Background
Donald Byrne (1930–76) was one of the leading American chess masters at the time of this game. He had won the 1953 U.S. Open Championship, and would later represent the United States in the 1962, 1964, and 1968 Olympiads. He became an International Master in 1962, and would likely have risen further if not for ill health. Robert "Bobby" Fischer (1943–2008) was at this time a promising young master. Following this game, he had a meteoric rise, winning the 1957 U.S. Open on tiebreaks, winning the 1957–58 U.S. (Closed) Championship (and all seven later championships he played in), qualifying for the Candidates Tournament and becoming in 1958 the world's youngest grandmaster at age 15. He won the world championship in 1972, and is considered one of the greatest chessplayers in history.
In this game, Fischer (playing Black) demonstrates noteworthy innovation and improvisation. Byrne (playing White), after a standard opening, makes a seemingly minor mistake on move 11, losing tempo by moving the same piece twice. Fischer pounces with brilliant sacrificial play, culminating in a queen sacrifice on move 17. Byrne captures the queen, but Fischer gets far too much material for it – a rook, two bishops, and a pawn. At the end, Fischer's pieces coordinate to force checkmate, while Byrne's queen sits, useless, on the other side of the board.
Graham Burgess, John Nunn, and John Emms suggested three lessons to be learned from this game, which can be summarized as follows:
- In general, moving the same piece twice in the opening wastes time; other pieces should be developed first.
- Material sacrifices are likely to be effective against a king still in the middle and on an open central file.
- Even at 13, Fischer was a player to be reckoned with.
Read more about this topic: The Game Of The Century (chess)
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