Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Famous Blunder
One of the most analyzed World Chess matches is that played between the American legend “Bobby” Fischer and Boris Spassky.
The match took place in Reykjavik (Iceland) in 1972. It started with some days of delay because of Fischer’s demands about the prize-fund.
That match was more than a game competition. It had also a political significance. Chess had a high consideration in the ex-Soviet Union and a symbol of soviet prestige. Remember that at that time the world was politically polarised by socialist (led by USSR) and capitalist (led by the USA) blocks.
Soviet chess players had dominated the game. No American had achieved the world championship since the first champion Wilhelm Steinitz. (Steinitz became a naturalized American citizen in 1888)
It is understandable that the pressure on Spassky was enormous.
With that background, it is not strange that mistakes could appear during the games.
Actually, the first mistake appeared right in the first game. However, not on Spassky’s side, but on Fischer’s. The American miscalculated the consequences of his 29th move and lost a bishop.
The following is the position after Spassky’s 29.b5
For sure Fischer knew the consequences of his move 29…Bxh2. For a player of his level is easy to see that the bishop is lost. But he had a moment of over-confidence and overestimated his chances.
It’s worth remembering that Fischer completely dominated the qualifying matches previous to World match. He beat convincingly Taimanov in quarterfinals with a score of 6-0. The same score against Larsen in semifinals. And 6,5-2,5 against Petrosian in the final.
Fischer’s blunder in the first game of World Chess match 1972 is one of the most famous mistakes in the history of chess.
Le Pelley Cup has been postponed due to the arrival of the COVID-19 virus in Kenya. Chess Kenya has cancelled all events until the end of April because of the same reason.
If you have any questions about what you can do to keep yourself and others safe, the World Health Organization has a page devoted to this and includes links to country-specific information.
If you want to play chess, then feel free to join our Chess.com club. Join the events running there.
