Fischer's Superficial Plan

The first clash in Fischer - Keres, Zurich 1959, happened at the diagrammed position. White played 16.Ne3, which Kasparov gave '!'. Fischer wrote, 'Black already has difficulties. On 16...Nxd4 17.Nxd4 exd4 18.Nf5 Rfe8 19.Bg5', and noted that 16...Nb4? is bad because of 17.Bb1 Bxe4?? 18.Bxe4 Nxe4 19.a3 Nc6 20.Nd5.

After 16...Nxd4 17.Nxd4 exd4 18.Nf5, Kasparov corrected an attempted Huebner improvement starting 18...g6 and concluded that 'Black is still a long way from equalizing'. He thought 16...exd4 17.Nf5 d5 was 'more interesting', although White 'retains some advantage'.

Zurich 1959
Keres, Paul

Fischer, Robert
(After 15...Na5-c6)
[FEN "2r2rk1/1bq1bppp/p1np1n2/1p2p3/3PP3/3B1N1P/PP3PP1/R1BQRNK1 w - - 0 16"]

The game continued 16...Rfe8 17.Nf5, which Fischer gave a '?: A superficial plan. Correct is 17.d5 Nb4 (17...Nb8 18.a4) 18.Bb1 a5 [MW - The Knight had no retreat.] 19.Qe2! Nd7 (19...Qb6 20.Nf5) 20.Bd2 Qb6 21.a3 Na6 22.b4 -- 23.Bd3 with a bind'. In My 60 Memorable Games, Fischer pointed out almost two dozen binds. I once cataloged some of them in a tutorial called Bobby's Binds.

Kasparov repeated Fischer's analysis and added, 'But in his
youth Bobby did not like closing the position and maneuvering for a long time behind Pawn chains, but preferred active piece play, often giving his opponents the opportunity to free themselves.'

After 17...Bf8 18.Bg5 Nd7 19.Rc1 19.Rc1 Qb8 20.Bb1 Nxd4 21.N3xd4, Keres committed a tactical error. I'll pick up there next time.