Spassky v Petrosian, 1969, game 19: the attack that decided it
Boris Spassky played this game against the world champion, Tigran Petrosian, on 4 June 1969, in game 19 of their world championship match in Moscow. ChessBase called it the crucial game of the match. Spassky won the match 12½–10½ and became the tenth world champion, three years after losing to Petrosian in 1966.
The whole game
The opening is a Sicilian Defence, Najdorf Variation. Both sides castle on opposite wings, and White's pawns go forward on the kingside.
What Stockfish makes of it
We had Stockfish check every move. It rates White better from about move 12, and Black's position gets steadily worse; there is no single turning point.
15.g4: a pawn for open lines
15.g4 gives up a pawn to open the g-file towards Black's king. Stockfish rates White about a pawn better before and after it: the open file was worth the pawn.
20.fxe6 to 22.Ne4: the breakthrough
Black's best chance was 20...Rxe6, giving back the exchange, which leaves Black about three pawns worse; after 20...fxe6 it is about five. 21.e5 opens the centre, and 22.Ne4 was the only move that kept all of White's advantage.
24.Ng5: the end
After 24.Ng5 Black can't meet the threats around his king. If 24...Qxg5, then 25.Rxg5 hxg5 26.Qxh5+ and White's queen breaks in. Petrosian resigned.
How we checked
- The moves: no Wikipedia, Winter or ChessBase page we found prints the full score. We used ChessTerra and the Hamilton Chess Club, which agree move for move, and a third copy of the last six moves. We replayed every move 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: the match from Wikipedia's page on the 1969 World Championship, and ChessBase's description of the game.
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