The Chess Mind

Once upon a time, chess showed up on the world's radar. The year was 1972, and the occasion the World Championship match between the champion, the USSR's Boris Spassky, and his American challenger, Bobby Fischer. The match served as a convenient metaphor for writers looking to make geopolitical points, but it was first and foremost a chess match.

A great match, which can be viewed, informally, as a series of mini-matches. The first comprised games 1 and 2: Fischer's infamous 29...Bxh2? (and succeeding errors) in game 1 cost him a loss in what had been a normally dead drawn ending; then, in game 2, he simply no-showed.

Yet despite the favorable situation on the scoreboard, Spassky was rattled by Fischer's shenanigans and was obliterated over the next 8 games, getting outscored by a fearful 6.5-1.5 margin. If we take that to be the second mini-match, then the third began in game 11, when Spassky crushed Fischer's Poisoned Pawn variation and pulled to 4.5-6.5 overall. A draw ensued in game 12, and thus game 13 was a big moment for Spassky. He had stopped Fischer's momentum and had the chance to narrow his opponent's lead to a single point.

What happened? Come and see, this Monday night at 9 pm on ChessBase's playchess server - and perhaps the next Monday as well. The game was long, gripping affair with both players producing unusual and brilliant ideas throughout the course of the marathon's 74 moves. It's a game with more than a bit of everything, and one that shouldn't be missed!

If you're new to the show and need directions for watching, click here; if you'd like to see what games have been covered in old shows (directions for watching those old shows are in the previous link), click here.