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Famous Fischer game · 1972

Fischer vs. Spassky, Reykjavík 1972, Game 6

Fischer surprised Spassky with 1.c4, reached a Queen's Gambit Declined and won a model positional game that gave him the lead for the first time; Spassky joined the applause.

White
Bobby Fischer
Black
Boris Spassky
Result
1–0
Date
Event
1972 World Chess Championship (Spassky vs. Fischer)
Place
Laugardalshöll, Reykjavík, Iceland
Round
6
Opening
Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower Variation (after 1.c4) (D59)
Moves
41

Position after 1.c4

  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.
  22. 22.
  23. 23.
  24. 24.
  25. 25.
  26. 26.
  27. 27.
  28. 28.
  29. 29.
  30. 30.
  31. 31.
  32. 32.
  33. 33.
  34. 34.
  35. 35.
  36. 36.
  37. 37.
  38. 38.
  39. 39.
  40. 40.
  41. 41.

Background

After the fifth game the score was 2½–2½. In the sixth game, on 23 July, Fischer – who had almost always opened with 1.e4 – began with 1.c4. After 3.d4 the game became a Queen's Gambit Declined, the first time Fischer had played the white side of the Queen's Gambit in a serious game. Spassky chose the Tartakower Variation, a line in which he had never lost. The surprise lay less in the position itself than in who was playing it with White.[1][2][3][4]

In his contemporary notes Mikhail Tal showed how Fischer took away Black's counterplay step by step. The central moment was 20.e4: after Spassky's 20…d4 the position became what Tal described as typical of Fischer – a better position without counterplay for the opponent. With 22.e5 White then fixed the weak pawn on e6, Black's passed d-pawn remained harmless, and White's bishop was clearly stronger than the knight. The kingside attack began with 26.f5.[3][2]

Spassky resigned after 41.Qf4. He then joined the audience in applauding Fischer, a scene recorded by Gligorić and still retold today. With this win Fischer took the lead, 3½–2½, for the first time in the match. The British master C.H.O'D. Alexander noted that Fischer had not only played the Queen's Gambit for the first time in a serious game, but had played it to perfection, casting doubt on Black's whole opening system.[3][2][1]

More in Fischer’s story: The games behind the global event →

Key moments

  1. Fischer, who almost always played 1.e4, starts with the c-pawn. After 3.d4 the game transposes into a Queen's Gambit Declined.[2][3][1]

  2. Tal: this can be called a pawn sacrifice only with great reservations, because after 20…dxe4 at least one of Black's e-pawns would soon be lost. Spassky's 20…d4 gave White a free hand, and the position took on the technical character that suited Fischer.[3][2]

    Engine check: The DeepSquare engine (depth 22) also chooses 20.e4 here; evaluation afterwards: +0.4 from White’s point of view.

  3. The f-pawn opens the way to Black's king. Tal wrote that the rest of the game could serve as a textbook example of an attack on the king, with White's play simple and logical.[3]

  4. Fischer gives up the exchange: after 38…gxf6 39.Rxf6 Black's king has lost its cover, and after 41.Qf4 Spassky resigned.[3][2]

    Engine check: The DeepSquare engine (depth 22) also chooses 38.Rxf6 here; evaluation afterwards: winning for White.

PGN

[Event "1972 World Chess Championship (Spassky vs. Fischer)"]
[Site "Laugardalshöll, Reykjavík, Iceland"]
[Date "1972.07.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Fischer, Robert James"]
[Black "Spassky, Boris V"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D59"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[Source "Chess Database by Ana L. Schaigorodsky, DOI 10.6084/m9.figshare.4276523, CC BY 4.0"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 b6 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. Rc1 Be6 12. Qa4 c5 13. Qa3 Rc8 14. Bb5 a6
15. dxc5 bxc5 16. O-O Ra7 17. Be2 Nd7 18. Nd4 Qf8 19. Nxe6 fxe6 20. e4 d4 21.
f4 Qe7 22. e5 Rb8 23. Bc4 Kh8 24. Qh3 Nf8 25. b3 a5 26. f5 exf5 27. Rxf5 Nh7
28. Rcf1 Qd8 29. Qg3 Re7 30. h4 Rbb7 31. e6 Rbc7 32. Qe5 Qe8 33. a4 Qd8 34.
R1f2 Qe8 35. R2f3 Qd8 36. Bd3 Qe8 37. Qe4 Nf6 38. Rxf6 gxf6 39. Rxf6 Kg8 40.
Bc4 Kh8 41. Qf4 1-0

Download PGNOpen in the game archive →

Sources

  1. World Chess Championship 1972 · Wikipedia (English), summarising Gligorić (1972), Evans & Smith (1973), Brady and others · version current on 2026-09-25
  2. Bobby Fischer Wins Positional Masterpiece · Anthony Levin / Chess.com · updated 2022-07-25; accessed 2026-09-25
  3. Fischer–Spassky, sixth match game: contemporary annotations · Mikhail Tal, 64 no.30 (1972); translated by Douglas Griffin · 1972; translation published 2018
  4. World Championship match, Reykjavik 1972: PGN game file (wc1972-wch.pgn) · OlimpBase · n.d.; 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.