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Lajos Portisch vs Boris Spassky
Budapest-Leningrad (1961), Budapest HUN, rd 3, Apr-??
Spanish Game: Classical Variation (C64)  ·  0-1

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White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
0-1

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
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Kibitzer's Corner
Oct-08-05  paladin at large: Spirited chess by Spassky, especially beginning with 25. .....Rce8, followed by calmly allowing his king to be sniffed by enemy pawns and a pretty queen offer at the end.
Feb-11-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  GlassCow: Beautiful opposite-side attacking by both players. Spassky just barely got their first, with the remarkable .. 37 Bg4!!
Feb-11-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: Let me see if I got this straight. Spassky watches Portisch start a Queenside attack, and *then* castles into it? And wins? Yikes. Games like this remind me why I never had a chance of becoming an IM, let alone GM.
Feb-12-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Open Defence: <An Englishman> well put.. I often see for example some isolated pawns and try attacking them even winning them only to watch my King get hunted down.. or vice versa hunt his King to watch my pawns taken down and my opponent promoting

these guys know what's weak and what's strong OTB... but you're no slouch I gather from your profile :)

Apr-21-12  Zugzwangovich: In "Boris Spassky: Master of Initiative", Raetsky & Chetverik give the moves 38.Qf4 Rh1 mate as having been played.
Apr-21-12  King Death: That would be the sporting way to end it but I can't find any other source that gives 38.Qf4 Rh1#. Black should be equal after 4.0-0 Nd4 so White usually plays 4.c3 instead.
Feb-06-13  cm84: Bg4, wow, pure genius. What a freaking player. And Spassky manages this attack with his King in all that danger! Amazing.
Dec-29-14  poorthylacine: 24...f4 is a grave mistake and normally the beginning of the end for Spassky. 24...Qf6 was better, with an approximately balanced position. Spassky is under pressure and tries a desperate but unsound counter attack on the king side. But both players were in extreme time trouble...

And so Portisch missed a splendid win after
35.b8Q+! and the threat 36. Qc3 is legal; Black can take on b8 with the Rook or with the King, it will not change anything! If 36...Rxb8 36.Qc3 Qh4 37.Ne5+; if 36...Kxb8 37. Rab1+ Kc7 and again comes Qc3

Dec-29-14  poorthylacine: Read please: "and the threat 36.Qc3 is "LETHAL..."
Apr-06-15  A.T PhoneHome: It's not an easy task to find top-notch Grandmasters with the amount of confidence Spassky had during his career.

When I checked this game and saw 17...O-O-O, I was just "What". But Spassky has this very gentlemanly personality which was reflected in his play; he would employ gambits and take the tactical/dangerous path because to him, chess was about moves, delicate positional and tactical touches and struggle. Not about scoring 1-0 with White or 0-1 with Black.

Yes, I have voiced my admiration towards Spassky on many of his games but can you blame me of a crime?

Jul-02-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  dernier loup de T: No, of course, A.T. Phonehome: and I will confess that me to I Love Spassky, even that he is my favorite; Portisch is a great player but Spassky is a giant: their 1977 match, even Spassky declined after 1970, shows the lewel difference between them. We must just admit that in this special game of 1961, Portisch had the win in the pocket like Spassky should have won in a splendid way against Stein in the Moscow tournament of 1971. Such things just happen in chess...

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