Fischer - Reshevsky, Match 1961 (Game 5)

Continuing with 18 Memorable Games, no.27 in Fischer's 60 Memorable Games and no.62 in Kasparov's Predecessors IV, the PGN is given below. As with other games in this series, the punctuation is from the notes of Fischer and Kasparov.

[Event "Match Los Angeles, CA USA"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1961.??.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Reshevsky, S."]
[Black "Fischer, R."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D42"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Nf3 c5 6.e3 Nc6 7.Bd3 Be7 8.O-O O-O 9.a3 cxd4 10.exd4 Nf6 11.Bc2 b6 12.Qd3 Bb7 13.Bg5 g6 14.Rfe1 Re8 15. h4 {KAS: '!'} 15...Rc8 16.Rac1 Nd5 {KAS: '?!'} 17.Ne4 {KAS: '!'} 17... f5 {FIS: '!?'; KAS: '!?'} 18.Nc3 {KAS: '!'} 18...Bxg5 19.Nxg5 {FIS: '!'; KAS: '!'} 19...Nf4 20.Qe3 {KAS: '?!'} 20...Qxd4 21.Nb5 {FIS: '!'; KAS: '!'} 21...Qxe3 {KAS: '?!'} 22.fxe3 Nxg2 {FIS: '!'; KAS: '!'} 23.Kxg2 Nd4+ {KAS: '?!'} 24.Be4 {FIS: '!'; KAS: '!' } 24...Bxe4+ 25.Nxe4 Nxb5 26.Nf6+ Kf7 27.Nxe8 Rxe8 28.a4 {FIS: '!'; KAS: '!'} 28...Nd6 29.Rc7+ Kf6 {FIS: '!'; KAS: '!'} 30.Rec1 {FIS: '!'; KAS: '!'} 30...h6 31.Rxa7 Ne4 32.Ra6 Rd8 {FIS: '!'; KAS: '!'} 33.Rc2 {KAS: '?!'} 33...Rd3 34.Rxb6 Rxe3 35.a5 f4 36. Rf2 {FIS: '?'; KAS: '?'} 36...Nxf2 37.Kxf2 Re5 {FIS: '!'; KAS: '!'} 38. b4 Re3 {FIS: '!'; KAS: '!'} 39.a6 Ra3 40.Rc6 {KAS: '?'} 40...g5 41. hxg5+ hxg5 42.b5 g4 43.Rc8 {KAS: '?'} 43...Kf5 44.b6 g3+ 45.Ke1 Ra1+ 46. Ke2 g2 47.Rf8+ Ke4 48.Rxf4+ Kxf4 49.b7 g1=Q 50.b8=Q+ Kf5 51.Qf8+ Ke4 52. Qa8+ Kd4 53.Qd8+ Kc4 54.Qd3+ Kc5 55.Qc3+ Kd6 56.Qd2+ Ke5 57.Qb2+ Kf5 0-1

I'm struck by the large number of moves where Fischer gave no punctuation, but where Kasparov was critical: 16...Nd5?!, 20.Qe3?!, 21...Qxe3?!, 23...Nd4+?!, 33.Rc2?!, 40.Rc6?, and 43.Rc8?. On that last move, 43.Rc8, Kasparov wrote,

Again Bobby ignores the opponent's best chance: as one can see, not only in life, but also in chess he did not wish to accept unpleasant reality.

Can one really see this from the analysis of a few chess moves? To play through the complete game, see...

Samuel Reshevsky vs Robert James Fischer, Match 1961
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1008403

...on Chessgames.com.