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Library / Games / Bobby Fischer vs Boris Spassky
World Chess Championship · Reykjavík · 23 July 1972 · ECO D59

Fischer vs Spassky, Reykjavík 1972, Game 6

Bobby Fischer 1–0 Boris Spassky
Opening: Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower Variation
Bobby Fischer vs Boris Spassky D59
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World Chess Championship, 23 July 1972

Game 6 of the 1972 World Championship is the most surprising of Fischer’s twenty-one games in Reykjavík. Fischer played 1.c4 — a move he had not used in tournament play for several years. Spassky responded with a Queen’s Gambit Declined, Tartakower Variation. Fischer followed with classical positional moves, accumulating a small structural advantage, and converted in 41 moves. After the resignation, Spassky stood and applauded.

The game ended Spassky’s 3.5-point lead from the early portion of the match. Fischer had been losing 2.5–0.5 after the famously forfeited Game 2. Game 6 was the turning point that began the run of wins which would, ultimately, give Fischer the title.

The structural pattern

Through move 25, the game looks unremarkable — small bishop manoeuvres, an exchange of pieces, slightly better White structure. Fischer’s 26.f5 opens the kingside. By move 31, the pawn on e6 ties down Black’s pieces; by move 38, Fischer’s combination 38.Rxf6! opens decisive lines. The mate on move 41 is unanswerable.

The game has been called Fischer’s most classical — a structural masterpiece that could have been played by Capablanca half a century earlier. Spassky’s applause at the resignation was unprecedented in modern World Championship matches and remains the most-quoted gesture in chess history.

Game record

This game between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky was played at the World Chess Championship in Reykjavík in 1972. The opening was the Queen’s Gambit Declined, Tartakower Variation (ECO D59). The game lasted 41 moves, ending with White winning. It is part of the post-war Soviet era.

Opening context

The Queen’s Gambit Declined, Tartakower Variation (ECO D59) belongs to the closed with double queen-pawn group of the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings. The opening sequence runs 1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7, after which the game enters its specific theoretical line. ECO classification group D covers a span of roughly 100 different openings, of which D59 is one entry on the tree.