Chess Explorations (92)
By Edward Winter
About a month ago, a Chess
Explorations article discussed the 753-page paperback My 61 Memorable
Games ‘by Bobby Fischer’. Since then, our extensive
feature article has added many further pages from the book, such as this
sample concerning the 61st game (Fischer v Spassky, Sveti Stefan, 1992):


The bottom of page 735 has this:
‘27 Nf1!
Targeting the b5 Pawn of course. There is no shorter path to Black’s
demise. And now for an entertaining comment:
“In my opinion, 27 Nd2! with the same idea was also good.”
– (Weinstein, Volume IV, page 486)’
The following page in full:

On the next page, after 31...Bxd5, the book states:
‘I wonder why nobody ever mentioned 31...Nf6 as a serious alternative
in any notes I have ever seen on this game? Can’t this Knight ever go
after the d5 Pawn?’
The game-score on page 486 of the fourth Kasparov volume has ‘31 Bc2
Bxd5 (31...Nf6!?)’.
Finally in this selection, page 738:


Our earlier Chess Explorations article commented: ‘Too many people have
already written about My 61 Memorable Games without having seen it and,
in some cases, without even knowing whether or not it existed.’ It is
remarkable that, as of today, the English-language Wikipedia
page makes do with this singularly unhelpful line concerning a singularly
unreliable commentator:
‘Larry Evans originally thought it was possible that it was a pirated
version of a genuine Fischer manuscript, but in April 2008 concluded it was
a hoax.’
For our part, despite having actually seen the book we would not presume to
conclude whether it is a fake/hoax – terms which, in any case, cover a
range of possibilities. Between the two extremes – a book 100% written
and approved by Fischer and a book in which he had no involvement whatsoever – dozens of hybrid solutions could be imagined, and speculated upon endlessly
but pointlessly.
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by Edward Winter
Edward Winter is the editor of Chess
Notes, which was founded in January 1982 as "a forum for aficionados
to discuss all matters relating to the Royal Pastime". Since then, over 7,870
items have been published, and the series has resulted in four books by Winter:
Chess
Explorations (1996), Kings,
Commoners and Knaves (1999), A
Chess Omnibus (2003) and Chess
Facts and Fables (2006). He is also the author of a monograph on Capablanca
(1989). In 2011 a paperback
edition was issued.
Chess Notes is well known for its historical research, and anyone browsing
in its archives
will find a wealth of unknown games, accounts of historical mysteries, quotes
and quips, and other material of every kind imaginable. Correspondents from
around the world contribute items, and they include not only "ordinary readers"
but also some eminent historians – and, indeed, some eminent masters. Chess
Notes is located at the Chess
History Center. Signed copies of Edward Winter's publications are
currently available.