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The Game of the Century (chess)
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Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
game played between Donald Byrne
Donald Byrne
Donald Byrne was one of the USA's strongest chess players during the 1950s and 1960s.Born in New York City, he won the U.S. Open Chess Championship in 1953, was awarded the International Master title by FIDE in 1962, and played for or captained five U.S. Chess Olympiad teams between 1962 and 1972...
and 13-year-old Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
in the Rosenwald Memorial Tournament in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on October 17, 1956. It was nicknamed "The Game of the Century" by Hans Kmoch
Hans Kmoch
Johann "Hans" Joseph Kmoch was an Austrian-Dutch-American chess International Master , International Arbiter , and a chess journalist and author, for which he is best known....
in Chess Review
Chess Review
Chess Review is a U.S. chess magazine that was published from January 1933 until October 1969 . Until April 1941 it was called The Chess Review. Published in New York, it began on a schedule of at least ten issues a year but later became a monthly...
. Kmoch wrote, "The following game, a stunning masterpiece of combination play performed by a boy of 13 against a formidable opponent, matches the finest on record in the history of chess prodigies."
Background
Donald Byrne (1930–76) was one of the leading American chess masterChess master
A chess master is a chess player of such skill that he/she can usually beat chess experts, who themselves typically prevail against most amateurs. Among chess players, the term is often abbreviated to master, the meaning being clear from context....
s at the time of this game. He had won the 1953 U.S. Open Championship
U.S. Open Chess Championship
The U.S. Open Championship is an open national chess championship that has been held in the United States annually since 1900.-History:Through 1938, the tournaments were organized by the Western Chess Association and its successor, the American Chess Federation .The United States Chess Federation ...
, and would later represent the United States in the 1962, 1964, and 1968 Olympiads. He became an International Master in 1962, and would likely have risen further if not for ill health. Robert "Bobby" Fischer (1943–2008) was at this time a promising young master. Following this game, he had a meteoric rise, winning the 1957 U.S. Open on tiebreaks
Tie-breaking in Swiss system tournaments
Tie-break systems are used in chess Swiss system tournaments to break ties between players who have the same total number of points after the last round. If the players are still tied after one tie-break system is used, another system is used, and so on, until the tie is broken...
, winning the 1957–58 U.S. (Closed) Championship
U.S. Chess Championship
The U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational tournament held to determine the national chess champion of the United States. Since 1936, it has been held under the auspices of the U.S. Chess Federation. Until 1999, the event consisted of a round-robin tournament of varying size...
(and all seven later championships he played in), qualifying for the Candidates Tournament
Candidates Tournament
The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship...
and becoming in 1958 the world's youngest grandmaster
International Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....
at age 15. He won the world championship
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
in 1972, and is considered one of the greatest chessplayers in history.
In this game, Fischer (playing Black
White and Black in chess
In chess, the player who moves first is referred to as "White" and the player who moves second is referred to as "Black". Similarly, the pieces that each conducts are called, respectively, "the white pieces" and "the black pieces". The pieces are often not literally white and black, but some...
) demonstrates noteworthy innovation and improvisation. Byrne (playing White
White and Black in chess
In chess, the player who moves first is referred to as "White" and the player who moves second is referred to as "Black". Similarly, the pieces that each conducts are called, respectively, "the white pieces" and "the black pieces". The pieces are often not literally white and black, but some...
), after a standard opening, makes a seemingly minor mistake on move 11, losing tempo
Tempo (chess)
In chess, tempo refers to a "turn" or single move. When a player achieves a desired result in one fewer move, he "gains a tempo" and conversely when he takes one more move than necessary he "loses a tempo"...
by moving the same piece twice. Fischer pounces with brilliant sacrificial
Sacrifice (chess)
In chess, a sacrifice is a move giving up a piece in the hopes of gaining tactical or positional compensation in other forms. A sacrifice could also be a deliberate exchange of a chess piece of higher value for an opponent's piece of lower value....
play, culminating in a queen
Queen (chess)
The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts...
sacrifice on move 17. Byrne captures the queen, but Fischer gets far too much material for it – a rook
Rook (chess)
A rook is a piece in the strategy board game of chess. Formerly the piece was called the castle, tower, marquess, rector, and comes...
, two bishops
Bishop (chess)
A bishop is a piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops. One starts between the king's knight and the king, the other between the queen's knight and the queen...
, and a pawn
Pawn (chess)
The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess, historically representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the rank immediately in front of the other pieces...
. At the end, Fischer's pieces coordinate to force checkmate
Checkmate
Checkmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured...
, while Byrne's queen sits, helpless, at the other end of the board.
Graham Burgess
Graham Burgess
Graham K. Burgess is an English FIDE Master of chess and a noted writer and trainer. He became a FIDE Master at the age of twenty. He attended Birkdale High School in Southport, Merseyside. In 1989 he graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in mathematics...
, John Nunn
John Nunn
John Denis Martin Nunn is one of England's strongest chess players and once belonged to the world's top ten. He is also a three times world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician....
, and John Emms suggested three lessons to be learned from this game, which can be summarized as follows:
- In general, moving the same piece twice in the openingChess openingA chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...
wastes time; other pieces should be developed first. - Material sacrifices are likely to be effective against a king still in the middle and an open central file.
- Even at 13, Fischer was a player to be reckoned with.
The game
1. Nf3- A noncommittal move by Byrne. From here, the game can develop into a number of different openings.
1... Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7
- Fischer defends based on "hypermodernHypermodernism (chess)Hypermodernism is a school of chess that emerged after World War I. It featured challenges on the chess ideologies presented by central European masters, such as on Wilhelm Steinitz’ approach to the centre. It also challenged in particular the dogmatic rules set down by Siegbert Tarrasch...
" principles, inviting Byrne to establish a classical pawn stronghold in the center, which Fischer intends to target and undermine with his fianchettoFianchettoIn chess the fianchetto is a pattern of development wherein a bishop is developed to the second rank of the adjacent knight file, the knight pawn having been moved one or two squares forward....
ed bishop and other pieces.
4. d4 0-0
- Fischer castlesCastlingCastling is a special move in the game of chess involving the king and either of the original rooks of the same color. It is the only move in chess in which a player moves two pieces at the same time. Castling consists of moving the king two squares towards a rook on the player's first rank, then...
, bringing his king to safety. The Black move 4...d5 would have reached the Grünfeld DefenceGrünfeld DefenceThe Grünfeld Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:-History:The first instance of this opening is in an 1855 game by Moheschunder Bannerjee, an Indian player who had transitioned from Indian chess rules, playing black against John Cochrane in Calcutta, in May 1855: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4...
immediately. After Fischer's 4...0-0, Byrne could have played 5.e4, whereupon 5...d6 6.Be2 e5 reaches the main line of the King's Indian Defense.
5. Bf4 d5
- The game has now transposed to the Grünfeld Defence (5.Bf4, D92), usually initiated by 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5.
6. Qb3
- A form of the so-called Russian System (the usual move order is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3), putting pressure on Fischer's central d5 pawn.
6... dxc4
- Fischer relinquishes his center, but draws Byrne's queen to a square where it is a little exposed and can be attacked.
7. Qxc4 c6
- Also possible is 7...Na6 (the Prins Variation), preparing ...c5 to challenge White's center.
8. e4 Nbd7
- In later games, Black played the more active 8...b5 followed by 9...Qa5. An example is BisguierArthur BisguierArthur Bernard Bisguier is an American chess Grandmaster, chess promoter, and writer. Bisguier won two U.S. Junior Championships , three U.S. Open Chess Championship titles , and the 1954 United States Chess Championship title. He played for the United States in five chess Olympiads...
–BenkoPál BenkoPal Benko is a chess grandmaster, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems.- Early life :Benko was born in France but was raised in Hungary. He was Hungarian champion by age 20. He emigrated to the United States in 1958, after defecting following the World Student Team...
, U.S. Championship 1963–64. Fischer's choice is a little slow, although one would not guess that from the subsequent play.
9. Rd1 Nb6 10. Qc5
- An awkward square for the queen, which leaves it exposed to a possible ...Na4 or ...Ne4, as Fischer brilliantly demonstrates. Since both of those squares are protected by Byrne's knight on c3, he understandably did not appreciate the danger. 10.Qb3 would have left the queen better placed, although it would have invited further harassment with 10...Be6.
10... Bg4
- Byrne's pawns control the center squares. However, Fischer is ahead in piece development and has castled, while Byrne's king is still in the center. These factors would not have been very significant had Byrne attended to his development on his next move.
11. Bg5?
- Byrne errs, moving the bishop a second time instead of completing his development. Burgess, Nunn and Emms, as well as Wade and O'Connell, suggest 11.Be2, protecting the king and preparing kingside castlingCastlingCastling is a special move in the game of chess involving the king and either of the original rooks of the same color. It is the only move in chess in which a player moves two pieces at the same time. Castling consists of moving the king two squares towards a rook on the player's first rank, then...
. Flear–Morris, Dublin 1991, continued 11.Be2 Nfd7 12.Qa3 Bxf3 13.Bxf3 e5 14.dxe5 Qe8 15.Be2 Nxe5 16.0-0 and White was slightly better. Byrne doubtless thought that Black's slight lead in development would be transitory, not anticipating the maelstrom that his young opponent now initiates.
11... Na4!!
- "One of the most powerful moves of all time." (Jonathan RowsonJonathan RowsonJonathan Rowson is Scotland's third chess Grandmaster, after Paul Motwani and Colin McNab, and has played first board at recent Chess Olympiads. He is also a chess author.-Career:...
). Fischer offers an ingenious knight sacrificeSacrifice (chess)In chess, a sacrifice is a move giving up a piece in the hopes of gaining tactical or positional compensation in other forms. A sacrifice could also be a deliberate exchange of a chess piece of higher value for an opponent's piece of lower value....
. If Byrne played 12.Nxa4, Fischer would play Nxe4, leaving Byrne with some terrible choices:- 13.Qxe7 Qa5+ 14.b4 Qxa4 15.Qxe4 Rfe8 16.Be7 Bxf3 17.gxf3 Bf8 produces a deadly pinPin (chess)In chess, a pin is a situation brought on by an attacking piece in which a defending piece cannot move without exposing a more valuable defending piece on its other side to capture by the attacking piece...
; - 13.Bxe7 Nxc5 14.Bxd8 Nxa4 15.Bg5 Bxf3 16.gxf3 Nxb2 gives Fischer an extra pawn and ruins Byrne's pawn structurePawn structureIn chess, the pawn structure is the configuration of pawns on the chessboard. Since pawns are the least mobile of the chess pieces, the pawn structure is relatively static and thus largely determines the strategic nature of the position.-General observations:Weaknesses in the pawn structure, such...
; - 13.Qc1 Qa5+ 14.Nc3 Bxf3 15.gxf3 Nxg5 regains the sacrificed piece with a better position and extra pawn;
- 13.Qb4 Nxg5 14.Nxg5 Bxd1 15.Kxd1 Bxd4 16.Qd2 Bxf2 with a winning material advantage (Fischer).
- 13.Qxe7 Qa5+ 14.b4 Qxa4 15.Qxe4 Rfe8 16.Be7 Bxf3 17.gxf3 Bf8 produces a deadly pin
12. Qa3 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Nxe4!
- Fischer again offers material in order to open the e-file and get at White's uncastled king.
14. Bxe7 Qb6 15. Bc4
- Byrne wisely declines the offered material. If 15.Bxf8 Bxf8 16.Qb3, Fischer analyzes 16...Nxc3! 17.Qxb6 (17.Qxc3?? Bb4 wins the queen) axb6 18.Ra1 Re8+ 19.Kd2 Ne4+ 20.Kc2 Nxf2 21.Rg1 Bf5+, which he considers winning for Black. Also strong is 16...Re8 17.Qxb6 (17.Be2 Nxc3!) axb6 18.Be2 Nxc3 19.Rd2 Bb4 20.Kf1 Ne4 21.Rb2 Bc3 22.Rc2 Nd2+! 23.Kg1 (23.Nxd2 Bxe2+ 24.Kg1 Bd3! 25.Rc1 Bxd2 leaves Black with a winning material advantage) Rxe2 24.Rxc3 Nxf3+ 25.gxf3 Bh3 26.Rc1 Rxa2 leaving White absolutely paralyzed.
15... Nxc3!
- Now if 16.Qxc3, 16...Rfe8 pins the bishop to White's king, thus regaining the sacrificed piece with an extra pawn.
16. Bc5 Rfe8+ 17. Kf1
- Byrne threatens Fischer's queen; Fischer brings his rook into play, misplacing Byrne's king. It appears that Fischer must solve his problems with his queen, whereupon White can play 18.Qxc3, with a winning material advantage.
17... Be6!!
- This stunning resource is the move that made this game famous. Instead of saving his queen, Fischer offers to sacrifice it. Fischer pointed out that 17...Nb5? loses to 18.Bxf7+ Kxf7 19.Qb3+ Be6 20.Ng5+ Kg8 21.Nxe6 Nxd4 22.Nxd4+ Qxb3 23.Nxb3.
18. Bxb6?
- Byrne takes the offered queen, hoping to outplay his 13-year-old opponent in the ensuing complications. However, Fischer gets far too much for his queen, leaving Byrne with a hopeless game. The move 18.Bxe6 would have been even worse, leading to a smothered mateSmothered mateIn chess, a smothered mate is a checkmate delivered by a knight in which the mated king is unable to move because he is surrounded by his own pieces....
with 18...Qb5+ 19.Kg1 Ne2+ 20.Kf1 Ng3+ 21.Kg1 Qf1+! 22.Rxf1 Ne2#. White's 18.Qxc3 would have been met by 18...Qxc5! and if 19.dxc5, Bxc3. White's best chance may have been 18.Bd3 Nb5!, which Kmoch wrote would also result in "a win for Black in the long run".
18... Bxc4+
- Fischer now begins a 'windmillWindmill (chess)In chess, a windmill is a tactic in which a combination of discovered checks and regular checks, usually by a rook and a bishop, can win massive amounts of material. This tactic is also sometimes referred to as a see-saw...
' series of discovered checks, picking up material.
19. Kg1 Ne2+ 20. Kf1 Nxd4+ 21. Kg1
- 21.Rd3? axb6 22.Qc3 Nxf3 23.Qxc4 Re1# (Fischer).
21... Ne2+ 22. Kf1 Nc3+ 23. Kg1 axb6
- Fischer captures a piece, simultaneously attacking Byrne's queen.
24. Qb4 Ra4!
- Fischer's pieces cooperate nicely: the bishop on g7 protects the knight on c3, which protects the rook on a4, which in turn protects the bishop on c4 and forces Byrne's queen away. Perhaps Byrne overlooked this move when analyzing 18.Bxb6, expecting instead 24...Nxd1? 25.Qxc4, which is much less clear. Otherwise, it is hard to explain why Byrne played 18.Bxb6, since Black now has a clearly winning position.
25. Qxb6
- Unfortunately for Byrne, he has nothing better than this pawn-grab, since he has no queen move available to protect his threatened rook on d1.
25... Nxd1
- Fischer has gained a rook, two bishops, and a pawn for his sacrificed queen, leaving him ahead the equivalent, roughly, of one minor piece – an easily winning advantage in master play. White's queen is far outmatched by Black's pieces, which dominate the board and will soon overrun White's position. Moreover, Byrne's remaining rook is stuck on h1 and it will take precious time (and the loss of the pawn on f2) to free it. Byrne could resign here, but plays on until checkmateCheckmateCheckmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured...
.
26. h3 Rxa2 27. Kh2 Nxf2 28. Re1 Rxe1 29. Qd8+ Bf8 30. Nxe1 Bd5 31. Nf3 Ne4 32. Qb8 b5
- Note that every piece and pawn of Black's is defended, leaving White's queen with nothing to do.
33. h4 h5 34. Ne5 Kg7
- Fischer breaks the pin, allowing the bishop to attack as well.
35. Kg1 Bc5+
- Now Fischer "peels away" the white king from its last defender, and uses his pieces in concert to force checkmate.
36. Kf1 Ng3+ 37. Ke1 Bb4+
- Kmoch notes that with 37...Re2+ Fischer could have matedCheckmateCheckmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured...
a move sooner.
38. Kd1 Bb3+ 39. Kc1 Ne2+ 40. Kb1 Nc3+ 41. Kc1 Rc2# 0–1
External links
- Annotated text of The Game of the Century source for this article, with permission
- http://www.dwheeler.com/misc/game_of_the_century.pgn (same, in PGN format)
- The game online ChessGames.com
- Game of the Century - Bobby Fischer vs Donald Byrne YouTube video by thechesswebsite
- Donald Byrne vs Bobby Fischer YouTube video by ChessNetwork