Fischer vs Spassky III: The Controversial Re-Match

The bidding for the rematch was won by Yugoslav millionaire Jezdimir Vasiljevic who offered a 5 million US dollar purse for the match, with 3.35 million to go to the winner – the largest ever for a chess match. Fischer’s conditions for the match were also agreed to: the first player to win 10 games would win the match, draws not counting.

The match would take place in Yugoslavia, which was under heavy UN sanctions at the time. Fischer was warned by the US government about participating in the match but decided to pay no heed to the warnings and went ahead with playing the match anyway. This resulted in an arrest warrant and Fischer would never return to his home country again.

But enough with the pre-match background – let’s get to the games! The world was watching with great anticipation as Fischer sat down at the board for his first competitive game in 20 years and pushed his favored king’s pawn to e4:

The first game was more or less of a masterclass from Fischer. Could it be? Was he really the GOAT? It quickly became apparent that the first game was not a perfect reflection of Fischer’s level. Fischer and Spassky were playing chess from the 1970s and they had both aged since then.

After two draws, Spassky won games 4 and 5 to take the lead in the match. Game 6 was another draw so Fischer trailed by a point heading into the seventh game:

The seventh game showed that Fischer was still tactically sharp and at least in the early part of the match he was calculating well. He would reel off two more wins in the eighth and ninth games to lead 4-2 and after a draw in the tenth game he would have white again in the eleventh:

This game was 1992 Fischer at his best: a novelty in the opening (to which Spassky did not respond in the best way possible) led to a wild tactical game in which Fischer converted his advantage with apparent ease.

After this game Fischer led 5-2 and the match took a 10 day break. The first 11 games had been played in Sveti Stefan, an island off the coast of Montenegro but now the match would shift to the Serbian capital of Belgrade.

Spassky immediately won game 12 after which there were three draws. Fischer won in rounds 16 and 17 to lead 7-3. The match situation was beginning to look desperate for Spassky. After two more draws in rounds 18 and 19, he entered round 20 hoping to get back into the match:

Inaccurate middlegame play from Fischer with some hasty pawn breaks led to an advantage for Spassky and he showed he still had some fight in him to bring the point home.

Fischer won the very next game to restore his 4 point lead and after three draws he won again in round 25 to get to 9 points, one win away from the overall match victory. Spassky won round 26, followed by three draws before the deciding 30th and final game:

A very complicated King’s Indian middlegame was ultimately blundered away by Spassky as he unnecessarily sacrificed his knight on f5. The match was over: Fischer had won but most were not convinced that he was any longer the best.

Kasparov (at the time world number 1 and rated 2790) said of the match:

"Bobby is playing OK, nothing more. Maybe his strength is 2600 or 2650. It wouldn't be close between us."

So, let’s debate the following in the forum: what would have happened if 1992 Fischer had gotten back into tournament chess and begun training and playing regularly again? Could he have challenged Kasparov for the world title?

Sadly, Fischer would never play a competitive chess game again. He would die in Reykjavik, Iceland, the site of his greatest triumph, in 2008 at age 64. Spassky also faded away from top-level chess, only playing occasionally in the years after the match.

So there you have it – the conclusion of the Fischer-Spassky trilogy.

I hope you enjoyed this post,
Dan