Reshevsky Crushes Fischer’s Ragozin in 28 Moves
Featured is an instructive chess game between Samuel Reshevsky and Bobby Fischer from their 1961 match. Arising from a Queen’s Gambit Declined, Ragozin Defense, the game reaches an early minor-piece imbalance after Fischer’s 7...Bxc3. In exchange, Reshevsky emerges with a strengthened central structure and begins preparing the critical central break e4. A series of preparatory moves is required before e4 can be played successfully. Once the pawn advances to e4 and then e5, Fischer’s position quickly collapses. Only four moves later, it is already completely lost, highlighting the power of an invasive pawn on e5.
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Hi everyone, it's Jerry. I have an instructive game to share with you.
On the wide end, Samuel Reshevsky playing against Bobby Fischer.
This is from their 1961 match, consisted of 11 games. It was level in the end,
five and a half each. We have a Queen's Gambit declined
Rogozin defense. Let's get a few healthy moves in, opening phase.
From here, Knight c6 is played. More popular is an immediate c5,
or first the capture on c4, followed by c5.
All right, in this one, Knight c6 is played, c-pawn obstructed in this case.
We'll see what Fischer's idea is soon enough. Bishop questioned, minor piece in balance.
After this recapture, we can now identify a couple weak points in White's camp.
c3 and c4 are both holes. Black, from here, keys in on c4, plays Knight a5.
Another approach available to Black is this immediate play in the center with e5.
And an idea here is to meet the capture on e5 with the capture on c4.
Around the bishop here, after bishop takes pawn, we see a Queen exchange,
and Knight g4 can follow in the end. e5 hit twice, f2 hit as well.
Okay, we don't see the e5 break. Knight a5. From here, Knight d2 is played,
offsetting the Knight, watching over its forward jumps. A fight continues over c4.
Why not just release the tension between the pawns instead of running in reverse with the Knight?
If you take here on d5, in the end, the bishop is helped open diagonal.
White does not want to give an inch, so is willing to run in reverse to hold on to c4.
c5, castles, b6. It's at this moment we see the capture on d5. This is a more appropriate moment
to take on d5, only after Black has invested a tempo to open up a new door for the bishop.
cxd, exd, f3. White's plan is to eventually play in the center with e4. A lot of prep work
goes into this advance. We'll see what that looks like soon enough.
Eventually, a White pawn will arrive on e5. That's move 24, and it's not long after,
just four moves after a White pawn is on e5, where Black is already lost. Only a 28-move game here.
Let's see how play develops. Rook e8, e3 defended, bishop e6, rook a2, move 14, halfway point of the
game. Rook c8, Knight f1, very nice regrouping here. Knight getting out of the way of the rook.
Lateral options here, e2, f2, cxd, cxd. From here, h5 is played. I believe this is designed
to prevent any thoughts of g4. This can be a bit of a disruptive pawn. If Black plays Knight c4,
this is a top move. White can certainly consider g4 and even swing this rook all the way over to g2,
opposite the king. It's not an open file just yet, but it may open up. There are a couple
interesting Knight jumps. Maybe the Knight is captured and the pawn recaptures there.
Okay, forget about any g4. We have h5. White is not in position to play e4 just yet. Still more
prep work to go. Playing e4 is no good for two reasons. After the capture, you're not in position
to recapture. The rook hanged. And the other detail, let's say the rook wasn't hanging,
the other detail is that g4 is sensitive without the f3 pawn. Maybe the bishop or Knight make use
of this square at some point. Let's defend any piece jumps to g4 more reliably. h4, and from
here, Rf2. We are inching closer to finally playing e4. Very good rook post. After e4,
the capture-recapture sequence springs to life. Also, with the rook on f2, any lines connected
with Qc4, Qxd4 no longer would hit with check. Black plays Qd7 here.
Computer doesn't like this. A couple top moves are Nh5 and Rc7. Rc7 feels like a passing move.
Let me touch on each of these. If Rc7 is played, now you can successfully play e4. Let me show you
what this looks like. After this capture-recapture sequence, this pawn would be poison. If Qxd4 here,
can you spot the winning continuation? Feel free to pause the video. Okay, the winning way is not
what you may initially think. e5 is what I thought would be winning. It's not. My train of
thought here, scare the knight away, open up a diagonal, when the knight moves, land that check,
and then win the queen. Not so fast. Black has rook captures bishop here. If you now go in for
this check, the knight grabs the bishop. It's out of danger. Take the queen, the rook falls, you're
down too much material. Bishop, knight, and pawn versus queen. Black is winning. If you immediately
meet the capture on c1 with a recapture, it says save the knight, go after this pinned rook, let
the knight die on g4 rather than f6, and then pick up the hanging bishop in the end. What are we
looking at? Bishop and pawn versus rook imbalance. Evaluation about plus .6. Not winning. What is
winning? Let's back up. If black takes that d-pawn, this unopposed dark square bishop can now be
deployed on the main diagonal. This is the winning path. Nice geometric continuation here. Rook
defending the bishop, bishop and rook converging on this knight, and after the queen moves, you bust
up the king's side and follow with e5. Beautiful lines here, really. e5 cutting out the queen's
defense of h5. In the case of this capture, I was fooled more than once in preparing for this video,
testing out these lines here. I thought the consistent follow-up was to, in fact, in this
position, play queen h5, going at that h7 square, converging with the bishop. That's not the win.
Queen h5, there's a saving resource with e4. Interfering with the coordination on h7, creating
tension between the queens, attacking the bishop. There's no good white queen check from that
position. The winning play here by white, oddly enough, would be with this knight here. Rank 1
knight, and it's amazing to see how quickly it would pounce in this very position. Knight d2 is
considered the only winning move. Next up, knight e4 with tempo, and knight f6 with a fork. That will
definitely be too much for black to handle. Okay, this d4 pawn with this line here, in the case of
rook c7, e4, chop, chop, queen takes d4, poison, pawn. If black played knight h5 in this position,
if white tries e4 here, black can now take on e4, and then get away with taking on d4. Bishop b2,
you're not converging on a knight. What you can play in response to knight h5, however,
is bishop a6 first. You're on the rook, the queen defends d4, then you are ready to finally go
with e4 in that position. How it's playing out here, we see queen d7, e4, d takes e, f takes e,
bishop b3, queen d2, bishop c4, says you could immediately go with e5 here, and the bishop backs
off. Knight b3, bishop for knight exchange, move 24, e5, knight d5. We're just four moves away,
and this one is over. Really amazing to see how disruptive this pawn can be. The main kingside
defender now for black, the knight, has been kicked from its favorite square. Queen g5,
going after a pawn. Pop quiz, how would you respond here? Pause the video if you'd like.
Okay, Fischer plays queen e7. Certainly seems sensible at first glance. The black king is more
vulnerable here. Some aggressive pieces pointing towards the black king. So, queen e7, let's get
the queens up and defend the pawn. May have been the train of thought there. This is losing. The
best move, it points out, knight e7. Give up this pawn. The knight has access to g6 to defend in
some cases. The bishop defends f7. Black has a nice grip over d5. The few pieces, this is maybe seen
as the big extra pawn in position, but it is under control. It's looking at rook c2 here, getting an
exchange in. Says that this is still holdable. How Fischer plays it, queen e7, queens maintained,
rook lift, looking at rook g6, bishop g5, queen captures a. Final pop quiz, what is your move?
Pause the video if you'd like. Okay, move 28, queen d7, and black designs. The queen is hitting
both rooks and this pawn, final position. What is black supposed to do if the game continued?
Try and defend one of the rooks in any of these four ways. Let me just put one of them on. In
response to all of them, white can continue with queen takes f7, and then rook e4. White is attacking
with way too much here. Three majors, and the bishop playing a role. Next up, rook captures h4.
There's no defense here. So, very nice game here out of the Rogozin. Again, amazing to see how
quickly this one collapsed for Fischer once this pawn here was established on e5. Only took four
moves, and this one was over. Anyhow, your thoughts with this one. Feel free, as usual, to leave any
feedback to this video in the comment section below. I hope you enjoyed it. It maybe took a
thing or two. That's all for now. Take care. Bye.