THE TRAP THAT BEAT BOBBY FISCHER
There is a very common trap which almost all beginners fall into at some time or other. One player, say White,
captures a pawn at a7 or h7 with his bishop, only to see his bishop trapped when his opponent advances the
neighboring pawn one square. Here is an example, starting from the position in the previous diagram.
1
e 2 - e 4
e 7 - e 6
2
d 2 - d 4
B f 8 - d 6
3
B f l - d 3
B d 6 x h 2 ? ?
4
g 2 - g 3 !
So Black has won a pawn but the bishop on h2 is now shut in by the white pawn chain on f2 and g3. Black must act
quickly to try to save his bishop.
4 ... h7-h5
Black’s plan is to advance the pawn to h4, then to exchange pawns on g3 and finally to capture on g3 with his bishop,
extricating the bishop. Alternatively, when the black pawn advances to h4, if White captures (g3xh4) then the black
bishop can escape from h2. But here this plan is too slow.
5 Kel-fl
Black has no satisfactory way to meet the threat of Kfl-g2.
5 ... h5-h4
Of course, White must not now play g3xh4 because then the bishop on h2 would escape. This is one of the ideas
behind the advance of Black’s h-pawn.
6
Kfl-g2 h4xg3 7 f2xg3
And on the next move Black loses his h2 bishop. Even though Black could play 7 ... Bh2xg3, the material advantage
of a bishop for two pawns is normally sufficient to guarantee a win.
Amazingly the famous American Grandmaster Bobby Fischer lost the first game of his 1972 World Championship
match against Boris Spassky in exactly this manner. Fischer (black) grabbed a pawn at h2 with his bishop, expecting
the bishop to be able to extricate itself eventually. Unfortunately for Fischer he was wrong - he lost the bishop and the
game (but he won the match).
