Fischer Chess: Domination on and off the Board

Even before the game started Fischer had Spassky making concessions. They call this game "best by protest." Fischer lost the first two games, the first by a pawn grab in a drawn position and the second by forfeit. He refused to appear. In fact, Fischer was willing to concede the whole match by default. Right there a concession was made because Spassky, not wanting to win by default began agreeing to Fischer's demands. He demanded a different playing room without cameras. He complained about the lights until they shined the light into Spassky's eyes. Then Fischer tore into Spassky's pet opening, an opening Fischer wasn't even known for playing, the Tartakower defense of the Queen's Gambit Declined. So Fischer arguably had shaken Spassky psychologically and was dominating him off the board with all of his bullying demands and on the board by deliberately going into Spassky's favorite opening which could have had the effect of insulting or humiliating him, and it has been argued that Spassky lost due to this, and not inferior ability. But still, chess can be a game of intimidation. Fischer used to describe the moment when he could feel his opponent's ego being crushed. Let's look at the concessions being made during this world famous game and see if we can identify them.

We begin our search for concessions on move 14. ...a6. Spassky's second, Geller (what they call a chess playing second), had told him to play Qb7. Spassky never answered the question as to why he played Geller's old recommended move a6 instead of his new recommended move, Qb7. Spassky had never lost this opening. 14. ..a6 was actually predicted, and considered the best move. Rybka (the computer) thinks it's the best. But it submits to the pin on the queen. The pin allows further inroads to be made into his position, as in this case it allowed the knight to come in via the d4 square a few moves later. Did the made many accommodations made off the board, set him up to make them on the board? People were blamed. Spassky's psychiatrist (and yes, chess players have them as part of their team) should have better prepared him, perhaps should never have allowed him to agree to the the conditions of play that Fischer demanded. This was no ordinary chess match, indeed no ordinary world championship match. This was the Soviet Union versus the United States during the Cold War. Could it be, was it possible that Spassky didn't care as much about defending the Soviets as Fischer did about attacking them? You bet blame was passed around.

Because the pin on c5 has been allowed (the Knight move to d7 reintroducing it) Fischer's knight can move to d4. This shows the significance of the pin on the queen on e7. Often in chess that is how it is. A pinned piece, a compromised situation of some sort leads to other compromises. These things increase the tension. When a piece is forced to guard another piece, or block, as in the case of a pin, or when a piece is under attack then the opponent, especially if he's Fischer, will do everything he can to put more and more pressure on that already weakened square, piece or situation. Bobby is dominating Black all game, forcing him to accept losses, small at first, but building up to lead to a completely lost position. Here, let's look at what comes next.

In the next few moves you see a series of retreats by Spassky. They may have been unavoidable but there is a saying. A free man fights harder than a slave. The three hundred Spartans, free Greeks, were willing to fight to the death to defend Thermopolis against thousands of Persian slaves forced to fight for a country they had no stake in defending. Perhaps Spassky has no stake in fighting to the death for a country that treats him more like a robot than a person. He retreats his queen next move. He gives up the c4 square a few moves later. Like I said, perhaps no choice, but still, the squares seem to belong more and more to Fischer, until he dominates the whole board, much like he did the conditions of the match. Having his chair flown in. Complaining about the lack of bowling alley's in Reykjavik. The lighting. The size of the pieces. The close proximity of the audience. The sound of candy wrappers hitting the ground. He dominated the whole setting of this Cold War match. And one gets the feeling, since Spassky was willing to blitz with Fischer till dawn the night before one of the games, that Spassky wasn't so averse to this dynamic.

 Click here to see whole Fischer Spassky game.