Kings Gambit, Fischer Defense

The Fischer Defense to the Kings Gambit is a chess tra pawn is neutralized by Whites stranglehold on the
opening variation that begins with the moves:
dark squares, especially [f4]".[14]
After 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d6 the most common response is 4.d4.[15] If White now tries to force transpositions to Becker Defense (3...h6) or Classical Defense
(3...g5) positions, then White can end up in diculties.
Fischer analyzed 4.d4 g5 5.h4 g4 6.Ng5 f6 7.Nh3 gxh3
8.Qh5+ Kd7 9.Bxf4 Qe8! 10.Qf3 Kd8 and with King
and Queen reversed, Black wins easily.[14]

1. e4 e5
2. f4 exf4
3. Nf3 d6

Although 3...d6 was previously known,[1] it did not become a major variation until Fischer advocated it in a fa- Another popular move is 4.Bc4. Fischer recommended
mous 1961 article in the rst issue of the American Chess 4...h6 in response, which he dubbed the Berlin Defence
Quarterly.[2][3]
Deferred.[14] Blacks third and fourth moves stop the
In the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings, the Fischer De- white knight on f3 from moving to the two dangerous
squares e5 and g5.
fense is given the code C34.
A quite recent idea is 4.d4 g5 5.Nc3. White intends to
leave the bishop on f1 for a while, play an improved ver1 History
sion of the Hanstein Gambit (3...g5 4.Bc4 Bg7 and later
g2g3), and, after forcing Blacks f-pawn to move, de[16]
[4]
After Bobby Fischer lost a 1960 game at Mar del velop the queenside with Be3, Qd2, and 0-0-0.
Plata to Boris Spassky, in which Spassky played the
Kieseritzky Gambit, Fischer left in tears[5] and promptly
went to work at devising a new defense to the Kings 3 See also
Gambit. In Fischers 1961 article, A Bust to the Kings
Gambit, he claimed, In my opinion the Kings Gam List of chess openings
bit is busted. It loses by force.[6] Fischer concluded the
article with the famous line, Of course White can al List of chess openings named after people
ways play dierently, in which case he merely loses differently. (Thank you, Weaver Adams!)"[7] The article became famous.[8][9]
4 References
Remarkably, Fischer later played the Kings Gambit himself with great success,[10] including winning all three
tournament games in which he played it.[11][12][13] However, he played the Bishops Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4
3.Bc4) rather than the Kings Knight Gambit (3.Nf3), the
only line that he analyzed in his article.

[1] For example, George H. D. Gossip and S. Lipschtz noted

that 3...d6 was a move advised by Stamma, and which
Mr. Lwenthal thinks may be safely adopted, and that
the game is even after 4.Bc4 or 4.d4. G. H. D. Gossip and S. Lipschtz, The Chess-Players Manual (3rd ed.
1902), David McKay, p. 491. OCLC 3727518.
[2] Bobby Fischer, A Bust to the Kings Gambit, American
Chess Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Summer 1961), pp. 39.

Ideas behind the opening

[3] A Bust to the Kings Gambit. ChessCafe.com. Retrieved

on 2009-11-16.

Fischer called 3...d6 a high-class waiting move.[14] It

allows Black to hold the gambit pawn with ...g5 (unless White plays the immediate 4.h4) while avoiding the
Kieseritzky Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4
5.Ne5). Fischer asserted that 3...g5 is inexact because it
gives White drawing chances after 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5 Nf6
6.d4 d6 7.Nd3 Nxe4 8.Bxf4 Bg7 9.c3! (improving on
Spasskys 9.Nc3) Qe7 10.Qe2 Bf5 11.Nd2, which, according to Fischer, leads to an ending where Blacks ex-

[4] Boris Spassky vs Robert James Fischer (1960)

[5] Carl Schreck; Moscow Patzer: A Bread Run With the
Great Bronstein {http://carlschreck.com/displayArticle.
php?article_id=91, which cites: http://rsport.netorn.ru/
ech/khariton/bron2.htm
[6] Fischer, p. 4.

[7] Fischer, p. 9. Fischer was alluding to a statement by

Adams, author of the controversial book White to Play and
Win, who famously claimed that White won by force with
best play, and that if Black played dierently from the
lines given by Adams, he merely loses dierently.
[8] Nick de Firmian refers to A Bust to the Kings Gambit
as Bobby Fischers famous article. Nick de Firmian,
Modern Chess Openings (15th edition), McKay Chess Library, 2008, p. 3. ISBN 978-0-8129-3682-7.
[9] Andrew Soltis calls it a celebrated article. Andrew
Soltis, in Karsten Mller, Bobby Fischer: The Career and
Complete Games of the American World Chess Champion,
Russell Enterprises, Inc., 2009, p. 29. ISBN 978-1888690-68-2.
[10]
[11] FischerEvans, 196364 U.S. Championship.
Games.com. Retrieved on 2009-02-16.

Chess-

[12] FischerMinic, Vinkovci 1968. ChessGames.com. Retrieved on 2009-02-16.

[13] FischerWade, Vinkovci 1968. ChessGames.com. Retrieved on 2009-02-16.
[14] Fischer, p. 5.
[15]
[16] http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?
num=1144000928/15

REFERENCES

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