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Famous Fischer game · 1963

Bobby Fischer – Pal Benko, US Championship 1963/64: 19.Rf6

Fischer’s rook move 19.Rf6 leaves Pal Benko without a defence, and Benko resigned two moves later. Fischer annotated the game himself in Chess Life.

White
Bobby Fischer
Black
Pal Benko
Result
1–0
Date
Event
US Championship 1963/64
Place
New York
Round
10
Opening
Pirc Defence, Austrian Attack (ECO B09) (B09)
Moves
21

Position after 11.f5

  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
  6. 6.
  7. 7.
  8. 8.
  9. 9.
  10. 10.
  11. 11.
  12. 12.
  13. 13.
  14. 14.
  15. 15.
  16. 16.
  17. 17.
  18. 18.
  19. 19.
  20. 20.
  21. 21.

Background

On Monday, 30 December 1963, in round ten of the US Championship in New York, Fischer had White against Pal Benko. He had won all nine of his earlier games; Benko would finish third with 7 points, behind Larry Evans on 7½. Chess Life credited Fischer with a neat combination and criticised Benko’s handling of the defence. It was Fischer’s last game of 1963, and on 3 January 1964 he completed the first perfect score in the history of the championship, eleven wins from eleven games.[1][2]

Benko chose the Pirc Defence, and Fischer answered with 4.f4, the Austrian Attack. In notes written for Chess Life soon afterwards, Fischer judged that after 11.f5 White was already winning, because Black’s passive position could hardly withstand a pawn storm on the kingside. He also admitted that he had overlooked 13…Ne8, which brought the knight to d6. The decisive idea came on move 19, when Fischer placed his rook on f6, directly in front of Black’s f-pawn.[3][4]

Fischer’s notes also reveal a practical consideration. At move 13 he wrote that he would have accepted the challenge and played 13.Qxe5 if there had been two brilliancy prizes. In Toronto in 1964, as reported in the magazine CHESS, he explained that such a queen sacrifice might have detracted from his round-three win over Robert Byrne when the judges chose the brilliancy prize. The game later appeared as number 46 in My 60 Memorable Games.[3][5]

Key moments

  1. Fischer wrote in Chess Life that White was already winning here: Black’s passive pieces could hardly cope with a pawn storm against the king.[3]

    Engine check: The DeepSquare engine (depth 22) also chooses 11.f5 here; evaluation afterwards: +0.9 from White’s point of view.

  2. Fischer retreats the queen instead of taking on e5. With two brilliancy prizes on offer, he noted, he would have played 13.Qxe5, giving 13…Ng4 14.Qxg7+ Kxg7 15.hxg4 as overwhelming for White.[3][5]

    Engine check: The DeepSquare engine (depth 22) rates 13.Qf2 practically as strong as its first choice 13.Qg5; evaluation afterwards: +1.4 from White’s point of view.

  3. The rook blocks Black’s f-pawn. According to Fischer, Black now had no resources: 19…dxc3 would allow mate in four, and 19…Kg8, the move played, was the only way to prevent mate.[3]

    Engine check: The DeepSquare engine (depth 22) also chooses 19.Rf6 here; evaluation afterwards: +6.2 from White’s point of view.

  4. Benko resigned. After 20.e5 h6 he had hoped for 21.Rxd6 Qxe5; now, according to Fischer’s notes, Black loses at least a piece: 21…Bxf6 22.Qxh6 leads to mate, and if the knight on d6 moves away, 22.Qf5 does the same.[3]

    Engine check: The DeepSquare engine (depth 22) also chooses 21.Ne2 here; evaluation afterwards: +6.6 from White’s point of view.

PGN

[Event "US Championship 1963/64"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "1963.12.30"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Fischer, Robert James"]
[Black "Benko, Pal C"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B09"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[Source "Chess Database by Ana L. Schaigorodsky, DOI 10.6084/m9.figshare.4276523, CC BY 4.0"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. f4 Nf6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Bd3 Bg4 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Qxf3
Nc6 9. Be3 e5 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. f5 gxf5 12. Qxf5 Nd4 13. Qf2 Ne8 14. O-O Nd6
15. Qg3 Kh8 16. Qg4 c6 17. Qh5 Qe8 18. Bxd4 exd4 19. Rf6 Kg8 20. e5 h6 21. Ne2
1-0

Download PGNOpen in the game archive →

Sources

  1. Fischer Sweeps U.S. Championship (report, crosstable and round results) · J. F. Reinhardt / Chess Life, United States Chess Federation · 1964-01
  2. U.S. Championship games (round ten) and Eliot Hearst, “Fischer the Invincible” · Chess Life, United States Chess Federation · 1964-02
  3. Pirc Defense, Fischer–Benko: annotations by Fischer (“A Chess Life Exclusive”) · Robert J. Fischer / Chess Life, United States Chess Federation · 1964-01
  4. Pirc Defence · Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-25
  5. Pal Benko 1928-2019 (quotes Wayne D. Komer, CHESS, April 1964, p. 223) · Edward Winter / Chess Notes · undated feature article; accessed 2026-09-25

Game data: Chess Database by Ana L. Schaigorodsky, DOI 10.6084/m9.figshare.4276523, licensed under CC BY 4.0; selected and converted to PGN for BobbyChess.