by National Life Master Loal Davis
There has been so much written on/about Fischer that it seems almost superfluous to add anything new. However Fischer did have something to say about Fischer. Bobby considered the annotated game (below) to be the epitome of his chess playing style.
Western Open Championship
Date “1963.07.07”
Round “8”
White “Berliner, Hans Jack”
Black “Fischer, Robert James”
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5
(4… exd5 Fischer said he found this Pawn capture by Black to be “Boring”.
5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3
I find it interesting that Fischer prefers this. He has less space, and his pieces are not as free as White’s – but – he does have something to attack and/or get his teeth into as he claws his way out and that appeals to him.
c5 7. Nf3 cxd4 8. cxd4
Black now has a Queenside majority and a semi-wobbly center to put pressure on.
Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+
Heading for the endgame where Black will have a two to one majority on the Queenside and White’s spacial/central Pawns will not restrict as much with pieces being exchanged.
10. Qxd2 O-O 11. Bd3 b6 12. O-O Bb7 13. Rfd1 Nc6 14. Qb2 Qf6 15. Rac1 Rfd8 16. Bb5 Rac8
I suspect that Fischer thought that he was just fine here – and when you look at it, it’s not so easy for White to improve his game.
17. Ne5
Berliner tries.
Nxe5 18. dxe5 Qf4
Here we still have that Queenside majority and attacking the center.
19. Rxc8 Rxc8 20. Qd4 g5
Not just “luft”, but starting to isolate the doubled Pawn complex.
21. f3 g4 22. Be2 gxf3 23. gxf3 Kh8
Black’s two Pawns hold back White’s crippled set of three. He still has that Queenside majority, and now an open ‘g’ file against the White King.
24. Kh1 Ba6 25. Qf2
(25. Bxa6 Qxf3+ 26. Kg1 Rg8#)
25… Bxe2 26. Qxe2 Qxe5
First fruits.
27. Rg1 f5 28. Qd3 fxe4 29. fxe4 Rf8 30. Qc2 Qf6 31. Rg2 Qd4 32. h3 Qa1+ 33. Rg1 Qe5 34. Qg2 b5
With Black’s King nicely tucked away, Fischer starts the Queenside majority rolling.
35. Qc2 b4 36. Qg2 a5 37. Qc2 Qf6 38. Qc4 Qf3+ 39. Kh2 Rd8 40. Qc2 Qc3 41. Qxc3+ bxc3 42. Rc1
And now some very good endgame technique.
Rd3 43. Rb1 Kg7 44. Rb5 a4 45. Rc5 a3 46. Kg2 Re3 47. Rc4 Kf6 48. h4 Ke5 49. Kf2 Rh3 50. Kg2 Rd3 51. h5 Kf4 52. h6 Ke3 53. Rc7 Kd2
Final Position
A well played game.
0-1
Bob Hope versus Robert Fischer
Mikhail Tal versus Robert Fischer
