Fischer-Spassky 1992 (Game 26)

Boris Spassky bounced back to win game 26 of his 1992 match with Bobby Fischer, just one day after being thoroughly dominated by the American in the previous game.  Knowing that his back was against the wall, as Fischer only needs one more game to take home the $3.35 million dollar winner’s prize, Spassky came up with arguably his best performance of the match thus far.  Fischer tried his King’s Indian Defense that moved ever so slightly into a Benoni Defense.

Spassky’s early pawn chains and powerful bishops hampered Fischer at every turn.   Spassky’s space advantage became evident after 18.g5 forced 18…Nf7 and Fischer’s knight had nowhere to maneuver.  With Spassky’s kingside defenses impenetrable, Fischer attempted to load up on the b-file for a queenside attack to no avail.  Spassky continued his kingside pressure with 29.h5 and 30.h6 and suffocated black’s kingside defenses.

Fischer attempted a hasty trade-off of queens and the last remaining rooks to give himself some breathing room with 33.Ng5 Rxb1 34.Qxb1 Qxb1 35.Bxb1, but Spassky expertly used the advantage of his twin bishops and maneuvered his king into Fischer’s back yard.  They battled on until move 58 when Fischer finally resigned.  Fischer now leads the match by a score of 9-5.

For an account of the earlier games, visit www.rookhouse.com/blog and type in "fischer spassky 1992" in the search bar located on the right side.