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Hi everyone, this is Jerry. And this is a game analysis between Donald Byrne and Bobby
Fischer. It was played in New York City on October 17th, 1956. At the time Fischer was
thirteen years old. And soon after this game it was given the title "Game of the Century".
Rating and commenting are appreciated. And any questions you have for me feel free to
send one my way. Hope you enjoy the game. Byrne opens the game with the move knight
to f3, development. Fischer opens up with knight to f6, development. Pawn to c4, a move
directed at controlling a central square, d5. Pawn to g6, making way to fianchetto the
king bishop to g7. Knight to c3, development. Bishop to g7, development and making way to
castle. Pawn to d4, establishing a pawn in the center, and making way for the queen bishop
to develop. Castle, a developing move getting the king safe. Bishop f4, development. Pawn
to d5 signaling the Grunfeld Defense, placing a pawn in the center and also striking at
c4. Queen to b3, indirectly attacking d5. Pawn captures pawn, queen captures pawn, and
now both the queen and bishop are directed at c7. Fischer follows up with pawn to c6.
If we just take a look back, it's worth noting that if Fischer were to play pawn to c6 now,
white could continue pawn to e3, and now if pawn takes pawn, the bishop has the option
of taking on c4 developing a new piece, and then getting ready to castle. However, by
capturing on c4 right now in this position black does not give white the possibility
of taking on c4 with the bishop because the pawn is still on e2. So as is often the case
in chess, move order matters, and this position right here is no exception. So after queen
captures pawn... how to meet this threat? You might be thinking, well why not develop
a piece and prevent this capture from occurring on c7? Well that might run into trouble with
a move like pawn to d5. The knight is shooed away from c6, and then the pawn can be taken
on c7. So that's why we see pawn to c6 here. Pawn to e4 is the continuation establishing
yet another pawn in the center, and making way for the king bishop's development. Knight
to d7, getting ready to come to b6 where it would be attacking the queen. It temporarily
obstructs the queen bishop's development. An alternative would be knight to a6, staying
out of the bishop's way, and preparing a pawn to c5 advance where that pawn would strike
at d4. But instead we see the knight coming to d7. And now rook to d1, placing the rook
opposite the queen. Black has to be a bit careful. Whenever a rook is opposite your
own queen, you have to be careful of tactics. Knight to b6, attacking the queen and allowing
the bishop to come out. Queen to c5, a bit awkward. Maybe better is queen to b3. Although
maybe Byrne was turned off to this move as a result of a developing moved to e6 where
the bishop is now attacking the queen. Fischer is able to take advantage of this queen's
placement shortly. Fischer follows up with bishop to g4, pinning the knight to the rook.
And now Byrne plays bishop to g5, violating one of the well-known principles in chess
which states: "you should not move the same piece more than once in the opening". And
this bishop initially came to f4, and now it's going to g5. This is not to be recommended
especially in this position. Fischer is now able to execute a series of exceptional moves,
and it starts with knight to a4 deflecting the c3 knight from the defense of the e4 pawn.
The move that was played in the actual game was queen to a3. However it's worth taking
a look at what would occur if knight takes knight. This is what would happen: knight
takes pawn, forking the queen and bishop. If queen takes pawn, that will result in queen
takes queen, bishop takes queen, rook to e8... after the bishop moves, the knight can come
here, discovered check on the king and the knight is going to be picked off, or maybe
even the rook. An alternative is bishop takes pawn... that will result in knight takes queen,
bishop takes queen, knight takes knight, black is doing better in this position as well getting
ready to take the bishop...pawn. Another choice after knight takes pawn is queen to c1. That'll
result in queen to a5, checking the king, hitting the knight, hitting the bishop. If
knight blocks, bishop takes knight, pawn takes bishop, knight takes bishop. The queen can't
take the knight because it's protected. And one other choice is to block with the bishop
will result in knight takes bishop, queen takes knight, queen takes knight. Black is
doing better in this variation as well. One more choice after knight takes here is queen
to b4. That's going to result in knight takes bishop, knight takes knight, bishop takes
rook, king takes bishop, bishop takes pawn. And there is a nasty discovered check that's
in the air after the bishop moves. Black is doing better here as well. So the move that
actually did get played was queen to a3. And now we see knight takes knight. If queen takes
knight, just knight takes pawn forking the queen and bishop. So pawn takes knight was
played, and now knight still takes on e4, and allows this fork, bishop captures pawn
on e7. The rook and queen are attacked. Fischer follows up with queen to b6. If bishop takes
rook, that'll result in bishop take bishop. The queen is getting hit. If queen to b3,
knight takes c3. If queen takes knight, the bishop is going to win the queen because there's
a pin. If queen takes queen, pawn takes queen. The rook is still hit. The rook and knight
are both converging on a2. And even though the queens are off the board, the white king
is still in trouble. If rook to a1, rook to e8. King here, knight check. The f2 pawn will
fall, and the white king is going to have a giant headache to deal with because these
bishops are going to give him problems. So in this position the bishop did not take the
rook. Instead Byrne chose to develop the bishop to c4. And now we see knight takes c3. If
queen takes knight it's just rook comes here, pins the bishop and the bishop will eventually
be won. And so the move that was played is bishop to c5 attacking the queen. Rook on
f to e8. It's important that it's this rook that comes to e8 because there are continuations
where this a8 rook will function well on the a-file, as is the case in the actual game.
King to f1. And now the move that caught everyones attention, bishop to e6!! Ignoring the threat
on your own queen and instead attacking the bishop. One continuation from here is to take
the knight. If that did occur, queen captures bishop would be played seeing how there's
a pin against the queen. If pawn takes queen, bishop takes queen. From this position, if
bishop takes bishop that'll lead to a checkmate in six. If you'd like to, pause the video
and see if you can figure it out. It's a checkmate in six problem. Okay, the solution starts
out with queen to b5 check. Bishop blocks, queen captures bishop, king to g1, knight
to e2 check, king to f1, knight to g3 that's double check...in double check the king must
always move, king to g1, queen to f1 check, rook captures queen the only move, and now
knight to e2 and that's mate...smothered mate. So the only other choice from here is to just
take the queen, and that's what Byrne played in the actual game. And that ends up putting
white in a lot of hot water. Bishop captures bishop checking the king. King to g1, knight
e2, king f1, knight captures pawn discovered check. If the rook blocks the check, that'll
result in pawn takes bishop. The only way to now move the queen from the rook's attack
is to play to c3, and defend the rook. That'll result in knight captures knight, the bishop
is hitting the queen. After queen captures bishop, rook to e1 and that's mate. So that's
why rook here is no good. So white unfortunately has to go back to g1. Knight gives another
check, another check discovered, and the knight is hitting the rook. King back to g1, and
now pawn captures bishop, the queen is being attacked by the rook. Queen to b4 attacking
the bishop. Black first meets that threat with rook to a4, attacking the queen, and
defending the bishop. And after queen captures pawn, only now does black take the rook. And
now it's just a matter of winning the game from this point on. Pawn to h2 getting ready
to sneak the king out and then get the rook involved, but it's too little too late. Rook
captures pawn, king to h2, knight captures pawn attacking the rook. Rook to e1, rook
captures rook, and white throws a check in first so that the bishop has to work himself
into a pin, bishop f8. And knight captures rook, and now we see bishop to d5. From this
point on, black just organizes all of his pieces and gets it to a point where they are
coordinated. And as a result the white queen will not be able to attack anything of black's.
So knight to f3, knight to e4, queen to b8 attacking b7, pawn to b5. Pawn to h4 getting
ready to come to h5 and maybe smash up the kingside structure. But Fischer just stops
that right away, pawn to h5. Knight to e5 getting ready to come to d7 where it would
be attacking the pinned piece. So Fischer just gets out of the pin, king to g7. And
if you just take into account this position right here, everything is protected of black's.
The king guards the pawn, the bishop, these pawns are protected, these pawns are protected,
and this bishop here guards both the f7 pawn, the c6 pawn, the knight, and the rook. Everything
is strung together and as a result the white queen can do nothing. King to g1, and now
it's just a matter of mating the white king. And it turns out in the following way: bishop
to c5 check, king to f1, knight g3 check, king to e1...these are all only moves, bishop
check, king to d1, bishop check, king to c1...the king is getting walked all the way along the
first rank, knight check, king to b1, knight c3 check, king to c1, rook to c2 and that's
mate. So that's all for this video. Hope you got something out of it. Take care, bye.