Exercises in Style (3/4): Solutions

by Johannes Fischer
8/10/2017 – Part three of the "Exercises in Style" showed games by Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer and Anatoly Karpov, featuring patient maneuvering, tactical brilliance, impressive endgame technique and sophisticated positional play. However, it was not always easy to ascribe the games to the "right" World Champions. Here are the solutions.

Mega Database 2017 Mega Database 2017

The "Mega" is the database every serious chessplayer needs. The database contains 6.8 million games from 1500 to 2016, in highest quality standard, full of top level analyses and completely classified.

More...

Game 1

The man who slayed the Sicilian in game 1 was Boris Spassky, World Champion from 1969 to 1972. Spassky was a universal player and handled all kinds of positions equally well. However, he had an exceptionally fine feeling for dynamic play. His game against Lev Polugayevsky, for which Spassky won the brilliancy prize at the Soviet Championship 1958, is a good example for Spassky's flair for dynamics.

 

Game 2

Guessing the winner of game 2 was perhaps not as difficult as guessing the winners of the three other games. In game 2 Tigran Petrosian, World Champion from 1963 to 1969, had the white pieces. Petrosian is known for his infinite patience and his pronounced prophylactic play - before becoming active himself he liked to prevent or parry all possible or impossible threats his opponents had or might have. The game against Lothar Schmid is a typical example.

 

Game 3

Anatoly Karpov, too, is a player with a fine feeling for prophylaxis. However, his play is markedly more active and more aggressive  than that of Petrosian. Both, active play and prophylaxis, comes together in his game against Judit Polgar presented here. It helped Karpov to a win that seems deceptively simple.

 

Game 4

Game 4 was perhaps the most difficult to ascribe. All World Champions were strong endgame players and the final phase of this game could possibly also have been played by Karpov or Petrosian. However, in this game it was Bobby Fischer who demonstrated superb endgame technique and his  typical untiring will to win.

 

Master Class Vol.1: Bobby Fischer

No other World Champion was more infamous both inside and outside the chess world than Bobby Fischer. On this DVD, a team of experts shows you the winning techniques and strategies employed by the 11th World Champion.

Grandmaster Dorian Rogozenco delves into Fischer’s openings, and retraces the development of his repertoire. What variations did Fischer play, and what sources did he use to arm himself against the best Soviet players? Mihail Marin explains Fischer’s particular style and his special strategic talent in annotated games against Spassky, Taimanov and other greats. Karsten Müller is not just a leading international endgame expert, but also a true Fischer connoisseur.

The fourth and final part of the Exercises in Style will follow shortly.

See also

 


Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register