Fischer scents victory as Spassky loses his form
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Your support makes all the difference.THE CHESSBOARD is trimmed by three millimetres, a glass partition insulates Bobby Fischer from any noise from the audience, his custom-built leather chair rocks and swivels without a squeak, banners around the board proclaim the games four times as 'The World Chess Championship', and Boris Spassky is not allowed to take his place at the table until Bobby has arrived for the game.
When these and countless other conditions are satisfied, Bobby Fischer, despite 20 years' inactivity, can still produce the lethal clarity of thought that took him to the world championship in 1972.
On Sunday night, Fischer won the 11th game of his re-match with Spassky to take a 5-2 lead. With Fischer now half-way to the 10 victories needed to win the match, the whole circus moves from Sveti Stefan in Montenegro to the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
With Spassky in poor health and even worse form, Fischer's true capability is hard to assess. But his chess looked very healthy in the eleventh game. He made an innovative pawn sacrifice at move seven, and his sparklingly brilliant attacking play was wrapped up with a delicately accurate endgame. Here are the moves:
White: Fischer
Black: Spassky
1 e4 c5
2 Nf3 Nc6
3 Bb5 g6
4 Bxc6 bxc6
5 0-0 Bg7
6 Re1 e5
7 b4] cxb4
8 a3 c5
9 axb4 cxb4
10 d4 exd4
11 Bb2 d6
12 Nxd4 Qd7
13 Nd2 Bb7
14 Nc4 Nh6
15 Nf5] Bxb2
16 Ncxd6+ Kf8
17 Nxh6 f6
18 Ndf7] Qxd1
19 Raxd1 Ke7
20 Nxh8 Rxh8
21 Nf5+] gxf5
22 exf5+ Be5
23 f4 Rc8
24 fxe5 Rxc2
25 e6] Bc6
26 Rc1] Rxc1
27 Rxc1 Kd6
28 Rd1+ Ke5
29 e7 a5
30 Rc1 Bd7
31 Rc5+ Kd4
32 Rxa5 b3
33 Ra7 Be8
34 Rb7 Kc3
35 Kf2 b2
36 Ke3 Bf7
37 g4 Kc2
38 Kd4 b1=Q
39 Rxb1 Kxb1
40 Kc5 Kc2
41 Kd6
Black resigned
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