Bobby's Blitzkrieg!

John B. Henderson • Jul 19, 2023

Many talking heads and pundits raved over Magnus Carlsen’s recent blitz performances in the same week, at the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz in Zagreb, and online at Chess.com’s highly-competitive Titled Tuesday event, comparing them favourably with Bobby Fischer’s blitz feats from over half a century ago.

But point for point, opponent by opponent, Bobby’s performances through 1970/71 was arguably the more impressive, not to mention stunning in their execution, with the lone wolf American being well and truly in his pomp en route to seizing the world crown from the Soviet chess machine.

Fischer's phenomenal score of 19/22 (17 wins, four draws, and one solitary loss to Viktor Korchnoi) at Herceg Novi in 1970 is considered to be the ‘gold standard’, the best blitz performance ever. And just like Carlsen, many don’t realise that the American followed this up with another monumental blitz performance for a similar brace of results to the Norwegian.

Bobby’s feat in the first unofficial world blitz championship and the strongest speed tournament of the 20th century in then Yugoslavia saw him devastating a world-class field in the double round-robin, with "the deadly gamesman" of the era - as he was subsequently dubbed by Life Magazine - finishing 4.5 points ahead of Mikhail Tal in second place, as he obliterated the Soviet contingent, 8.5-1.5, whitewashing a troika of world champions in Tal, Tigran Petrosian and Vasily Smyslov, six-zip.

Another crucial factor in Fischer’s favour was that his play in Herceg Novi was extremely accurate throughout, whereas, in Zagreb, Carlsen rode his luck somewhat in more than a few games - even old foe and friend Tal was moved to marvel at Fischer’s play, commenting that “During the entire tournament he didn't leave a single pawn en prise, while the other players blundered knights and bishops galore!”

And you can see what Tal was getting at in the quality of Fischer’s games throughout at Herceg Novi, my own particular favourite being today’s King’s Indian Defence masterpiece against Korchnoi, where apparently he used only 2.5 minutes on his clock (!) to create this enduring and sparkling win.

And Bobby followed that epic blitz scoreline with another monster score of 21.5-0.5 in a very strong speed tournament held at the Manhattan Chess Club in August 1971 - with Fischer’s winning streak only coming to an end as he was held to a draw in a R+P endgame by Walter Shipman, the multi-time Manhattan club champion and former US championship contestant.

All told, Bobby’s blitzkrieg tally amassed 40.5-3.5 (+38 -1 =5, or 92 per cent) in two major back-to-back speed tournaments – Herceg Novi and the Manhattan tournaments – against players ranging from strong masters to world champions.

GM Viktor Korchnoi - GM Robert James Fischer

Herceg Novi Blitz 1970, (10)

E97: King's Indian Defence, Orthodox, Aronin-Taimanov variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 O-O 6.Nf3 e5 7.O-O Nc6 This usually heralds in the Mar del Plata Variation, pioneered by Svetozar Gligorić, who finely worked out this daring do-or-die variation for Black in his successful opening round match-up with Argentinian legend Miguel Najdorf at Mar del Plata 1953. 8.d5 Ne7 9.Nd2

The crunch line of the Mar del Plata variation usually sees 9. Ne1 and resulting carnage on both wings - but this more positional line, first played in early 1969 by Mark Taimanov, was favoured by the Soviets as being "best" at the time of this game. 9...c5 At the time, Fischer thought this to be the most logical move, slowing down White's queenside aspirations, and he even went on to successfully deploy it during his whitewashing of Bent Larsen in their 1971 Candidates Match semi-final. 10.a3 Too slow. It was Larsen, in the aforementioned match with Fischer, who discovered the best reply here to be 10.Rb1! - despite his loss to Fischer - going on to render the American's "logical move" of 9...c5 to be a waste of time, as White seizes the advantage on the queenside. 10...Ne8 11.b4 b6 12.Rb1 f5! With Fischer now having made all the necessary precautions on the queenside, he's ready to launch his kingside attack - and what a memorable attack it turns out to be! 13.f3 Better was 13.Nb3 as seen in the game Gligoric-Tringov, Belgrade, 1969. 13...f4 14.a4 g5 15.a5 Rf6! 16.bxc5? As Fischer observes, this was a "terrible mistake" that even Korchnoi acknowledged after the game, because now it is impossible for White to get any breaks/initiative on the queenside, whereas Black now has a free hand to wreak havoc on the kingside. 16...bxc5 17.Nb3 Rg6 18.Bd2 Nf6 Also good for Black was the direct 18...h5! The bottom line, though, is that with Korchnoi's mistake on the queenside, just about any direct move on the kingside from Fischer crashes through. 19.Kh1 g4 Fischer himself admitted that more exact was probably 19...h5! 20.fxg4 A forced move from Korchnoi, as he simply can't allow Fischer to play with impunity 20...g3 as 21.h3 will be hit by 21...Bxh3 etc. 20...Nxg4 21.Rf3? Fischer thought that 21 Bf3! was better, with a more tenacious defence. 21...Rh6 22.h3 Ng6 23.Kg1 Nf6 24.Be1 Nh8!! Such strange retreating knight manoeuvres are crucial in this KID 'Death Variation', as it remerges via h8-f7-g5 both hitting e4 and ready to inflict the decisive blow on White's king. 25.Rd3 Nf7 26.Bf3 Instead, 26.h4!? may have held up the attack - but it would only delay the inevitable, as Black's forces are poised and ready to strike. 26...Ng5 27.Qe2 Rg6 28.Kf1

(see diagram) Sensing the imminent dangers from a sacrificial "moment" on h3, Korchnoi flees with his king - but to no avail. And note that if 28.Kh2 Rh6! just intensifies the threat of a looming sacrifice on h3. 28...Nxh3! It was only a matter of time for this sacrifice to crash through for Black. 29.gxh3 Bxh3+ 30.Kf2 Remarkably for this well-executed attack from Fischer, he was only spending about 2-3 seconds per move (!) - and it almost backfired, as he admitted momentarily his "hand hovered over White's Pawn on e4", but at the last second, he realised that 30...Nxe4 would be answered by 31.Qxe4! and White wins. 30...Ng4+ 31.Bxg4 Bxg4 0-1 And here Korchnoi, seeing no defence to the double threat of 31...Bxe2 and 32...Qh4+ resigned.

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The 42 Paradox

By John B. Henderson • 02 Oct, 2023

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By John B. Henderson • 22 Sep, 2023

With a smorgasbord of online chess events out there now, the granddaddy of them all is surely the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship , with a $150,000 prize fund that determines just who is the best blitz and bullet players. It has become the perennial fan-favourite with arguably the best viewing experience - and the fans are set for yet another spectacular finale later today, as the two rivals who dominate the roll of honour, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, get set for another explosive showdown in the 2023 final. Friday’s final and commentary, free to view, starts at 14:00 ET (11:00 PT; 20:00 CEST; 23:30 IST) on Chess.com. Carlsen and Nakamura have won each edition since the inaugural Speed Chess Championship event in 2016 - Carlsen won the first two speed titles before taking a hiatus, only for Nakamura to rule the roost, winning four more times.

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By John B. Henderson • 19 Sep, 2023

India today is a land of amazing young talents and prospects in chess, with the country seemingly having a never-ending production line of prodigies rolling off the factory conveyor belt. But for some countries, such as Argentina, prodigies only seem to come around with all the regularity of Halley’s Comet . One of the first notable post-war chess prodigies was Oscar Panno from Buenos Aires, who became the first world-class player born in South America. In 1953, at the age of 17, he became only the second World Junior Champion , having won the coveted youth title ahead of a strong cadre of future elite-level Grandmasters such as Boris Ivkov (who in 1951 was crowned the first World Junior Ch), Bent Larsen, and Fredrik Olafsson.

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By John B. Henderson • 14 Sep, 2023

“Chess is a cruel game. We all know that feeling when your position has gone awry and everything seems hopeless. You feel like resigning. But don’t give up! This is precisely the moment to switch to swindle mode. Master the art of provoking errors and you will be able to turn the tables and escape with a draw or sometimes even steal the full point!” So wrote David Smerdon, an Australian chess grandmaster and one of his country’s leading behavioural economists, on the back cover of his witty and wickedly entertaining, not to mention the much-lauded and deserving 2020 ECF Book of the Year winner, The Complete Chess Swindler (New in Chess).

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By John B. Henderson • 11 Sep, 2023

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By John B. Henderson • 08 Sep, 2023

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By John B. Henderson • 04 Sep, 2023

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