Bobby's Blitzkrieg!

John B. Henderson • July 19, 2023

Many talking heads and pundits raved over Magnus Carlsen’s recent blitz performances in the same week, at the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz in Zagreb, and online at Chess.com’s highly-competitive Titled Tuesday event, comparing them favourably with Bobby Fischer’s blitz feats from over half a century ago. 


But point for point, opponent by opponent, Bobby’s performances through 1970/71 was arguably the more impressive, not to mention stunning in their execution, with the lone wolf American being well and truly in his pomp en route to seizing the world crown from the Soviet chess machine.

Fischer's phenomenal score of 19/22 (17 wins, four draws, and one solitary loss to Viktor Korchnoi) at Herceg Novi in 1970 is considered to be the ‘gold standard’, the best blitz performance ever. And just like Carlsen, many don’t realise that the American followed this up with another monumental blitz performance for a similar brace of results to the Norwegian. 


Bobby’s feat in the first unofficial world blitz championship and the strongest speed tournament of the 20th century in then Yugoslavia saw him devastating a world-class field in the double round-robin, with "the deadly gamesman" of the era - as he was subsequently dubbed by Life Magazine -  finishing 4.5 points ahead of Mikhail Tal in second place, as he obliterated the Soviet contingent, 8.5-1.5, whitewashing a troika of world champions in Tal, Tigran Petrosian and Vasily Smyslov, six-zip.


Another crucial factor in Fischer’s favour was that his play in Herceg Novi was extremely accurate throughout, whereas, in Zagreb, Carlsen rode his luck somewhat in more than a few games - even old foe and friend Tal was moved to marvel at Fischer’s play, commenting that “During the entire tournament he didn't leave a single pawn en prise, while the other players blundered knights and bishops galore!” 

And you can see what Tal was getting at in the quality of Fischer’s games throughout at Herceg Novi, my own particular favourite being today’s King’s Indian Defence masterpiece against Korchnoi, where apparently he used only 2.5 minutes on his clock (!) to create this enduring and sparkling win.


And Bobby followed that epic blitz scoreline with another monster score of 21.5-0.5 in a very strong speed tournament held at the Manhattan Chess Club in August 1971 - with Fischer’s winning streak only coming to an end as he was held to a draw in a R+P endgame by Walter Shipman, the multi-time Manhattan club champion and former US championship contestant.


All told, Bobby’s blitzkrieg tally amassed 40.5-3.5 (+38 -1 =5, or 92 per cent) in two major back-to-back speed tournaments – Herceg Novi and the Manhattan tournaments – against players ranging from strong masters to world champions. 


GM Viktor Korchnoi - GM Robert James Fischer

Herceg Novi Blitz 1970, (10)

E97: King's Indian Defence, Orthodox, Aronin-Taimanov variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 O-O 6.Nf3 e5 7.O-O Nc6 This usually heralds in the Mar del Plata Variation, pioneered by Svetozar Gligorić, who finely worked out this daring do-or-die variation for Black in his successful opening round match-up with Argentinian legend Miguel Najdorf at Mar del Plata 1953. 8.d5 Ne7 9.Nd2

The crunch line of the Mar del Plata variation usually sees 9. Ne1 and resulting carnage on both wings - but this more positional line, first played in early 1969 by Mark Taimanov, was favoured by the Soviets as being "best" at the time of this game. 9...c5 At the time, Fischer thought this to be the most logical move, slowing down White's queenside aspirations, and he even went on to successfully deploy it during his whitewashing of Bent Larsen in their 1971 Candidates Match semi-final. 10.a3 Too slow. It was Larsen, in the aforementioned match with Fischer, who discovered the best reply here to be 10.Rb1! - despite his loss to Fischer - going on to render the American's "logical move" of 9...c5 to be a waste of time, as White seizes the advantage on the queenside. 10...Ne8 11.b4 b6 12.Rb1 f5! With Fischer now having made all the necessary precautions on the queenside, he's ready to launch his kingside attack - and what a memorable attack it turns out to be! 13.f3 Better was 13.Nb3 as seen in the game Gligoric-Tringov, Belgrade, 1969. 13...f4 14.a4 g5 15.a5 Rf6! 16.bxc5? As Fischer observes, this was a "terrible mistake" that even Korchnoi acknowledged after the game, because now it is impossible for White to get any breaks/initiative on the queenside, whereas Black now has a free hand to wreak havoc on the kingside. 16...bxc5 17.Nb3 Rg6 18.Bd2 Nf6 Also good for Black was the direct 18...h5! The bottom line, though, is that with Korchnoi's mistake on the queenside, just about any direct move on the kingside from Fischer crashes through. 19.Kh1 g4 Fischer himself admitted that more exact was probably 19...h5! 20.fxg4 A forced move from Korchnoi, as he simply can't allow Fischer to play with impunity 20...g3 as 21.h3 will be hit by 21...Bxh3 etc. 20...Nxg4 21.Rf3? Fischer thought that 21 Bf3! was better, with a more tenacious defence. 21...Rh6 22.h3 Ng6 23.Kg1 Nf6 24.Be1 Nh8!! Such strange retreating knight manoeuvres are crucial in this KID 'Death Variation', as it remerges via h8-f7-g5 both hitting e4 and ready to inflict the decisive blow on White's king. 25.Rd3 Nf7 26.Bf3 Instead, 26.h4!? may have held up the attack - but it would only delay the inevitable, as Black's forces are poised and ready to strike. 26...Ng5 27.Qe2 Rg6 28.Kf1

(see diagram) Sensing the imminent dangers from a sacrificial "moment" on h3, Korchnoi flees with his king - but to no avail. And note that if 28.Kh2 Rh6! just intensifies the threat of a looming sacrifice on h3. 28...Nxh3! It was only a matter of time for this sacrifice to crash through for Black. 29.gxh3 Bxh3+ 30.Kf2 Remarkably for this well-executed attack from Fischer, he was only spending about 2-3 seconds per move (!) - and it almost backfired, as he admitted momentarily his "hand hovered over White's Pawn on e4", but at the last second, he realised that 30...Nxe4 would be answered by 31.Qxe4! and White wins. 30...Ng4+ 31.Bxg4 Bxg4 0-1 And here Korchnoi, seeing no defence to the double threat of 31...Bxe2 and 32...Qh4+ resigned.

The 42 Paradox

By John B. Henderson • October 2, 2023
Well, well, well. After rampaging his way through many of the finals and opponents throughout the 2023 Champions Chess Tour, Magnus Carlsen’s “final boss” reign came to a screeching halt in what proved to be an enthralling AI Cup Grand Final on Friday, as the favourite was beaten not once but in three games, and over two matches, by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who sensationally grabbed the last remaining spot in the Champions Tour Final in December. Earlier, Carlsen had defeated MVL in the final of the winners’ bracket, before the Frenchman gained the right to a rematch in the double-elimination contest by beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final of the losers’ bracket. In the Grand Final, buoyed up and firing on all cylinders, MVL beat Carlsen by a 2½-1½ score.

We'll Meet Again

By John B. Henderson • September 29, 2023
The self-proclaimed “final boss of chess” does what the final boss of chess does best of all: Magnus Carlsen beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final of the AI Cup winners’ bracket, the sixth and final leg of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour regular season, to reach yet another Grand Final in the novel double-elimination contest. But it wasn’t without an epic bare-knuckle street fight from both players, as MVL proved to be a worthy opponent for what looked to be an unstoppable Carlsen, who narrowly prevailed in the Armageddon to take the match 3-2. "This is the sort of thing that happens when you play Sicilians in every game," said a magnanimous Carlsen in victory after four fighting Sicilians left the match tied at 2-2.

Tiers For Fears

By John B. Henderson • September 27, 2023
Fans were treated to arguably the greatest online rivalry in chess history recently, with the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship Grand Final showdown between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura seeing the Norwegian narrowly snatch victory by a solitary win to end the American speed maven’s hopes of a sixth successive victory. But Carlsen’s narrow win left the salivating fans feeling they’d been denied seeing this epic gladiatorial speed contest going into overtime - but they didn’t have to wait long for the rivalry redux, as a couple of days later, both Carlsen and Nakamura went head-to-head yet again in the opening day of the AI Cup, the sixth and final leg of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour regular season.

Bossing It

By John B. Henderson • September 25, 2023
Magnus Carlsen more than lived up to his self-proclamation of being “The Final Boss of Chess” with a revenge-is-sweet narrow victory over fellow chess influencer Hikaru Nakamura, as he denied his long-time arch-rival a sixth successive Chess.com Speed Chess Championship title last Friday. Last year, it was Nakamura who narrowly squeaked home by one point - this time, in yet another thrilling match consisting of three different speed limits - 5+1, 3+1 and 1+1 (more commonly known as ‘bullet’) - between the two speed titans, it again ended with the same scoreline, though this time seeing Carlsen triumph by a solitary win after two pulsating hours of thrilling play, as he took the $150,000 2023 Speed Chess Championship presented by Coinbase, 13.5-12.5.

Death, Taxes, Magnus & Hikaru

By John B. Henderson • September 22, 2023
With a smorgasbord of online chess events out there now, the granddaddy of them all is surely the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship , with a $150,000 prize fund that determines just who is the best blitz and bullet players. It has become the perennial fan-favourite with arguably the best viewing experience - and the fans are set for yet another spectacular finale later today, as the two rivals who dominate the roll of honour, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, get set for another explosive showdown in the 2023 final. Friday’s final and commentary, free to view, starts at 14:00 ET (11:00 PT; 20:00 CEST; 23:30 IST) on Chess.com. Carlsen and Nakamura have won each edition since the inaugural Speed Chess Championship event in 2016 - Carlsen won the first two speed titles before taking a hiatus, only for Nakamura to rule the roost, winning four more times.

A Messi Kid

By John B. Henderson • September 19, 2023
India today is a land of amazing young talents and prospects in chess, with the country seemingly having a never-ending production line of prodigies rolling off the factory conveyor belt. But for some countries, such as Argentina, prodigies only seem to come around with all the regularity of Halley’s Comet . One of the first notable post-war chess prodigies was Oscar Panno from Buenos Aires, who became the first world-class player born in South America. In 1953, at the age of 17, he became only the second World Junior Champion , having won the coveted youth title ahead of a strong cadre of future elite-level Grandmasters such as Boris Ivkov (who in 1951 was crowned the first World Junior Ch), Bent Larsen, and Fredrik Olafsson.

The Great Rook 'n' Roll Swindle

By John B. Henderson • September 14, 2023
“Chess is a cruel game. We all know that feeling when your position has gone awry and everything seems hopeless. You feel like resigning. But don’t give up! This is precisely the moment to switch to swindle mode. Master the art of provoking errors and you will be able to turn the tables and escape with a draw or sometimes even steal the full point!” So wrote David Smerdon, an Australian chess grandmaster and one of his country’s leading behavioural economists, on the back cover of his witty and wickedly entertaining, not to mention the much-lauded and deserving 2020 ECF Book of the Year winner, The Complete Chess Swindler (New in Chess).

No Country For Young Men

By John B. Henderson • September 11, 2023
With the top teenage talents being overshadowed in the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid in Kolkata by a dominant performance from seasoned veteran Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, there were hopes of a homeland comeback in the follow-on Blitz tournament - and one looked to be on the cards, only for another “old guy”, this time Alexander Grischuk, crashing the teenage party by capturing the second, even faster speed title. Early doors, all eyes were firmly on Rameshbabu “Pragg” Praggnanandhaa, with his flying start of a perfect 5/5 on the opening day of the two-day double-round contest. But that was as good as it got for the 18-year-old Candidate-qualifier, who could only finish the day on 6.5/9, and despite being the sole leader, he held what looked a very slender half-point lead over nearest rivals Santosh Vidit and Grischuk, ominously the only unbeaten player.

My Indian Summer

By John B. Henderson • September 8, 2023
The past couple of years have proved to be a major one for India - not only a global player with world leaders descending this week in New Delhi for the G20 Summit and recently successfully landing a spacecraft on the moon but now also a fully-fledged chess superpower, with many exciting young talents set to make the country a dominant force for the foreseeable future. Many would even speculate that Indian Chess could well turn into a hegemony, in much the same way as the Soviets dominated the chess scene in the 1945 post-war period until its collapse and ultimate dissolution in 1991. The latest big chess tournament to be held in India coincides with the G20, with the fifth Tata Steel Chess India Rapid & Blitz - a spinoff from the larger Dutch super-tournament, the Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk aan Zee - taking place 5-9 September in Kolkata.

Me & The Kids

By John B. Henderson • September 4, 2023
The fifth and latest leg of the Champions Chess Tour , the Julius Baer Generations Cup more than lived up to its name with the world No.1, Magnus Carlsen, after overpowering Alireza Firouzja in the winners’ final, to effortlessly cruise his way into the Grand Final, declaring: “It’s just me against the kids now!” After three clean kills that included a brace of back-to-back 2½-½ victories over Iranian Amin Tabatabaei and his old title foe Caruana, Carlsen proceeded to sweep Firouzja 3-0 to reach the Grand Final of the contest - but it wasn’t lost on the “old man” that non of his old rivals were left in the competition, and that meant that Denis Lazavik (16), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (18), and Firouzja (20) were the only three left standing to see who would go forward to meet him in the Grand Final.
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