Spassky Wins the World Junior

The game, move by move

The Sämisch

1. 1. d4 Queen’s pawn
2. 1… Nf6 The knight out
3. 2. c4 The second pawn
4. 2… g6 g6 — the King’s Indian
5. 3. Nc3 Developing
6. 3… Bg7 The bishop on the long diagonal
7. 4. e4 The big centre
8. 4… d6 d6, propping it up
9. 5. f3 f3 — the Sämisch A pawn move that develops nothing and holds e4, so that the g-pawn is free to walk. Everything in this game is about which set of pawns arrives first.
10. 5… O-O Black castles
11. 6. Be3 Developing
12. 6… e5 e5, striking the centre
13. 7. Nge2 The knight to e2
14. 7… Nc6 And Black’s
15. 8. Qd2 The queen to d2
16. 8… Nd7 The knight steps back

Castling on opposite wings

1. 9. O-O-O White castles long The kings are now on opposite wings, and both players know exactly what they are meant to do next.
2. 9… a6 a6, starting
3. 10. d5 d5, closing the centre It shuts the middle so that neither side can be distracted, which suits whichever attack is faster.
4. 10… Na7 The knight to a7
5. 11. g4 g4 — White’s pawns start
6. 11… b5 b5 — and Black’s
7. 12. Ng3 The knight to g3 Aimed at f5 and h5. It is given away on f5 fifteen half-moves from now.
8. 12… bxc4 Taken

Both pawn storms

1. 13. h4 h4, the second pawn
2. 13… f6 f6, propping up e5
3. 14. h5 h5 — the file, one move away And Black has no way of doing the same thing on the b-file: the knight on a7 and the pawn on a6 are in each other’s way.
4. 14… Qe7 The queen to e7
5. 15. hxg6 Taken
6. 15… hxg6 Recaptured — the file is open
7. 16. Qh2 The queen swings to h2 Onto the file, behind a rook that has not moved. Black has one move to do something about it and does not have one.
8. 16… Kf7 The king steps to f7

The knight on f5

1. 17. Nf5 The knight, on f5 Given away for a tempo. Taking it opens the g-file for the pawn on g4 and lets the queen come to h5 with check.
2. 17… gxf5 Taken
3. 18. Qh5+ Check, from h5
4. 18… Kg8 The king goes back
5. 19. gxf5 The pawn recaptures
6. 19… Rf7 The rook to f7
7. 20. Be2 The bishop out at last
8. 20… Nc5 The knight to c5
9. 21. Rdg1 The second rook to g1 Both rooks on the two open files at the black king, and one of them holds h1 — which is what stops the queen being taken at the end.
10. 21… Qd7 The queen to d7 — too late
11. 22. Qh8# Checkmate, on h8 The queen steps into the corner beside the rook on h1 that is holding her there. She covers f8 and h7; the rook covers h7 as well; and g7 and f7 are Black’s own bishop and rook.