(1) Spassky,Boris V (2660) - Fischer,Robert James (2785) [E41]
World Championship 28th Reykjavik (5), 20.07.1972
[Bethel McGrew 2010]

When Spassky and Fischer sat down to face each other for this game, neither of them knew it would be the shortest decisive game of the match. Spassky was no doubt breathing a little easier after Game 4's pyschological victory. Last time, Fischer had White and barely managed to escape with a draw. This time, it was Spassky who held the White pieces. No doubt he was hoping for yet another comfortable game. But it was not to be.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 At this point the players have reached the branching-point for the Nimzo Indian defence. It's a solid and popular weapon against c4. The basic idea is simple: Pin the Knight on c3 and, if possible, double the pawns there. Both ... e5 and ...c5 can be played for. The idea is to weaken White's structure while simultaneously making your own tough to crack.

4.Nf3 c5 Black plays one of the intended thrusts for an immediate central challenge.

5.e3 Solid reinforcing move, preparing to re-capture with a pawn.

5...Nc6 No need to rush anything: Black just increases the pressure with tempo.

6.Bd3 Bxc3+ Some players prefer to wait until being pushed to make this trade by a move like a3, but Fischer chooses not to wait. Now that his dark-square Bishop is gone, he can put the rest of his pawns on squares that favor his remaining Bishop.

7.bxc3 At this point Black has given White a weakness that may not be easy to exploit immediately, but one that will come back to plague White in an endgame. But then, every experienced player knows that one sometimes must be content with small gains, gains whose benefits come slowly as the reward of patient play.

7...d6 This reinforces the c-pawn but also prepares ...e5.

8.e4 e5 9.d5 This is the concession Black was trying to force. Because White has the Bishop pair, Black wants to keep the center closed.

9...Ne7 Black wisely tucks the Knight back here instead of side-lining it on a5.

10.Nh4 Naturally, White wants to open up lines for his Bishops, so he aims for the f4 pawn break.

10...h6 Black just throws in this little move to stop pin ideas and maybe make White nervous about castling because of a potential pawn avalanche.

11.f4 Diagram

It took half an hour for Spassky to settle on this move. Finally, with determinedly pursed lips, he shoved the pawn forward and tapped the clock. [11.f3 g5 12.Nf5 Bxf5 13.exf5 Qa5 14.Qc2 0-0-0 15.h4 ]

11...Ng6 A good practical choice. Black immediately puts a check on White's kingside play. [11...exf4 looks tempting but gets messy after 12.Bxf4 g5 13.e5! Nfxd5 14.cxd5 gxf4 15.Qa4+ Bd7 16.Qe4 with maybe a slight edge for White. Interestingly, Fritz thinks it would have been better for Black to go down this line rather than the text, but I would feel uncomfortable playing Black here. That's why I said ...Ng6 was a good practical decision on Fischer's part: In computer terms maybe not the absolute best, but very logical from a human perspective.]

12.Nxg6 Forced.

12...fxg6 13.fxe5 [Fritz likes castling first 13.0-0 0-0 14.fxe5 dxe5 ]

13...dxe5 Now White's d-pawn is protected and passed, but that's not particularly useful to him now.

14.Be3 White doesn't really need to play this move. Yes, it does attack the c-pawn, but Black was probably planning to play ...b6 soon anyway. The Bishop is probably just as well placed on c1.

14...b6 15.0-0 0-0 16.a4 This move makes sense, aiming for a queenside break, but it creates an unnecessary weakness. And Black can just stop the idea with his next move

16...a5 Now there is a hole on b5, and the b-pawn is backward, but White can't occupy the hole, and he has a weakness of his own now to keep an eye on as well.

17.Rb1 Bd7 Both sides have now taken aim at their targets.

18.Rb2 White decides he'd like to double up on the f-file. [18.Bc2 is also an idea, freeing the Queen from protection of the a-pawn.]

18...Rb8 For his own part, Black frees his Queen from defending his weakness.

19.Rbf2 It's not really clear what White's Rooks are doing over here, but he's at a bit of a loss for a plan.

19...Qe7 20.Bc2 25 minutes for this retreat, and Spassky was already down on time by 40 minutes.

20...g5 Now Black is thinking about active ideas of his own, locking down on f4 with the concept of swinging a Knight into the hole.

21.Bd2 Qe8 Very nice multi-purpose move, keeping White honest on the queenside while putting the Queen on track for kingside play.

22.Be1 Qg6 Black's not really threatening the pawn for tactical reasons (White can trade Rooks twice and check on f3 with a fork), but he's just tightening the screws a little bit more.

23.Qd3 White was mayb e hoping that Black would go back to e8 and attack the pawn, at which point White would go back to d1, at which point they would repeat the position a few more times and draw. But Fischer has other ideas.

23...Nh5 Black wants White to play g3 at some point, weakening the light squares.

24.Rxf8+ Hoping to relieve the pressure by trading.

24...Rxf8 25.Rxf8+ Kxf8 26.Bd1 Nf4 White doesn't have much of an edge anymore, but it's not lost by any means.

27.Qc2?? Diagram

Interestingly, Spassky still had 25 minutes left when he made this blunder, perhaps the worst of his career.

27...Bxa4! Now suddenly it's hopelessly lost. If White captures, Black takes on e4 with a fork of two mating squares (e1 and g2). Fischer had done the impossible: He had recovered from two back-to-back lost points to tie the match by Game 5. What the next game would hold, nobody knew. But this much was certain: Spassky had met his match--or more. [If 27...Bxa4 28.Qb1 Bxd1! 29.Qxd1 Qxe4 30.Qd2 Nxg2!-+ ] 0-1