First time Bobby Fischer faced Boris Spassky ⎸1960 Mar del Plata

Boris Spassky vs Robert James Fischer, King’s Gambit Accepted, C39 Kieseritsky Gambit, Rubinstein Variation
1960 Mar del Plata, Argentina, Round 2

This game is the first encounter between the two giants who will face each other in the World Championship match twelve years later in Iceland. At the time, Bobby Fischer was only 17 years old, Spassky was 23, so they were both still about to reach their peak strength. Spassky was, however, already considered to be one of the strongest Soviet players. The Mar del Plata tournament was a very strong event in which four strong foreign grandmasters got invited to play against the best Argentinians. Fridrik Olafsson from Iceland, Spassky and Bronstein rom USSR and Fischer from the US were the international players.

Fischer and Spassky got all the attention, sharing first place with an astonishing score of 13.5/15. Spassky was in front of Fischer since he won their encounter, but Fischer had an amazing performance as well. This game is the start of a battle which Fischer would wage against Spassky and the Soviet chess machine for years to come, until he finally beat Spassky in ’72. After this defeat, he faced Spassky four more times before the World Championship and didn’t win a single game. This must have tortured him, since no man alive could endure the relentless pressure he was able to put on his opponents over the board. But, had he won this game, who knows would he have been able to prepare as well for Iceland as he did.

Spassky chose a very provocative opening in this game, perhaps trying to intimidate Fischer and show who’d boss to the chess world, since Fischer was already considered the only threat to the Soviet domination over chess.

He played the unsound King’s Gambit. An opening which is known to give black an advantage, regardless of what white plays next. Practically, though, it can lead to very complicated positions and white often gets a lot of attacking prospects for the sacrificed pawn. Fischer played the main line theory for 20 moves, not letting Spassky justify his risky play, and he had a clear material advantage for the majority of the game. He made one mistake. And not such a clear one at first glance. He made a move which turned the situation around completely and his position was lost.

Game moves:
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Nf6 6. d4 d6
7. Nd3 Nxe4 8. Bxf4 Bg7 9. Nc3 $6 Nxc3 10. bxc3 10... c5
11. Be2 cxd4 12. O-O Nc6 13. Bxg4 O-O 14. Bxc8 Rxc8 15. Qg4 f5
16. Qg3 dxc3 17. Rae1 Kh8 18. Kh1 Rg8 19. Bxd6 Bf8 20. Be5+
Nxe5 21. Qxe5+ Rg7 22. Rxf5 Qxh4+ 23. Kg1 Qg4 24. Rf2 Be7
25. Re4 Qg5 26. Qd4 Rf8 27. Re5 Rd8 28. Qe4 Qh4 29. Rf4 1-0