Fischer Chess Memorial Exhibition

A memorial exhibit has been unveiled at a Reykjavik hotel commemorating ‘The match of all time’. The launch of the artefact comes four decades after legendary American chess champion Bobby Fisher took on Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in the Icelandic capital in 1972. During the event, the two players stayed at the Hotel Loftleiðir, which has since become the Icelandair Reykjavik Hotel Nátura and is now the site of the exhibit.

Visitors can check out the exhibition by heading to the ground floor of the Reykjavik hotel property, where they can view a number of items including a chessboard that had been designed specifically for the epic match, which has since been called a foreshadow of the Cold War. Also on display are a number of photographs and artefacts commemorating the lives of the two players after the event. The legendary game saw Bobby Fisher become the first ever American to be crowned as an international chess champion and ended the Soviet Union’s winning streak that spanned nearly two-and-a-half decades. (Hotel website/Reykjavik)

Read more »

The Greatest Secret of Bobby Fischer: Purchase Now on Amazon

The Greatest Secret of Bobby Fischer: The Final Truth About the Greatest Chess Player of All Time
Our earlier articles on the book are here.

Read more »

Fischer Chess Memorabilia Auction Oct 14 in New York

On Sunday, October 14, 2012, an auction of one part of chess historic collection owned by Nenad Nesh Stankovic will be held in Philip Weiss Auctions, New York. Offered objects take us 20 years back in time of “Rematch of XX century” - remake of Iceland chess match from the period of Cold War. The objects on the auction are unique part of history and expression of eternal value. For more details, please visit www.weissauctions.com (Sport auction lot # 2200A, 2200B, 2200C and 2200D). 

Read more »

New Chess Fiction Review: Queen Sacrifice by Tony Riches

Click on photo to buy Kindle edition $0.99
Prime members borrow for free on Kindle

Chess Fiction Review by Zainab Raza Undulusi

Fierce loyalty, treachery, love and palace intrigue woven into 10th Century Welsh history with a chess thread make 'Queen Sacrifice' the hot new chess fiction of the season. 

Tony Riches is a full-time author and chess player from Pembrokeshire, one of the most unspoilt areas of the United Kingdom. Best known for his non-fiction books, Tony told Chess Magazine B&W that he was exploring the early history of Wales. Suddenly he realised how the battles between rival kings reminded him of chess. There were bishops and early knights supporting both sides with ‘bondsmen’ as the pawns in their civil wars.

Read more »

Weekend Chess Story: Fischer-Fine, Evans Gambit 1-0 in 17 Moves

Weekend Chess Story#2

Reuben Fine (October 11, 1914 – March 26, 1993) was another top chess player who quit the game at the height of his career. In 1945, Fine decided to become a professional psychoanalyst. He wrote both on psychology and chess. He won five medals (four gold) in three Chess Olympiads and was the US Chess Champion seven times! Fine declined to play in the six-player World Chess Championship tournament of 1948 that was to be organised after the death of the then World Chess Champion Alexander Alekhine. 

But, this story is about Bobby Fischer and Reuben Fine. Fischer visited Fine in the latter's New York home in 1963. The two chess artistes played several games. Here is one in which Bobby Fischer abandoned his favourite Ruy Lopez and tried the Evans Gambit. 

6.d4

Fine played 6. ...exd and Fischer castled Kingside. Do you know the Lasker Defense that spiked Evans Gambit for a long time here? - 6... d6 7.0-0 (better 7.Qb3) and 7. ... Bb6 the Lasker way!

Anyway, back to the Fischer-Fine game. The game continued after that and Fine, being a little too greedy took the pawn on c3 as well. We flip forward to move 14.

What key move did Fischer play here and how did he go on to win the game?

13. ... Qg5 What did Fischer play as his 14th move and how did he win the game?

You can replay the Fischer-Fine full chess game in our Chess King applet for the solution.

You can read the Weekend Chess Story#1 at this link:

124-Move Chess Game at a World Chess Championship 1978 - Of Korchnoi-Karpov Missed Checkmate and Stalemate

Read more »

Fischer-Spassky 1972 World Chess Championship Chess Board, Table, Pieces to be Auctioned this Thursday in Copenhagen

The Drawing of Lots Ceremony in
Laugardalshöll Arena in 1972:
GM Harry Golombek (UK) to the left introducing the contestants. Fischer has arrived at long last, standing next to Golombek. In the middle stands Gudmundur G. Thorarinsson, chairman of the Organizing Committee, and Spassky can be seen beside him. On the stage behind the contestants are GM Efim Geller (USSR), GM Bill Lombardy (USA) and GM Nikolai Krogius (USSR). The two arbiters Lother Schmid (Germany) and G. Arnlaugsson (Iceland) were also present on the stage, but cannot be seen in the photo.

Bruun Rasmussen, Copenhagen, would auction Bobby Fischer chess memorabilia on June 14, Thursday, in Copenhagen. The auction is being held on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the greatest chess match in history - the 1972 Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer World Championship. 

Read more »

On Chess: High Standards Credited to Fischer

An interesting chess column in The Columbus Dispatch by Shelby Lyman. Read on:

Before the rise of Bobby Fischer, international chess — even among the vaunted Soviets — was sometimes a quasi-amateur affair. Several of the top Soviet grandmasters depended on inspiration rather than diligence and preparation. In a category of his own was the young Mikhail Tal, whose creative flair at the board astonished and terrified foes. Often, he seemed to make up his game as he went along. His moves weren’t always correct, but, in the hurly-burly of struggle, they were effective. He became world champion at 24.

At the other extreme were players such as Fischer, Efim Geller and Viktor Korchnoi: harbingers of a more radical work ethic to come, laboring with little respite at the chess grindstone. Mikhail Botvinnik set a new standard for preparation and performance.

But it was the young American, Fischer, who raised the professional banner and chess work ethic to its highest level. As he explained to fellow grandmaster Larry Evans, Fischer focused on the game, consciously or unconsciously, 24 hours a day.

The previous bohemian approach to chess is no longer workable. This is, as some older grandmasters wistfully and woefully explain, largely both the contribution and the curse of Robert James Fischer. (Shelby Lyman is a Basic Chess Features columnist.)

Read more »

Anand, Gelfand World Chess Match: Can You Guess Whom Do Chess Legends Mark Dvoretsky and Anatoly Bykhovsky Support?

In the press centre of the Anand, Gelfand World Chess Championship Match 2012, Mark Dvoretsky and Anatoly Bykhovsky shared their views on FischerRandom Chess with Evgeny Potemkin of ChessNews and also said who they support in the Anand, Gelfand World Chess Championship Match 2012 in Moscow. 

Can you guess who they support as the next world chess champion? 

This chess video is in Russian, but we have a translation by Maria Khondoga for our English audience here at Chess Magazine Black and White.

Read more »

WCCh 2012 - What Fischer Would have Said!

World Chess Championship Live at Official Website.

Searching for Bobby Fischer - Indeed we are. What would have Bobby Fischer said about the ongoing World Chess Championship 2012 between chess stalwarts Vishy Anand and Boris Gelfand? This is just for fun. We agree with some comments, we don't with others...but, we love the 11th World Chess Champion -- and always will -- just like everyone else.) Read on to check all the five possible Fischer 'quotes'!

1. Why is Moscow the venue, why is it not Reykjavik? 
2. Computer training of modern grandmasters is still 15 years behind my strength.
3. By test it is best (on 1.e4)... why are they playing all this? But then I think it's almost definite that the game is a draw theoretically. 
4. No online broadcasts, no press conferences, no photographs, no journalists, no Houdini or any chess engines, no audience... Maybe, Anand and Gelfand have fixed it between them. 
5. Yes, I will be there for the next FischerRandom World Chess Title Match

You can also read: New Chess Book on Bobby Fischer's Final Years in Iceland by Helgi Ólafsson

Read more »

New Chess Book on Bobby Fischer's Final Years in Iceland by Helgi Ólafsson

To be available soon
Our Price: Rs 1060 (only India)
Publisher: New In Chess, 2012
Edition: Paperback small
ISBN: 978-90-5691-381-6
Pages: 144
Language: English

A brand new book with fascinating insight into chess genius Bobby Fischer's final years in Iceland has been released. Grandmaster from Iceland, Helgi Ólafsson, was a good friend of the late Fischer. The book, 'Bobby Fischer comes home – The Final Years in Iceland -- a Saga of Friendship and Lost Illusions' is about several aspects of the genius chess player's life before he passed away in Reykjavík in early 2008. Ólafsson has won the Icelandic chess championship six times. He was an integral part of the struggle to get freedom for Fischer after the latter was arrested and imprisoned in Japan in 2004. Following Fischer’s bid for asylum in Iceland, he was granted full citizenship by the Icelandic Government in 2005 and consequently Ólafsson and Fischer became close. The book discusses Fischer’s career from 1970, 'Match of the Century' – the 1972 defeat of Boris Spassky, stories from several distinguished people, events from Iceland's history, etc. apart from all the chess. (Send orders to subscriptions@blackandwhiteindia.com)

Read more »