Fischer Against a Program

The game, move by move

A King’s Gambit, in 1977

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… e5 The same claim
3. 2. f4 The King’s Gambit In 1977, against a computer. It is the opening of the Immortal Game and it had been out of top-level fashion for eighty years.
4. 2… exf4 Accepted
5. 3. Bc4 The Bishop’s Gambit
6. 3… d5 d5 — the right answer Give the pawn straight back and open the centre. This is what the books say and the machine plays it.
7. 4. Bxd5 Taken
8. 4… Nf6 Developing
9. 5. Nc3 The knight out
10. 5… Bb4 Pinning it
11. 6. Nf3 The second knight
12. 6… O-O Black castles
13. 7. O-O And White
14. 7… Nxd5 The knights come off on d5

A knight for the g-file

1. 8. Nxd5 Recaptured
2. 8… Bd6 The bishop to d6 Holding f4 and looking at h2. It is taken eight half-moves from now, and the pawn that takes it back becomes the pawn on e5 that covers f6.
3. 9. d4 The centre
4. 9… g5 g5, holding the pawn The move a machine of 1977 makes and a person would not: it defends f4 and it opens the file its own king is on.
5. 10. Nxg5 The knight, on g5 A piece for a pawn, to open the g-file and to leave a black queen standing on it.
6. 10… Qxg5 Taken
7. 11. e5 e5, shutting the diagonal
8. 11… Bh3 The bishop to h3

The knight on f6

1. 12. Rf2 The rook to f2
2. 12… Bxe5 The bishop takes e5
3. 13. dxe5 Recaptured — a pawn on e5 And that pawn covers f6, which is the square White’s knight is about to occupy for the rest of the game.
4. 13… c6 c6, pushing the knight
5. 14. Bxf4 The bishop takes f4
6. 14… Qg7 The queen to g7
7. 15. Nf6+ The knight to f6, with check Held by the pawn on e5. It never moves again and it covers g8 at the end.
8. 15… Kh8 Kh8
9. 16. Qh5 The queen to h5
10. 16… Rd8 The rook to d8

The rook swings to g3

1. 17. Qxh3 The bishop taken on h3 The queen collects the piece back and lands on the third rank, where the rook is about to join her.
2. 17… Na6 The knight out at last
3. 18. Rf3 The rook lifts to f3
4. 18… Qg6 The queen to g6
5. 19. Rc1 The second rook to c1
6. 19… Kg7 The king steps to g7
7. 20. Rg3 The rook swings to g3 It pins the queen against her own king. That pin is the whole mate: she is on g6 and she cannot move.
8. 20… Rh8 The rook to h8 — nothing else
9. 21. Qh6# Checkmate, on h6 The queen steps to h6 beside the king. The knight on f6 covers g8; the bishop on f4 covers h6 so she cannot be taken; the pawn on e5 covers f6; and h7, f7, the queen on g6 and the rook on h8 are all Black’s own.