from Jan timman De kunst van de analyse by i.abderrahim
KEOWL GAME
from IMPRESSIVE GAMES by daacosta
236
from Boris Spassky's 400 Selected Games by jakaiden
The prepared Spassky
from Sicillian by Phoenix JS
Game #4
from Fischer-Spassky '72 by GPawn
Round 4
from WCC Index [Fischer-Spassky 1972] by Hesam7
4 Game 4
from Spassky - Fischer 1972 by ProfessorPete
Steel vs Fire
from Immortal draw games by Darth Lasker
Game 111
from Russians versus Fischer by Anatoly21
Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match 1972
from Fischer vs The Russians by wanabe2000
Fisher vs. Spassky 1972 Championship
by Pianoplayer
Match Spassky!
by amadeus
Match Fischer!
by amadeus
--> B-
from 43_R+B -opp.col. (wonderful attacking weapons) by whiteshark
21_h5/23_h4 (in conjunction with Qg5)
from 88\\2_Push the h-pawn !! (with castling) by whiteshark
plus 64 more collections (not shown)

Home | About | Login | Logout | F.A.Q. | Profile | Preferences | Premium Membership | Kibitzer's Café | Biographer's Bistro | New Kibitzing | Chessforums | Tournament Index | Player Directory | Notable Games | World Chess Championships | Opening Explorer | Guess the Move | Game Collections | ChessBookie Game | Chessgames Challenge | Store | Privacy Notice | Contact Us

Copyright 2001-2023, Chessgames Services LLC