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Leisure
An
Evening with Boris Spassky | Spassky-Bronstein
USSR Championship 1960 King's Gambit
Grandmaster
Larry Evans Lecture | Fischer-Evans
Game
Boris
Spassky Events
Simultaneous
Exhibition | Book Signing
Event | Chess Lecture
Review
of Clash of the Titans BBC Documentary
Spassky-Bronstein
USSR Championship 1960
King's Gambit
1. e4
e5 2 . f4 somewhat of a surprise in modern
tournaments, exf4 3.Nf3 d5 Spassky- Fischer 1960
Mar del Plata went 3…g5 3.h4 g4 5.Ne5 Nf6 6.d4 d6 7.Nd3 Nxe4
8.Bxf4 Bg7 and Black with an extra pawn, has every reason to be
content (Larry Evans). 4.exd5 Bd6 5.Nc3 Ne7 6.d4 0-0 7.Bd3
Nd7 A rather timid move. More enterprising is to exchange
White's Bishop by 7…Bf5 with less fear of an attack (Bernard
Cafferty ) 8.0-0 h6 Intended to prevent 9.Ng5 but
the loss of tempo and weakening of the K side are more important
factors. Spassky likes 8…Nf6 9.Ne5 Nexd5 10.Nxd5 Nxd5 11.Qh5
g6 12.Qh6 Qf6 with not bad play for black.(BS/LE). 9.Ne4
! Quite happy to give up his forward d pawn so as to achieve
an attacking position on the b1/h7 diagonal (BC). 9…Nxd5
10.c4 Ne3 11.Bxe3 fxe3 12.c5 Be7 If 12…Bf4 13.g3
Bg5 (or 13…f5 14 Nc3 Bg5 15.h4 Be7 16.Nd5 with a strong attack)
14.Nfxg5 hxg5 15.Qh5 with a winning attack (LE) 13.Bc2
White could win the e pawn by 13.Qe2 but then Black would complete
his development by 13...Nf6 14.Nxf6+ Bxf6 15.Qxe3 Re8 or 14.Qxe3
Nd5 White has few attacking prospects. After the text White achieves
a pickup of the e pawn by Rae1 concentrating all his forces on the
best squares (BC). 13…Re8 the position
is difficult to assess after 13…Nf6 14.Qd3 Nxe4 15 Qxe4 g6
16.Qxe3 Kg7 (LE) 14.Qd3 e2 15.Nd6!? Capablanca
would have played 15.Rf2 and the game would run a normal course
after 15…Nf8. Spassky gambled everything on one trap. He
admits that he was carried away with the concept, but Bronstein
had left himself with only 20 minutes for the next 26 moves. (LE)
Now Black's h7 & f7 are both under attack. Black was shocked
by the fact that White was prepared to give up a whole rook for
the attack and must have analyzed the position with the thought
nagging at the back of his mind that Spassky had found a forced
win in all variations. (BC)
Boris (left in photo) explaining
the position to the audience.
15…Nf8 Correct
is 15…exf1Q+ 16.Rxf1 Bxd6 17.Qh7+ Kf8 18.cxd6 cxd6 19.Qh8+
Ke7 20.Re1+ Ne5 21.Qxg7 Rg8 22.Qxh6 Qb6 23.Kh1 Be6 24.dxe5 d5 25.Qf6+
Kd7 after which the king reaches safety with a probable draw (LE).
Postponing a decision about taking the rook and hoping White will
still be deterred by the cheeky Black pawn in his midst. For Black
to go wrong in the circumstances already described is far from surprising.
After Black is finally able to safeguard his king, the game would
then probably end in a draw. As White has a pawn for the exchange
and can still trouble Black by attacking the d pawn, while Black
has Qf2 in the offing to tie White down to the defense of g2. It
is hardly surprising that Bronstein opted to defend his king in
the orthodox way rather than be driven about the board in this undignified
manner. (BC) 16 Nxf7! exf1=Q+ "A dying man
can eat anything" (BC). 17.Rxf1 Bf5 Not 17…Kxf7?
18.Ne5+ Kg8 19 Qh7+ Nxh7 20.Bb3+ and mates. The only defense is
17…Qd5 18.Bb3 Qxb3 (if 18…Qxf7 19.Bxf7+ Kxf7 20.Qc4+
Kg6 21.Qg8 Bf6 22.Nh4+ Bxh4 23 Qf7+ Kh7 24.Qxe8 with the Black pieces
congested) 19.Qxb3 (if 19.axb3 Kxf7 is safe) Be6 20.Nxh6+ gxh6 21
Qe3 White keeps the initiative, but the outcome of the game is in
doubt (LE). 18.Qxf5 Qd7 19.Qf4 Bf6 closing the
f file but White has more than enough pressure to force a win (BC).
20.N3e5 Qe7 21.Bb3 Bxe5 if 21…Ne6 22.Qg4 22.Nxe5+ Kh7 23.Qe4+ 1-0 On 23…Kh8 24.Rxf8+
Rxf8 25.Ng6+ is decisive (LE). The fine finish of this game was
adapted for use in the famous, if implausible, opening scene of
the James Bond film "From Russia with Love". Strangely
enough however in the 'Kronsteen-McAdams game' the White pawns at
d4 and c5 were omitted (BC).
 Boris then concluded his session with some little masterpieces of
how:
• His first wife attacked him twice with a knife and he knew
that was not a good situation to be in.
• He has since been happily married to his wife Marina for
30 years!
• He once played a game against his son who started the White
side with h3 & Rh2 and Boris told him jokingly to "never
play a game of chess again".
• According to Boris, “His life is made up of a bunch
of 'stupid' stories”.
• Paul Morphy is a chess hero to him and how Morphy's life
is so similar to Fischer's fate.
• As a closing inspiration he said as chess players we must
follow the principle of finding the 'best' move. That is where the
truth comes out.
International Masters Anthony Saidy and John Donaldson along with
Grandmaster Sergey Kudrin conclude the evening activities with World Champion Boris Spassky.
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