Who was the greatest blitz player? Both Tal and Fischer are dead. Petrosian “the tiger” held that spot in the minds of many. So going back into history, I will relate only what is perhaps the greatest blitz championship ever held–St. Johns, a double 12-round event which resulted in a remarkable triumph for Robert J. Fischer who scored an amazing 19 points. The field: Tal 14.5/ Korchnoi 14/ Petrosian 13.5/ Bronstein 13/ Hort 12/ Matulovich 10.5/ Smyslov 9.5/ Reshevsky 8.5/ Uhlmann 8/ Ivkov 7.5/ Ostojic 2.
Fischer lost only one game, to Viktor Korchnoi but axed the second game with this splendid win with the black pieces.
White: Korchnoi Black: Fischer King’s Indian Defense 31 moves.
l. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 Fischer cut his teeth on both the KIA and KID. White goes after a solid central structure.
4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Nf3 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. Nd2 c5 10. a3 Ne8 11. b4 b6 12. Rb1 f5 13. f3 f4 14. a4 g5 15. a5 Rf6 16. b:c5? b:c5 17. Nb3 Rg6 18. Bd2 Nf6 19. Kh1 g4
Fischer launches a typical assault on the King-side.
20. f:g4 N:g4 21. Rf3 Rh6 22. h3 Ng6 23. Kg1 Nf6 24. Be1 Nh8!! Checking the square count, we can see that black square count is gaining force over the position. But for the novice, it might be asked why does Fischer retreat one of the active Knights that add to that square count? The answer is similar to the earlier Fischer analysis seen in efficiency. He is going to retreat the Knight two squares so with repositioning it, it will actually grow square count from it new perch and with greater impact on the position at the same time. This plan which shows jump moves (as I had described in other articles) where a short range plan is almost or is unstoppable.
25. Rd3 Nf7 26. Bf3 Ng5 Note that the Knight grows ever closer to the king-side white forces and made available another square for the Rook.
27. Qe2 Rg6! 28. Kf1 N:h3 29. g:h3 B:h3+ 30. Kf2 Ng4+ 31. B:g4 B:g4 White resigns.
Leave a Reply