Spassky's Closed Sicilian: Dancing Behind the Pawns

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Game 1: No Peace for the King in the Center
• Game 2: Sac, Sac, Win!
• Game 3: Black Horts the Attack
• Game 4: The Chronicles of Exposed Kings: Gufeld's Edition
• Game 5: Nh5! Portisch's Worst Knightmare
• Conclusion 

Introduction

Tired of long hours studying Open Sicilian theory? Then you should consider playing the Closed Sicilian, where dancing with your pieces behind the pawns is more important than memorizing long lines of theory. What better way to learn this opening than by looking at the best games in this line by one of its greatest practitioners? In this blog post, I will analyze some of the best games of Boris Spassky, the 10th official World Chess Champion, in the Closed Sicilian. Let the party start!

This is the most common move order to reach the main starting position of the Closed Sicilian. White typically gains space in the kingside via f4-g4 and eventually attacks the enemy king. White might also gain central control by playing c3-d4, after moving the c3-knight. Black typically expands on the queenside by playing Rb8-b5-b4 and typically puts an annoying knight on d4. Let's move to the games.

Game 1: No Peace for the King in the Center

The following is a model game of attacking the king in the center. Most remarkably, Spassky's attack is not direct, but he slowly but surely builds it, while at the same time preventing the enemy king from castling. Black's 6. Nd4 move is dubious, but his main mistake was to neglect his development. Enjoy the game: 

Game 2: Sac, Sac, Win!

This is probably the flashier and more spectacular game of the blog post, so continue reading. Spassky played this game in the 1968 Candidates Quarterfinal match against Geller, in which he played the Closed Sicilian exclusively with white. This shows how much Spassky trusted this opening. In this game, I find it pretty instructive that Spassky holds the damage in the queenside before proceeding with his attack, which culminates with two very impressive sacrifices. Enjoy: 

Game 3: Black Horts the Attack 

In the following game, Spassky is facing Hort who, to his credit, bravely Horts (got it? "holds") white's very dangerous attack. From quite the beginning, the position becomes very sharp with pinned pieces everywhere but, when the dust settles, they reach an objectively equal endgame. Personally, I prefer white in that endgame but black could have secured half a point with perfect play. 

Game 4: The Chronicles of Exposed Kings: Gufeld's Edition

This is an illustrative game of the typical pawn sacrifice in the Closed Sicilian, e5! In this game, Spassky could almost win the pawn back by force, but the point is that e5 unleashes the latent potential of the bishops. Apart from this, Spassky neatly pressures the weak e6 pawn and ultimately takes great advantage of the exposed enemy king.

Game 5: Nh5! Portisch's Worst Knightmare

In this game, Black was suffocating and tried to open the position, perhaps a little too late. Spassky then achieved two nice central, passed, and connected pawns. This advantage of space, together with the pieces he had accumulated in the kingside, permitted him to launch a deadly attack on the enemy king, which culminates with Portisch's worst knightmare: Nh5! Enjoy the last game:

Conclusion 

Unfortunately, the party comes to an end, enough dancing for today. I hope you enjoyed these five attacking games by Boris Spassky, 10th World Chess Champion, in the Closed Sicilian. If you were looking for an anti-Sicilian where dancing with your pieces rather than memorizing long lines of theory is the most important, you found it! Before starting to play this opening, though, you might want to analyze more games on this line, to deepen your understanding of the typical plans and positions arising from this opening. I recommend you take a look at other games in the Closed Sicilian from Spassky, as well as games from other great practitioners of this opening, such as Vasily Smyslov or Nigel Short.