[Event "US Championship 1958/59"]

[Site "New York, NY USA"]

[Date "1958.12.??"]
[Round "3"]
[White "James T Sherwin"]
[Black "Robert James Fischer"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E94"]
[EventDate "1958.12.??"]
[PlyCount "144"]
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.d4 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2
{Most beginners play Bd3, the bishop is better placed at e2 than at
d3, we will see why.}
6...e5
{A normal King's Indian. After this move pressure is applied on the d4
pawn. White has many choices, like d5, 0-0, h3 etc...}
7.d5
{The Petrosian System.As said in Brontein's And the King's Indian
Book. The d5 advance cramps Black's position and fixes the d6 pawn,
White will try to attack it with b4-c5. But it also has it's cons. It
weakens the c5 square and takes away the d5 square from White's
Knight.}
( 7.O-O Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 {Probably the most played line in which White can
choose from 2 main options. Ne1, unblocking the f-pawn and redirecting
the knight to d3(this is why we play Be2) and then we will push with
b4-c5. White can also enter the so called Bayonet Attack with the
inmediate b4.} 9.Ne1
( 9.b4 )
)
7...Nbd7
{The knight is heading for c5 after which Black will use the common
pawn move a5 to stop White from kicking the c5 knight with b4.}
8.O-O Nc5 9.Qc2
{b4 couldnt be played as the e4 pawn was attacked. After Qc2 White is
now threatening to play b4 starting queenside play and kicking that
beatiful posted knight on c5.}
9...a5
{Stopping b4. White can still hope to play it but it would involve to
many moves. He will have to first play b3 (not a3?! as a4 clamps the
queenside) to then continue with a3, Rb8 to avoid the pin down the
a-file and then finally b4.}
10.Ne1
{This knight may head to d3 where it will challenge Black's Knight,
appart from doing that this move also unblocks the f-pawn which will
be important as White will want to play f3 after a possible f5 by
Black to support his e4 pawn.}
10...Ne8
{Moving the knight out of the way to make f5 a legal move. This move
has the virtue of not blocking the c8 bishop as Nfd7 would plus it
takes a look at the d6 square which will be kind of important due to
next white's move.}
11.Be3
{If the knight wasnt on e8 I would be dogmatically worried about the
possibilty of Bxc5, dxc5 and Rd1 with a passed pawn. But because the
knight is on d6 it can easily blockade the d5 passer in case of Bxc5.
Still, I am not a huge fan of Be3, I think Nd3 was better, the knight
on c5 turned to be a little bit pesky later on in the game, no wonder
by Nd3 is most played according to chess.com's database.}
( 11.Nd3 f5 12.Nxc5 dxc5 13.exf5

( 13.f3 {Both this positions seem better. And there isnt really a
kingside attack as Black has to be worried about that d5 pawn.} )
13...gxf5 )
11...f5
{Warning, Critical Position!}
12.exf5
{I do not like this move at all. I would preffer to keep the tension
with f3, after all, that was one of White's idea with Ne1. In this
position I think the correct move was f3, followed by maybe Nd3 after
which White gets rid of the powerful c5 knight and can start with
queenside play.}
( 12.f3 f4 13.Bf2 b6! {Necessary to support that knight with the b6
pawn as Bxc5 dxc5 would be quite good for White. This move does weaken
the a4-e8 diagonal but I would say that after Bd7, covering the
diagonal there would be nothing to worry. Now, after this preparatory
move Black will get his kingside attack and to be honest I would be
worried, specially it Black was Fischer, but this should be better
than exf5.} )
12...gxf5
{Fischer got an open g-file and a nice pawn center I like Black's
Position. }
13.f4
{Not a fan on this move it closes the center when you are about to get
mated on the Kingside, but on the other part it does fight for control
over the d4 square.}
( 13.f3 {Instead I preffer this move, preparing Nd3, exchaging that
pesky knight. Note that the inmediate Nd3 could be answered by Ne4.} )
13...e4 14.Qd2
{Vacating the c2 square for the e1 knmight.}
14...Nf6 15.Nc2 Bd7
{Warning, Critical Position!}
16.Bd4
{I dont understand this move. Sure, it opposes the dark square bishops
but I dont think trading them would be a great acomplishment, after
all Black is the one attacking on the kingside, not you therefore the
exchange of this pieces would not affter Black's King, in fact after
this bishop exchange was annoying for White.}
( 16.Nd4 {This move seems way more logical and it is probably the
correct one. The idea in this position is to play on the queenside.
White will try to get the mentioned counterplay with Ncb5 followed by
some rook lift on the c-file with Rc3 and maybe Nb3.} )
16...Qe8
{Getting ready to play Qg6, putting the queen on the semi open g-file.
}
17.Ne3 Qg6 18.b3
{With the idea of playing a3-b4.}
18...h5
{Supporting Ng4.}
19.Ncd1 Ng4!
{Offering the exchange of bishops which will post the queen on g7,
from where it takes a look at the a1 rook.}
20.Bxg7 Qxg7 21.Nf2
{Dont forget the a1 rook was hanging.}
21...Nxf2!
( 21...Nxe3 {Note the importance of taking the correct knight. If you
take the e3 knight you at the same time vacate the e3 square for
White's queen to take it, this gets her closer to the kingside, where
it could help to defend.} )
22.Kxf2
{White does not take with the king because he wants to scape but

because the a1 rook would be hanging after Rxf2.}

22...h4 23.Kg1 Kf7!
{Vacating the g8 square for the rook. }
24.Rac1?!
{Innacuracy, the rook is misplaced here. I would say Rb1, protecting
the b3 pawn was way better to play a3-b4 and get some play.}
24...Ke7
{Damn, this moves by Fischer make me think that he got other ideas in
mind.}
25.Rc3 Rg8 26.Rf2 Na6
{Interesting move it has the idea of manouvering the knight to b4.}
27.Nc2 Nb4
{Isnt this move stupid? The knight can be kicked with a3. Yes, it can
be kicked with a3 but at the cost of weakening the b3 pawn which will
be then targeted by Fischer.}
28.a3
( 28.Nxb4 axb4 {Surely not what White wants, opening the a-file does
not ressm like like a good option.} 29.Rc2 c5 30.dxc6 bxc6 {And the b4
pawn is untouchable because after Qxc5?? Black has a knockout blow,
e3!} )
28...Nxc2 29.Rxc2 c5!
{Warning, Critical Position!
Fischer after not getting the attack on the Kingside decides to start
planning on the endgame. After making White weaken his b3 pawn with a3
he now targets it. The move c5 plans to prevent any b4 ideas and hopes
to close the queenside to Black's Advantage or to Open it at his. If
the b-file gets opened for Black then he will have good play against
the b3 pawn, if it doesnt then White will have no counterplay after
which Black may try to win by moving his king from e7 all the way to
c7, putting his rook on the a-file on the d-file. There are also some
ideas of exchanging the Light Square bishops via Bh5 to post a rook on
g4 from where it can target the almost isolated f4 pawn.}
30.dxc6 bxc6 31.Rc1 Rgb8
{Fischer as mentioned starts targeting White's weakness. This may be a
critical position, sure, Black has an edge, but how can he increase
it, is there any way to force white to create another weakness?}
32.Rd1 Qf6 33.Qe3 c5
{Heavily controlling b4 and also setting up his pawns on dark squares
so they can work together with this light squared bishop. This move
also introduces the thread of playing a4.}
34.Rd5?
{This move is a non-sense move, just lets Black improve one of his
pieces with Tempo. Not to mention that it does not adress the thread
Black had, a4.}
( 34.a4 Rb4 {a4 by White, stopping a4 by Black was the only move after
of course Black is better, but White still is alive.} )
34...Be6 35.Rd2 a4
{After this move there is no good answer to it. Taking on a4 will open
the a-file for Black and at the same time will weaken the c4 pawn.}
36.b4
{Sherwin decides to try and sac this pawn to get some kind of activity
in the form of c5.}
36...cxb4 37.c5?! d5 38.c6?!
{Warning, Critical Position!
Sherwin lost all his patience and now he is killing himself. This
passed pawn of course is not strong at all and will surely get
captured. Still, this does not mean Black can play whatever he wants.
He needs to be precise.}

38...Qc3
{One of many moves that wins. This move appart from offering the queen
exchange also attacks the c6 pawn and covers the c5 square so there
are no pesky checks.}
( 38...b3 {A move that may seem normal.} 39.c7
( 39.Qc5+ Kf7 40.Rf1 {And altough Black should be still winning
this is not as clear as what Fischer played.} )
39...Rb7 )
39.Bd3
{Declining the queen sac just makes the pain longer but it surely is
the option that offers more practical chances.}
( 39.Qxc3 bxc3 40.Rd1 d4 )
39...d4
( 39...exd3 40.Rxd3 Qxc6 )
40.Qh3 Rh8 41.Rd1 exd3 42.Rxd3 Qxc6 43.Rxd4 b3 44.Re2 Kf7?
{I cant explain whi Fischer didnt went for the easy b2 win.}
45.Rd1 Rad8 46.Rde1 Qb6+ 47.Kh1 b2 48.Rb1 Rd1+! 49.Rxd1 b1=Q 50.Rd2 Q1b3
51.Rd3 Rd8 52.Rxd8 Qxh3 53.gxh3
{After this the game is completely lost and it is just question of
technique as Botvinnik would say to win this.}
53...Qe3 54.R8d3 Qxf4 55.Kg2 Bc8 56.Kg1 Qe4 57.Kf2 Bb7 58.Rd7+ Ke6 59.
R1d6+ Ke5 60.Rd3 Qg2+ 61.Ke1 Be4 62.Re3 Qg1+ 63.Ke2 Qxh2+ 64.Ke1 Kf4 65.
Rc3 Qb2 66.Rdc7 Bf3 67.R7c4+ Kg3 68.Rc2 Qxa3 69.R4c3 Qe7+ 70.Kf1 Qe4 71.
Rg2+ Kxh3 72.Re3 Qb1+
{With Qb2+ and Qxg2 to follow.}
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