Fischer's win against Letelier at the 1960 Leipzig Chess Olympiad is one of Fischer's most famous games, as it was typical of his strategically straightforward and aggressive style, and ended after only 23 moves with a spectacular queen sacrifice. Fischer later included it in his famous book My 60 Memorable Games, and it has found its way into anthologies, textbooks and numerous YouTube videos.
17-year-old Bobby Fischer at his Olympic debut in Leipzig 1960 | Photo: tournament book
But this was not the first and only encounter between the two. Letelier and Fischer had played three times before Leipzig, and in the first of these games Letelier won, albeit only after an uncharacteristic error by Fischer in a pawn ending.
In the next two games, Letelier was less fortunate and suffered two defeats, making the overall score 3-1 in Fischer's favour.
Letelier's probably most famous game was against Miguel Najdorf at the International Tournament in Montevideo. This tournament was also Letelier's greatest success: he won with 14.5 points out of 17 games, andbeating two chess legends, Najdorf and Ossip Bernstein. He won against both of them.
In this game, the queen doesn't sacrifice herself, but instead delivers mate, but a move like 17.Rxh5 deserves to be remembered. As does René Letelier.
