ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024
It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.
The idea to take a closer look at this famous game and at this famous endgame goes back to Alex Fishbein. Since the Fischer – Spassky match in Reykjavik 1972 this game has been analysed extensively and by a variety of commentators, of which Garry Kasparov in "My Great Predecessors IV: Fischer" (2004) and Jan Timman in "The art of Chess Analysis" (1997) might be the most prominent. However, modern engines throw a different light on the game.
One finding is that Fischer missed the best moves on move 39 and 40, just before the time-control at move 40. He should have played 39.g4!+- and 40.g4!+- to start immediate play on the kingside.
Wolfram Schoen sums up the conclusions of the analyses:
Previous analyses of this game are not always correct. In fact, until move 38 Spassky had a viable position. However, after a series of five consecutive errors (two by Fischer, three by Spassky), which were pointed out by Charles Sullivan in 2018, Black’s position was lost.
Earlier in the game both players made several inaccuracies in the complicated middlegame, and for half a century Spassky has erroneously been accused of bad play.
Helmut Kahovec used his usual block analysis method with Stockfish 14 to analyse the endgame: