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Famous Fischer game · 1972

Spassky vs. Fischer, Reykjavík 1972, Game 3

Played in a back room after the forfeit of game 2, this Modern Benoni gave Fischer his first win ever against Spassky; the surprising 11…Nh5 set the tone.

White
Boris Spassky
Black
Bobby Fischer
Result
0–1
Date
Event
1972 World Chess Championship (Spassky vs. Fischer)
Place
Back room of the Laugardalshöll, Reykjavík, Iceland
Round
3
Opening
Modern Benoni (A77)
Moves
41

Position after 11…Nh5

  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 losing the first game and forfeiting the second, Fischer trailed 0–2, and it was unclear whether he would play on at all. To save the match, Spassky agreed to play the third game, on 16 July – and only that game – in a back room of the Laugardalshöll that was normally used for table tennis, away from the audience. The spectators in the main hall followed the moves on closed-circuit television, and even the single camera in the room still drew a protest from Fischer.[1][2][3][4]

Fischer answered 1.d4 with a combative Modern Benoni; Smyslov, annotating for the Soviet weekly 64, found his wish to complicate understandable at 0–2. The key moment was 11…Nh5, which allowed White to double Black's h-pawns in return for the bishop pair and a double-edged game. Spassky's 18.g3, criticised by several annotators, weakened his king's position, and Black gradually took over the queenside before winning the e4-pawn.[5][3][1]

The game was adjourned after White's 41st move. Fischer sealed 41…Bd3+, and Spassky resigned without resuming play. It was Fischer's first win against Spassky in any game, and it cut the deficit to 1–2. With a draw in the fourth game and a win in the fifth, Fischer then drew level at 2½–2½. Spassky later described his agreement to the move into the back room as a serious psychological mistake.[5][1][3]

Key moments

  1. Fischer puts his knight on the edge and allows 12.Bxh5 gxh5, leaving doubled h-pawns. Smyslov called it an original flank manoeuvre: in return Black gets the bishop pair and a double-edged game.[5][1][3]

  2. Smyslov and Krogius both criticised this advance: it weakens the white king and the light squares around it. Smyslov preferred 18.Qd2.[5][3]

    Engine check: The DeepSquare engine (depth 22) prefers 18.Bg3 (−0.2 from White’s point of view); after 18.g3 its evaluation is −0.6 from White’s point of view.

  3. The exchanges on c3 and e4 have won Black the e4-pawn. With queens on the board, Smyslov wrote, the opposite-coloured bishops gave White no chances of saving the game, because his king was insecure.[5]

    Engine check: The DeepSquare engine (depth 22) also chooses 34…Qxe4 here; evaluation afterwards: −1.3 from White’s point of view.

  4. Fischer's sealed move; Spassky resigned without resuming the game. Krogius, whose notes Griffin quotes, regarded 41.Qd4 – played hurriedly just after the time control – as the decisive mistake and suggested 41.Ke1.[5][3]

    Engine check: The DeepSquare engine (depth 22) also chooses 41…Bd3+ here; evaluation afterwards: −5.9 from White’s point of view.

PGN

[Event "1972 World Chess Championship (Spassky vs. Fischer)"]
[Site "Back room of the Laugardalshöll, Reykjavík, Iceland"]
[Date "1972.07.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Spassky, Boris V"]
[Black "Fischer, Robert James"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A77"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[Source "Chess Database by Ana L. Schaigorodsky, DOI 10.6084/m9.figshare.4276523, CC BY 4.0"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nc3 g6 7. Nd2 Nbd7 8. e4
Bg7 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O Re8 11. Qc2 Nh5 12. Bxh5 gxh5 13. Nc4 Ne5 14. Ne3 Qh4
15. Bd2 Ng4 16. Nxg4 hxg4 17. Bf4 Qf6 18. g3 Bd7 19. a4 b6 20. Rfe1 a6 21. Re2
b5 22. Rae1 Qg6 23. b3 Re7 24. Qd3 Rb8 25. axb5 axb5 26. b4 c4 27. Qd2 Rbe8 28.
Re3 h5 29. R3e2 Kh7 30. Re3 Kg8 31. R3e2 Bxc3 32. Qxc3 Rxe4 33. Rxe4 Rxe4 34.
Rxe4 Qxe4 35. Bh6 Qg6 36. Bc1 Qb1 37. Kf1 Bf5 38. Ke2 Qe4+ 39. Qe3 Qc2+ 40. Qd2
Qb3 41. Qd4 Bd3+ 0-1

Download PGNOpen in the game archive →

Sources

  1. Bobby Fischer Scores 1st Win · NM Vanessa / Chess.com · updated 2022-07-25; accessed 2026-09-14
  2. Spassky v Fischer, Reykjavik, 1972 · Edward Winter / Chess Notes · 2026-07-06 (latest update)
  3. World Chess Championship 1972 · Wikipedia (English), summarising Gligorić (1972), Evans & Smith (1973), Brady and others · version current on 2026-09-25
  4. World Championship match, Reykjavik 1972: PGN game file (wc1972-wch.pgn) · OlimpBase · n.d.; accessed 2026-09-25
  5. Spassky–Fischer, third match-game, World Championship, Reykjavik 1972: contemporary annotations · Vasily Smyslov, 64 no.29 (1972); translated by Douglas Griffin, with notes citing Krogius · 1972; translation published 2018

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.