Endgame riddle solved: Spassky could have drawn!

by Karsten Müller
1/31/2024 – Last week we asked you to help us solve a historical riddle. Game 3 of the 1972 match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky left many open questions and new discoveries to be made. Charles Sullivan, Wolfram Schön, Zoran Petronijevic helped Karsten Müller resolve the riddles — and it turns out that Spassky could have held a draw!

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The Match of the Century

The “Match of the Century” between World Champion Boris Spassky and his challenger Bobby Fischer took place in 1972 in Reykjavik, Iceland.

After two traumatic games for Fischer at the outset, World Champion Spassky was leading 2-0 in the match. But then Fischer started to play and struck back by winning the third encounter.

But could have Spassky escaped with a draw? According to the analyses sent by Charles Sullivan, with the assistance of Wolfram Schön, Zoran Petronijevic and other ChessBase readers, the game could have indeed ended in a draw.

The most controversial point was whether 34.Kf1!! draws, as Charles Sullivan had claimed from the start — and it turns out that White can defend the fortress against all attacks.

So the conclusions are (find full analysis in the dynamic replayer below):

  1. 14...Qh4? overpresses and 14...Ng4 is more or less equal.
  2. 15.Bd2? is too slow. 15.f3 wins.
  3. 22.Rae1? loses. Amazingly 22.e5!! still holds.
  4. 23...Re7? is a mistake. 23...Rac8! wins.
  5. 34.Rxe4? loses and 34.Kf1!! amazingly would have defended still.

Relive the match with a fantastic 14-part narration by Frederic Friedel: Part 1 ... Part 14

Full analysis

Endgames of the World Champions from Fischer to Carlsen

Let endgame expert Dr Karsten Müller show and explain the finesses of the world champions. Although they had different styles each and every one of them played the endgame exceptionally well, so take the opportunity to enjoy and learn from some of the best endgames in the history of chess.

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Karsten Müller is considered to be one of the greatest endgame experts in the world. His books on the endgame - among them "Fundamentals of Chess Endings", co-authored with Frank Lamprecht, that helped to improve Magnus Carlsen's endgame knowledge - and his endgame columns for the ChessCafe website and the ChessBase Magazine helped to establish and to confirm this reputation. Karsten's Fritztrainer DVDs on the endgame are bestsellers. The mathematician with a PhD lives in Hamburg, and for more than 25 years he has been scoring points for the Hamburger Schachklub (HSK) in the Bundesliga.

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