Fischer v Spassky, 1972, game 6: the Queen's Gambit win

Game 6 of the 1972 World Championship match in Reykjavík was played on 23 July. Bobby Fischer, almost always a 1.e4 player, opened 1.c4, only the third time he had done so in a serious game, and the game turned into a Queen's Gambit Declined. Boris Spassky chose the Tartakower Defence, with 7...b6, his favourite and a line he had never lost with. Fischer won, took the lead in the match for the first time, 3½–2½, and when the game ended Spassky joined the audience in applauding. Fischer called him "a true sportsman".

White to move after 19...fxe6. Fischer's next move opens the centre.

The whole game

Fischer v Spassky, World Championship 1972, game 6. Step through all 41 moves; Black resigned.

What Stockfish makes of it

We had Stockfish check every move.

14...a6: a forgotten move

Black to move after 14.Bb5. Geller had shown Spassky 14...Qb7.

14.Bb5 had been played in Furman–Geller, Moscow 1970. Efim Geller had shown Spassky 14...Qb7 beforehand, but Spassky apparently forgot it and played 14...a6, usually marked as dubious. Stockfish prefers 14...Qb7, but the difference is small: the position is about level after either.

20.e4!: the key move

20.e4! d4 21.f4 Qe7 22.e5: White's pawns advance, and Black's are stuck.

20.e4 is called the key move of the game. Spassky answered 20...d4, which left his central pawns blocked and White's bishop free. Stockfish agrees that this was the real mistake: 20...c4 or 20...dxe4 would have kept Black only about a third of a pawn worse, and after 20...d4 White is a pawn better. Vlastimil Hort said Fischer had the upper hand after 21.f4.

From there Fischer's pawns roll: e5, then f5 on move 26. Black made one more inaccuracy, 22...Rb8, where Stockfish prefers 22...Nb6.

38.Rxf6!: the exchange sacrifice

38.Rxf6! gxf6 39.Rxf6 Kg8 40.Bc4 Kh8 41.Qf4: Black resigned.

Fischer gave up a rook for the knight to break into Black's king position. It was Stockfish's choice too, about seven pawns better for White, and 39.Rxf6 was the only move that kept all of that. After 41.Qf4 Stockfish finds a forced mate, and Spassky resigned.

Across the game Stockfish finds only small slips by Fischer, such as 36.Bd3, where 36.Rh5 was stronger, at moments when White was already winning.

What was said

C. H. O'D. Alexander wrote that Fischer had played the Queen's Gambit for the first time in a serious game, played it to perfection, and cast doubt on Black's whole opening system.

How we checked

The moves are from Wikipedia's page on the 1972 World Championship. We replayed every one with python-chess: all are legal.
The engine: Stockfish 16.1 checked every move at depth 22, and the key moments again at depth 26. "A pawn better" is Stockfish's measure of the position, not a count of material.
The history and the named opinions (Geller, Hort, Alexander) are from the same Wikipedia page.

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