Fischer, Robert James vs Spassky, Boris V, World Championship 28th

Game 4 of the 1972 Reykjavík World Championship was a Sicilian Defense played at full intensity by both sides. The match score was 2-1 in Spassky’s favour; Fischer needed to begin closing the gap. Fischer chose 2.Nf3 followed by the Sozin Attack against Spassky’s Najdorf, an opening Fischer had played repeatedly in his pre-match preparation.

The game produced one of the most-cited draws in chess literature. Both sides reached a complex middlegame in which neither could force a winning continuation. The game was drawn in 45 moves — a relief for Fischer in terms of the scoreboard but not a step forward. The broader context was already shifting: Game 3 the day before had been Fischer’s first match win, and the psychological balance was tipping.

The Sozin Attack — 6.Bc4 in the Najdorf Sicilian — had been one of Fischer’s signature White systems for years. His preparation showed in the early phase of the game; his willingness to enter a forced drawing line in the late middlegame showed the strategic discipline he would maintain for the rest of the match. Fischer in 1972 was not the romantic-era attacker he had been in earlier years. He was a champion-in-waiting, willing to consolidate when consolidation served the longer arc.

The Game 4 draw, taken together with Game 3’s win, gave Fischer momentum that he never surrendered. The Sicilian Najdorf appeared several more times in the match, with Fischer as White treating it seriously and Spassky as White avoiding it. By the closing weeks, Fischer had won the match in classical, won the Najdorf as a theoretical battleground, and converted Spassky from defender of the title to defender of his own match record.