AThe Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati, Ohio Sunday, January 19, 1975 - Page 121
English Opening Long in History
In a record that goes back to 1955, Bobby Fischer had about 750 tournament and match games prior to the world championship match with Boris Spassky in Iceland in 1972. That would give him the white pieces some 375 times.
In those games, Fischer opened 1. P-K4 in all but three. Fischer had the white pieces nine times in Iceland in 1972. He opened 1. P-K4 five times. In the other four, he opened 1. P-QB4. In this one match, Bobby Fischer deviated from his standard P-K4 opening more times than he had in his previous 17-year tournament and match career.
Ivo Nei, in his book with Robert Byrne about the world championship match, “Both Sides of the Chessboard,” comments that Fischer used a P-QB4 opening only once before — in Palma de Majorca in 1970 against Polugaevsky.
Fischer's consistent use of P-K4 in the past made it difficult for Spassky and his team to know what to expect should Bobby suddenly shift openings.
This may have been Bobby's reason for the change. On the other hand, what about the theoretical basis for his previous consistency?
BOBBY FISCHER selected and annotated 60 of his games and published them in 1969. He had the white pieces 37 times and opened 1. P-K4 37 times. His notes are interesting. The 45th game in the book was against Bisguier in 1963. Bobby opens 1. P-K4 and comments, “Best by test.”
The 60th game was against Stein in 1967. Bobby opened 1. P-K4 and commented, “I have never opened the QP — on principle.”
What happened to Bobby Fischer between 1969 and 1972 to cause him to change the deliberately established habits of a career? And when he gave up P-K4, what caused him to choose P-QB4?
The P-QB4 opening has a long history. It derived the name, English Opening from its use by the Englishman, Howard Staunton, in his decisive match against Saint-Amant in 1843. Its use since then has been widespread among chess greats. The most interesting current usage was Fischer against Spassky (The English Opening can lose its independent status and can be transposed into other openings depending on Black's response and White's continuation.
(Transpositions occurred in three of the four Fischer-Spassky games.), and more recently by Korchnoi against Karpov in the finals match in the 1974 Candidates series in Moscow.
In Fischer's eighth game against Spassky in Iceland, some commentators think one move by Spassky may have been decisive. Can you spot it? We'll comment next week.
