[Event "Mar del Plata"]

[Site "Mar del Plata ARG"]

[Date "1959.04.08"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Robert James Fischer"]
[Black "Jacobo Bolbochan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B45"]
[EventDate "1959.03.23"]
[PlyCount "99"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Ndb5 Bb4 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.
Nxc3 d5 9.Bd3 dxe4 10.Nxe4 Nxe4 11.Bxe4 Qxd1+ 12.Kxd1
{And we have arised to a very technical endgame. White lost the right
to castle but it isnt that important here as there no queens on the
board, meaning that neither side would want to castle but instead, if
possible, keep his king near the center. We can see both sides have
different pawn majorities. Fischer (White) has a queenside majority,
he has 3 pawns compared to Black's 2 pawns on that wing. Black
(Bolbochan) has a kingside majority, 4 vs 3. Both sides will try to
push his majorities which will ultimately create a passed pawn.}
12...Bd7 13.Be3 f5 14.Bf3 e5
{Bolbochan starts moving his kingside majority.}
15.b4
{Fischer does the same.}
15...O-O-O 16.Kc1 Nd4
{This gives Fischer the option to take on d4 giving Black an Isolani,
but is the pawn weak? After Bxd4 and exd4 Black has a weak pawn but
opens the e-file for his rooks.}
17.Bxd4 exd4 18.Re1 Rhe8 19.Kd2!
( 19.Kb2 {This is a mistake. The king gets away from the action. He
wants to say near the Isolani.} )
19...Bb5 20.Rxe8 Rxe8 21.a4
{Trying to get the bishop out of the a6-f1 diagonal so the king gets
the d3 square.}
21...Bc4 22.Rc1
{Intending to play c3 after which taking on c3 would be suicidal due
to the pin on the c-file.}
( 22.Re1 {Trying to transpose into Pawn ending to take advantage of
the Isolated Pawn would be a mistake, the idea is right but exact
calculation proves this to be a draw.} 22...Rxe1 23.Kxe1 Kc7 24.Be2
Bxe2 25.Kxe2 Kd6 {And this is a draw due to the distant opposition
Black has. Still both sides have to calculate carefully, one wrong
move and the game is lost or won. Here are some sample lines.} 26.Kd3
Kd5 27.f4 h6 28.h3!
( 28.h4?? g6 29.g3 b6 30.a5 bxa5 31.bxa5 a6 )
28...h5 29.g3 b6
( 29...g6?? 30.a5! b6 31.a6 h4 32.gxh4 b5 33.h5! gxh5 34.h4 Ke6
35.Kxd4 )
30.b5 h4 31.gxh4 g6 32.h5 gxh5 33.h4 Kc5 34.c3 dxc3 35.Kxc3 {Drawn.} )
22...Kb8
{Things dont change with this move, if White tries to transpose into a
King and Pawn ending Black's king will also get to c7 in a move.}
23.c3
{Fischer decides there is no way to take advantage of the Isolani and
trades it off, opening the c-file for his rook.}
23...dxc3+ 24.Rxc3 Bf7
{And White has a slight edge. Why? Although position should be equal
because of the equal material and same pawn structure there is a
difference in space. Fischer has 2 pawns on the 4th rank while Black

only has one of his pawns on the 5th rank. Not to mention that Black's
bishop is staring into space while Fischer's bishop is aiming at the
b7 pawn. This fact is rather important as if White enters a B + P
endgame White would get a decisive King activity because Black will
need to lose a tempo moving the pawn or babysit the b7 pawn. }
25.a5!
{Look how Fischer consistently wins more space on the queenside. He is
like a boa constrictor, winning more and more space, gradually killing
his opponent. After the queenside gets locked up with moves like a6
Fischer will then proceed to constrict Black on the Kingside, slowly
winning more space.}
25...Re7 26.Re3 Rd7+
( 26...Rxe3?? {And White gets incredible King activity. Just mater of
calculation to see how White has a clear path to enter on the kingside
via the weakened dark squares (f4,g5,h6) meanwhile Black cant do the
same on the queenside due to the great coordination between White's
pawns that control the dark squares and White's bishop that controls
the light squares.} 27.Kxe3 Kc7 28.Kf4 g6 29.Kg5 b6 30.Kh6 {This
should be completely winnig.} )
27.Rd3 Re7
( 27...Rxd3+ {Calculation is the key to play this kind of endgames.}
28.Kxd3 Kc7 29.Kd4 Be8 30.Ke5 Bc6 31.Bd5!
( 31.Bxc6 {But not trading bishops which erases any winning
chances White had and enters a drawn K + P endgame.} 31...Kxc6 32.
Kxf5 Kb5 33.Ke6 Kxb4 34.f4 Kxa5 35.f5 b5 36.Kf7 b4 37.Kxg7 b3 38.
f6 b2 39.f7 b1=Q 40.f8=Q = )
)
28.Rd8+
{Fischer infiltrates in the 8th rank, ready to bring his rook behind
enemy pawns. }
28...Kc7 29.Rh8 h6 30.Kc3
{White's king can advance without worries as he has the initiative, if
Black tries to imitate White with Re1? He gets swipped of the board
with Rh7!}
30...a6 31.Kd4
{As said before, after the queenside locked up Fischer now wins more
space with his well centralized king and starts looking to expand on
the kingside, constricting his opponent.}
31...Be8 32.Rf8 Bd7 33.h4!
{Starting the mentioned plan, Fischer will cramp his opponent to
death.}
33...Bc8 34.Bd5!
{Improving his pieces and controlling some light squares inside
Black's camp. Fischer takes in account the fact that Re2? fails to
Rf7+ after which all Black's pawns on both wings start falling.}
34...Bd7 35.f4??
{A horrible blunder by Fischer. I don't know if they were both in time
pressure but this is surely a subtle blunder! Why is this a blunder?
Well Black now has the drawing resource Re1. You may be asking
yourself why did Re1 failed before f4. Well, the answer is quite
simple, because the f4 square was free for the king to come after f4
the king can't go to f4 anymore and so can be checked infinite times.}
35...g6?
{Black returns the favor and declines the draw, lol.}
( 35...Re1! 36.Rf7 Rd1+ 37.Kc5 Rc1+ 38.Kd4 Rd1+ 39.Kc5 {And the king
will be checked for eternity or the d5 bishop will be lost.} )
36.Rf6 Be8 37.Be6
{Blocking the e-file and winning more space. Black is now on a kind of
zugzwang.}
37...Bc6 38.g3 Rg7 39.Ke5

{Bf7 was also winning.}

39...Be8 40.Bd5 h5 41.Rb6 Kc8 42.Be6+ Kc7 43.Kf6
{Winning more space, now the rook has only 1 square. Black is being
constricted to death.}
43...Rh7 44.Bd5 Kc8 45.Re6 Kd8 46.Rd6+ Kc7 47.Rb6 Kc8 48.Bg8 Rc7 49.Be6+
Kb8 50.Rd6
{And the bishop needs to leave the 8th rank or he will get forked,
after which White will take on g6 with a won endgame.}
1-0