September 1st, 1972. 50 years ago it was. It was the 21st game of the Championship Match. Bobby Fischer Wins Match Of The Century - Chess.com
"Match of the Century" was how it was dubbed in the press.
If you were alive in 1972, and old enough to watch TV, you knew about this match. It was the height of the Cold War. The defending champion from the Soviet Union, Boris Spassky was meeting the winner of the Candidates Tournament, American Bobby Fischer. It inspired a lot of Americans to learn chess, at least a little.
The match was held in Reykjavík, Iceland. Fischer held the lead with 11.5 points to Spassky's 8.5 points. (1 point for a win, and 0.5 points for a draw.) 12.5 points were needed to win the match.
The 21st game of the match started on August 31st.
After he had navigated the masses and made it to the board, Fischer played his favored Sicilian Defense, but not the variation that had gotten him crushed in game 11. He went with the Taimanov Variation (by transposition) instead. Coincidentally, Fischer had swept its namesake, GM Mark Taimanov, 6-0 on the road to Reykjavik. After starting his Candidates run against Taimanov, Fischer was about to use his opening to finish the job.
The switch proved justified. After seven moves, Spassky was already off balance.
The game was adjourned at the 41st move. Black White (Spassky) sealed his move with the authority, and it was to be made when the match was resumed. Spassky resigned by telephone on 1 September 1972.
It's the end of the most awaited match in chess history, the culmination of a fulminating trajectory for the American genius towards the world title. His greatest life goal had been achieved. To the dismay of all chess lovers, however, he would not play another chess game until 1992, against the same Spassky.
Fischer enjoyed some of the celebrity that surrounded his win. He even made an appearance on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show in November of that year. After that he disappears from the world of chess.
Except for his 1992 rematch with Spassky and a few other aberrations, that status remains true until his death in 2008. Additionally, what few public appearances do occur reveal a broken soul at best and a raging anti-Semite at worst.
But in 1972 he was famous across America. There is even a movie about chess, Searching for Bobby Fischer which is pretty good. (It is not about Fischer.) I like the other movie about chess a bit more, Fresh, but I'm not sure how well-known either is.
Note on the logo at top: FIDE stands for Fédération Internationale des Échecs, or International Chess Federation; it is the governing body of international chess competition.
Gee, I've been up for nearly six hours and haven't felt old once - until I read this.
ReplyDeleteI remember that clearly. I saw "Searching for Bobby Fischer" in the theater. I don't recall Fresh so I guess that got by me. I was never a total chess geek, but who hasn't played it a bit?
Well, saying I haven't felt old once yet today is a bit of an exaggeration.