Leonard Hill vs Bobby Fischer (1957) The Miseducation of Leonard Hill

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Leonard Hill vs Bobby Fischer
"The Miseducation of Leonard Hill" (game of the day Jul-20-2024)
US Junior Open (1957), San Francisco, CA USA, rd 9, Jul-14
Sicilian Defense: Najdorf. Opocensky Variation Traditional Line (B92) · 0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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May-28-18		jabinjikanza: Splendid performance by Bob

May-28-18		harrylime: RJF was 13 years old playing this game.

May-28-18		harrylime: Bobby should have done better here... We need the resident Chess Gurus on this site to say how Bobby should have played better .. lol

May-29-18		HeMateMe: bob was only 13 here, but he was Over The Hill!

Jul-19-24		OhioChessFan: "The Miseducation of Leonard Hill"

Jul-19-24		HeMateMe: you have to admit, that's quite good.

Jul-20-24		Zenchess: Honestly, I can't find anything to fault here for Black. Everything Fischer played was either the top Stockfish 16.1 move or really close.

Jul-20-24		An Englishman: Good Evening: Inspired pun; great start to the weekend.

Jul-20-24		OhioChessFan: That was quick. Read an online story yesterday about the album referenced in the pun, and checked the database for names close to Lauryn Hill. Leonard was close, a nice though losing game, and a Fischer game to boot.

Jul-20-24		HeMateMe: I was disappointed by the album. Overrated IMO..

Jul-20-24		perfidious: <Zenchess....Everything Fischer played was either the top Stockfish 16.1 move or really close.> Had this game been played today, Kramnik would have fired his standard <J'accuse!> at Fischer. <KingG: White's play was absolutely terrible in this game. He played as if the ..d5 break in the Sicilian was completely unfamiliar to him....> There are examples of clearly stronger players than Hill also playing very passively vs the Najdorf in those days; one I recall from (I believe) Soltis' <Pawn Structure Chess> featured Benko destroying one of the strongest American masters, ca 1958 after he also went in for f2-f3 and gave Black everything he wanted.

Jul-20-24		FSR: <perfidious: <Zenchess....Everything Fischer played was either the top Stockfish 16.1 move or really close.> Had this game been played today, Kramnik would have fired his standard <J'accuse!> at Fischer.> Fischer won 20 consecutive games - starting at the 1970 Interzonal, continuing with his 6-0 wins against Taimanov and Larsen, and concluding with his first match game against Petrosian, where Fischer was busted but won anyway. Are you really such a naïf that you imagine that was legit? Get real. Fischer was obviously using an engine.

Jul-20-24		perfidious: <FSR>, Fischer obviously was aided by Mac Hack VI (Computer).

Jul-20-24		FSR: <perfidious> Mac Hack was too weak for Fischer's purposes. But if you've watched Doctor Who it's not difficult to see what Fischer must have done. Most likely he met up with the Doctor, took the Tardis to the Year 2525 (if Man was still alive), and got Stockfish 538 implanted into his brain. Q.E.D.

Jul-20-24		perfidious: <FSR>, maybe White should have plumped for the engine in Fischer vs V Kovacevic, 1970 ; after all, he was facing the might of the Soviet delegation in that game.

Jul-20-24		Allderdice83: White seems confused about what variation he's playing (Opocensky or English attack). Normally, if playing f3, White castles queenside. There would then be a rook on d1 helping to control d5. White might then start a pawn storm on the kingside. Still, White's not doing too badly until 13. Qe1? Stockfish suggests 13. a4 followed by 14. a5. After 16 ... Qxc2, Stockfish suggests 17. Bf1. White gets some compensation if Black tries to hold onto the pawn with 17 ... Qf5 18. Nc5 Bxc5 19. Bxc5. Of course not 17 ... f6?? 18. Nd4! Qc8 (exd4? 19. Qxe6+ and 20. Qxd5) 19. Nxe6 Qxe6 20. Bc4 Rad8 21. Qe4 winning the knight, or 18 ... Bb4 19. Nxc2 Bxe1 20. Nxe1 again winning a piece. Offering a queen trade with 17. Qd2 is just surrendering. At the end, White could continue with 22. h4 Bxh4 23. Bxh4 Rxe2 24. Rd2 Rxd2 25. Nxd2, but that's trading down into an endgame down two pawns, and I'm sure Hill already knew of Bobby Fischer's reputation and rating; Bobby's gonna win this.

Jul-20-24		perfidious: <Allderdice83: White seems confused about what variation he's playing (Opocensky or English attack)....> These are not two top-class players; moreover, the English Attack was very much a sideline until decades later. As I noted above, even strong masters were known to take passive lines in these Open Sicilians and get slaughtered in the 1950s.

Jul-20-24		FSR: People are expecting a lot of theoretical erudition from some kid playing in the 1957 U.S. Junior Open. The "English Attack" didn't exist until the 1980s. I remember in the mid-1970s playing blitz against a Hispanic player at the Chicago Chess Center who always played what we would now call the English Attack against my Scheveningen. Back then it didn't have a name.

Jul-20-24		FSR: <perfidious> Sadly, Fischer's implant was on the Fritz (Computer) when he faced Kovacevic at Rovinj/Zagreb, leading to his only loss in that event.

Jul-21-24		PaulPetrovitj: @perfidious: Well, Fischer won his first U.S. Chess Championship in December the same year, thereby qualifying for the Interzonal Tournament in 1958. I would say that you need to be top-class for such an achievement.

Jul-21-24		perfidious: Simply qualifying for an Interzonal does not make it so. As we saw, Fischer's road at Portoroz was by no means plain sailing. QED

Jul-21-24		FSR: <PaulPetrovitj> Leonard Hill, whose play people are critiquing, was far from a top-class player. Fischer in 1957 was improving at an extraordinary rate. The month after this game, he won the 58th US Open (1957) on tiebreak over Bisguier, a grandmaster. No doubt Fischer at the time of this game was already a very strong player, even though he was not yet generally recognized as such.

Jul-21-24		FSR: As <Zenchess> noted, Fischer played superbly. On move 12, Stockfish 16.1 says that 12...Qc7 was slightly inferior to 12...Rc8 or 12...d5. Other than that tiny inaccuracy, he played perfectly, as well as MVL or any Najdorf god could play today. In 1957, at the age of 14. As such, the pun seems a misnomer. No one could have "schooled" Mr. Hill better.

Jul-21-24		PaulPetrovitj: @FSR: I quite agree with your assessment. @perfidious: We seem to set completely different standards for a player to be labelled as top-class. No, not plain sailing in Portoroz for Fischer, but he finished ahead of many well-known GMs (such as Bronstein, Averbach, Szabo, Pachman a.o.). Let's not forget that his achievement to qualify further to the Candidates tournament at age 15 has not been repeated to this day.

Jul-21-24		perfidious: Yet another True Believer is here; no point trying to carry on rational discussion with that lot. For them, Fischer is the GOAT and must remain so until the end of time.

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