ANew York Times, New York, New York, Monday, July 17, 1972 - Page 25
Fischer Turns Unorthodox Move Into an Attack by Al Horowitz
Reykjavik, Iceland, July 16 — For the second time in two games, the American challenger for the world chess title has made a move that set match-watchers on their ear.
Unlike the unexpected move in the first game,however, this one turned out to be the precursor of a powerful attack.
Both times, Bobby Fischer had the black side—normally the side on the defensive — and both times he made attacking moves. In his first game with Boris Spassky, he seemed to be moving into a draw when he played the astounding 29 … BxKRP.
The move led to the loss of his bishop, for which he got two pawns, and was probably the chief factor in his loss of the game.
This time he played 11. … N-R4.
The game began with Spassky making the move with which he is associated and that he used in his first game with Fischer in this match. 1. P-Q4. The moves that followed—1. … N-KB3; 2. P-QB4 P-K3; 3. N-KB3 P-B4; 4. P-Q5—led to the so-called Benoni opening.
Named for some reason after “Ben Oni” a work published in Frankfurt in 1825, the opening has a long history. It was a favorite of the Russian expatriate Alexander Alekhine, who was world champion from 1927 to 1935 and again from 1937 to 1946, and has been used extensively by a more recent champion, Mikhail Tal.
The idea of the Benoni is to create a radical pawn imbalance, with Black having the queenside majority and White the kingside majority.
Basically, it is a forceful defense, giving rise to extremely active positions rich in rapid-fire tactical possibilities. Often, both sides skate on thin ice with no sure footing in sight.
The Benoni can be met in various ways. But it seems that Spassky was taken completely by surprise, for he had evidently not been prepared with a pattern of his own to meet Fischer's play.
In the opening, Fischer divided his game into a kingside and a queenside squadron without emphasizing anything in particular. On pure development, Fischer worked up play on the opponent's king pawn, which was attacked and had to fall.
Fischer's unorthodox 11. … N-R4 was so unusual that Spassky, amazed, studied it for half an hour before replying with 12. BxN. Rarely is a knight played on the rim as Fischer played it here and the remark “a knight on the rim is dim,” is often heard.
The idea in permitting the knight to be capture was to gain and put to use the white squares of the opposing bishop.
Here, Spassky traded bishop for knight and the absence of the white bishop was felt later. Toward the end of the time control, when the champion saw he was going to lose a pawn, he tried desperately to force a perpetual check, which would turn the game into a draw. But Fischer, known for his accurate play, steered the game away from such a draw.
Although games in apparently hopeless positions have been saved, there seemed little that Spassky was able to do when Fischer sealed his 41st move.
