Unzicker’s Chigorin Defense was too weak to stop Bobby Fischer. He played a maneuvering, positional game in style of Karpov or Petrosian … until it was time to strike.
Robert James Fischer vs Wolfgang Unzicker, Ruy Lopez (Spanish Game), Chigorin Defense C97
Zürich 1959, Round 8
For the theory of the Ruy Lopez and the Closed Ruy Lopez watch this video on the basics: https://youtu.be/GFWI3gkizZg
Chigorin Defense in depth: https://youtu.be/SK1uQyXUvqE
The 1959 tournament held in Zürich, Switzerland was one of the strongest at the time, and, perhaps, one of the most famous chess tournaments of the 20th century. Ten foreign players were invited to play, along with 6 strongest Swiss players (including Keller). Among the invited were the strongest grandmasters at the time (five of whom fought at the Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade candidates the same year); Mikhail Tal, Paul “the second” Keres, Svetozar Gligorić, Fischer, Unzicker, Larsen and Olafsson.
The even wasn’t as important to the “foreigners”, since they were expected to mop up the domestic competition, but it turned out to be a close fight among themselves and a very exciting, unforgettable tournament (for more info read the book “Weltschachturnier Zürich 1959”, where all the games are covered, along with a lot of interesting side stories). Tal finished in clear first, Gligorić came in second with 0.5 points less, and Bobby Fischer was third, only a point behind Tal! This was Bobby’s first major international showing, and a major result as well. At this point he started his life-long fight against the Russian grandmasters (on and off the board).
Here are the final standings:
Mikhail Tal 11.5/15
Svetozar Gligoric 11/15
Robert James Fischer 10.5/15
Paul Keres 10.5/15
Bent Larsen 9.5/15
Wolfgang Unzicker 9.5/15
Gedeon Barcza 8.5/15
Fridrik Olafsson 8/15
Josef Kupper 7/15
Edwin Bhend 6.5/15
Jan Hein Donner 6.5/15
Dieter Keller 6/15
Edgar Walther 5/15
Andreas Dueckstein 5/15
Max Blau 2.5/15
Erwin Nievergelt 2.5/15
This game was played in round 8. Fischer faced the best German grandmaster, Wolfgang Unzicker. They entered a Closed Ruy Lopez (Spanish Game), and Unzicker went for the Chigorin Defense, one of the most aggressive ways to fight the “Spanish torture”. Both players followed the common positional plans (which are still theory today). Bobby went for a thematic kingside attack and traded minor pieces in a way which gave him a strong “thorn pawn” on g5. Unzicker reacted rashly. He pushed f6, challenging the g5 pawn, but weakening his king position irreparably for the rest of the game. Fischer immediately exploited that by launching a deadly kingside attack which lead to Unzicker losing a pawn, and, finally, entering a losing bishop vs knight endgame.
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 Qc7 12. Nbd2
Bd7 13. Nf1 Rfe8 14. Ne3 g6 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Nh2 Rad8 17. Qf3
Be6 18. Nhg4 Nxg4 19. hxg4 Qc6 20. g5 Nc4 21. Ng4 Bxg4
22. Qxg4 f6 23. gxf6 Bxf6 24. a4 Nb6 25. axb5 axb5 26. Be3 Ra8
27. Red1 Kh8 28. b3 Bg7 29. Qh4 Bf6 30. Bg5 Bxg5 31. Qxg5 Rxa1
32. Rxa1 Nd7 33. Bd1 Nf6 34. Ra7 Qd6 35. Be2 Re7 36. Rxe7 Qxe7
37. Bxb5 Kg7 38. Be2 Qc7 39. Qe3 Qa5 40. g3 Qa3 41. Kg2 Qa5
42. Qd3 Qb6 43. Qc4 Qc6 44. Bd3 Qb6 45. b4 cxb4 46. cxb4 Ng4
47. Qc5 Qxc5 48. bxc5 Kf7 49. f4 Ke7 50. Kf3 Nf6 51. Bb5 Ke6
52. Bc4+ Ke7 53. c6 Ne8 54. fxe5 h6 55. Ke3 Nc7 56. Kd4 h5
57. Ke3 g5 58. Be2 h4 59. gxh4 gxh4 60. Bc4 Ne8 61. Kf4 Kd8
62. Kg4 Kc7 63. Bf7 Ng7 64. Kxh4 Kxc6 65. Kg5 1-0