Bobby Fischer died yesterday in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he had been living for the past several years [Bobby Fischer, 64: Former chess champion].Back in 1972, Fischer beat Boris Spassky of the USSR to become world chess champion. The event has been glorified as part of the cold war competition between the USA and the USSR but this was only part of the story. Some of us were just interested in it as a major sporting event featuring a radical new hero who didn't always play by the rules.
I remember following the games live on television—yes, that's right, the moves in each game were broadcast live on a large chessborad, with plenty of color commentary. As an amateur chess player, it was a real insight into the world of high level play.
Go to World Chess Championship 1972 for a brief summary of this extraordinary event. We'll never see anything like it again.
Here's the position at adjournment in the final (21st) game [Spassky vs Fischer Game #21]. Fischer (black) has just played h5. After thinking about the position all night Spassky phoned in the next morning to resign and concede the championship. Can you see why he gave up?
Black Bishop to D4, and there's nothing white can do to prevent the loss of a crucial pawn and get his king in deep, deep dodo.
ReplyDeleteoops - sorry! That's not a bishop. My eye's are going bad...
ReplyDeleteThe black rook at a2 has the pawns at a4, b3 and f2 pinned down, so they can't do anything useful. If a4 moves, it dies. If b3 moves, a4 dies. f2 is pinned on the king. The white bishop at e6 is tied up defending the pawn at f5, which in turn can't move.
ReplyDeleteSo, the only piece white can move is his king. That will let the black king come forward to f3 and thus capture the crucial f2 pawn. If white tries to delay things by (e.g.) moving the bishop to d7, black can just keep pushing the h5 pawn forward until he forces the white king to move back or take the h pawn - once again losing the f2 pawn.
Fischer was a pawn of the Worldwide Church of God and silly enough to tithe a tenth of his earnings to Herbert W Armstrong for a time.
ReplyDeleteClearly his intelligence was very narrow.