Power of the pinned piece is imaginary! ⎸Fischer vs Keres 1962 Candidates

One of Bobby Fischer’s most beautiful attacking games! A positional masterpiece in the Closed Ruy Lopez against Paul “the second” Keres.

Robert James Fischer vs Paul Keres, Ruy Lopez (Spanish Game), Closed, Keres Defense (C96)
1962 Curaçao Candidates Tournament, Round 7

The Curaçao Candidates was the most important event in Fischer’s career up until then. When he competed in his first World Championship cycle a few years ago he was still arguably inexperienced compared to the Soviet players, which might have been the excuse for the less than ideal performance. In ’62 he had improver significantly. He won the Stockholm Interzonal which was to determine 6 players who will compete in the candidates and he entered the tournament as one of the favorites. His performance wasn’t perfect, though. He didn’t get to challenge Mikhail Botvinnik for the title, and he would have to wait another 10 years for his shot at the chess throne. Petrosian won with 17.5/27, and Fischer finished 4th with 14/27. Here are the final standings:

Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian 17.5/27
Paul Keres 17/27
Efim Geller 17/27
Robert James Fischer 14/27
Viktor Korchnoi 13.5/27
Pal Benko 12/27
Mikhail Tal 7/21
Miroslav Filip 7/27

This game was played in round 7 against Paul Keres, one of the tournament favorites. They entered the Closed Ruy Lopez, Keres went for the Chigorin Defense, but soon chose to transpose to the variation named after him – the Keres Defense. This must have been expected by Fischer because he deviated from the main line early on and managed to get Keres out of his comfort zone and known theory. Keres made one mistake in the middlegame and Fischer exploited it to perfection. He pounded on pressure, pinning the black pieces, weakening black’s kingside and positioning his pieces perfectly. With a few tactical shots he got a material advantage as well and the game was won. He could have finished it off with a nice double attack, but he had chosen to convert to a winning rook endgame instead.

Game moves:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3
d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Nd7 12.dxc5 dxc5 13.Nbd2
Qc7 14.Nf1 Nb6 15.Ne3 Rd8 16.Qe2 Be6 17.Nd5 Nxd5 18.exd5 Bxd5
19.Nxe5 Ra7 20.Bf4 Qb6 21.Rad1 g6 22.Ng4 Nc4 23.Bh6 Be6 24.Bb3
Qb8 25.Rxd8+ Bxd8 26.Bxc4 bxc4 27.Qxc4 Qd6 28.Qa4 Qe7 29.Nf6+
Kh8 30.Nd5 Qd7 31.Qe4 Qd6 32.Nf4 Re7 33.Bg5 Re8 34.Bxd8 Rxd8
35.Nxe6 Qxe6 36.Qxe6 fxe6 37.Rxe6 Rd1+ 38.Kh2 Rd2 39.Rb6 Rxf2
40.Rb7 Rf6 41.Kg3 1-0