The Game of The Century refers to a
chess game played between chessmaster
Donald Byrne and 13-year old
Bobby Fischer in the Rosenwald Memorial Tournament in
New York on
October 17,
1956.
It was nicknamed "The Game of the Century" by
Hans Kmoch in Chess Review.
In this game, Fischer (playing black) demonstrates brilliance, innovation,
improvisation and poetry. Byrne (playing white), after a standard opening, makes
a minor mistake on move 11, moving the same piece twice (wasting time). Fischer
pounces, with strong sacrificial play, culminating in an incredible queen
sacrifice on move 17. Byrne captures the queen, but Fischer more than
compensates by taking many other pieces. The ending is an excellent
demonstration of pieces working together to achieve a checkmate.
Burgess suggests 3 lessons to be learned from this game, which can be
summarized as follows:
In general, don't waste time by moving the same piece twice in an opening;
get your other pieces developed first.
Material sacrifices are likely to be effective if your opponent's king is
still in the middle and a central file is open.
Even at 13, Fischer was a player to be reckoned with.
Donald Byrne (1930-1976), by the time of this game, had already obtained
first place in the 1953 US Open Championship, and would eventually represent the
United States in three Olympiads (1962, 1964, and 1968). Robert "Bobby" Fischer
(1943-) eventually became world champion in
1972.
A noncommittal move. From here, the game can develop into a number of
different
openings.
1. ... Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7
Fischer has opted for a defense based on "hypermodern"
principles: he's inviting Byrne to establish a classical pawn stronghold in
the center, which Fischer hopes to undermine and transform into a target.
Fischer has fianchettoed his bishop, so it can attack the a1-h8 diagonal
including its center squares.
4. d4 O-O
Fischer castles, concentrating on protecting his king immediately.
5. Bf4 d5
This introduces the
Grünfeld Defence, an opening usually brought about with the opening
moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5.
6. Qb3
The so-called Russian System, putting pressure on Fischer's central d5
pawn.
6. ...dxc4
Fischer relinquishes his centre, but draws Byrne's queen to a square
where it is a little exposed and can be attacked.
7. Qxc4 c6 8. e4 Nbd7 9. Rd1 Nb6 10. Qc5 Bg4
At this point, Byrne's pieces are more developed, and he controls the
center squares. However, Fischer's king is well-protected, while Byrne's
king is not.
11. Bg5?
Here Byrne makes a mistake - he moves the same piece twice, losing time,
instead of developing in some way. Both [Burgess, Nunn and Emms] and [Wade
and O'Connell] suggest 11. Be2; this would protect the King and enable a
later kingside castle. For example, the game Flear-Morris, Dublin 1991,
continued 11. Be2 Nfd7 12. Qa3 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 e5 14. dxe5 Qe8 15. Be2 Nxe5
16. O-O and white is better.
11. ... Na4!!
Here Fischer cleverly offers up his Knight, but if Byrne takes it with
Nxa4 Fischer will play Nxe4, and Byrne then suddenly has some terrible
choices:
13. Bxe7 Nxc5 14. Bxd8 Nxa4 15. Bg5 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Nxb2 gives Fischer
an extra pawn and ruin's Byrne's pawn structure.
13. Qc1 Qa5+ Nc3 Bxf3 15.gxf3 Nxg5 gives Fischer back his piece and a
better position.
12. Qa3 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Nxe4!
Fischer offers to Byrne material, in exchange for a much better position
that is especially dangerous to white: an open e-file, with white's king
poorly protected.
14. Bxe7
Byrne wisely decides to decline the offered material.
This is a very clever move by Fischer; this is the move that made this
game famous. Instead of trying to protect his queen, Fischer viciously
counter-attacks using his bishop and sacrifices his queen. Byrne cannot
simply take the bishop, because that will lead to checkmate:
Byrne takes Fischer's offered queen, which leads to a massive loss of
material, but other moves are no better. For example, 18.Bxe6 leads to a
forced
smothered mate with 18...Qb5+ 19.Kg1 Ne2+ 20.Kf1 Ng3+ 21.Kg1 Qf1+
22.Rxf1 Ne2#.
18. ... Bxc4+
Fischer now begins a series of discovered checks, picking up material.
This move by Fischer takes time out to capture a piece, but it doesn't
waste time because it also threatens Byrne's queen. Byrne's queen cannot
take the knight on c3, because it's protected by Fischer's bishop on g7.
24. Qb4 Ra4
Fischer uses his pieces together nicely in concert; the knight on c3
protects the rook on a4, which in turn protects the bishop on c4. This
forces Byrne's queen away.
25. Qxb6
Byrne's queen picks up a pawn, but it's now poorly placed.
25. ... Nxd1
Fischer has taken a rook, 2 bishops, and a pawn as compensation for his
queen; in short, Fischer has gained significantly more material than he's
lost. In addition, Byrne's remaining rook is stuck on h1 and it will take
precious time to free it, giving Fischer opportunity to set up another
offensive. White has the only remaining queen, but this will not be enough.
Fischer breaks the pin, allowing the bishop to attack as well.
35. Kg1 Bc5+
Now Fischer "peels away" the white king from his last defender, and
begins a series of checks that culminate in checkmate. This series of moves
is extremely interesting in the way Fischer shows how to use various pieces
together to force a checkmate.
36. Kf1 Ng3+
Adjacent bishops can, without opposition, simply move next to each other
to force the king along. However, Fischer can't do this here and simply move
his light-square bishop to c4, because Byrne's knight protects c4. However,
the knight does the job, forcing Byrne's king along.