Fischer’s ‘prize’ once again goes unclaimed at U.S. national chess title fight

When it comes to prizes, Alfred Nobel has nothing on Bobby Fischer.

Sure, you have to end a war or cure a disease or solve some esoteric problem in particle physics, but it’s a sure bet that every year at least six people — often more — will get some face-time with the king of Sweden for winning a Nobel.

By contrast, the lucrative bonus that comes with matching Bobby’s epic 11-0 sweep in the 1963-64 U.S. national championship has been offered every year since 2009, and not a single player has come close to claiming the Fischer Prize. Joe Dimaggio’s record 56-game hitting streak is in greater danger of being broken.

This year’s American title fight, now underway at the St. Louis Chess Club, will be no exception. The very first round on Friday resulted in five draws from the 10-grandmaster field, instantly eliminating the possibility of a perfect score and the right to claim the $64,000 bonus.

The action picked up in the weekend’s Rounds 2 and 3, with five players — top seed Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Liang Awonder, Sam Sevian and Hans Moke Niemann — sharing the early lead at 2-1. The only perfect score in St. Louis is in the concurrent U.S. Women’s Championship, where red-hot IM Carissa Yip bolted out of the gate with three straight wins.

The tempestuous Niemann (check with Wikipedia if you really want to go down that rabbit hole) has had an impressive start, pressing Caruana in a lengthy Round 2 draw and defeating veteran GM Leinier Dominguez-Perez a round later. Against Dominguez Perez in a Giuoco Piano, Niemann boldly announces his attacking intentions in a relatively placid position and then sees things through to victory.

In a balanced position, White trots out 14. g4!? Nf6 15. g5 hxg5 16. Bxg5, ceding some weaknesses but obtaining an open file to the Black castled king that will eventually prove decisive.

Black appears to underestimate the danger: 18. Rg1 Qe6 19. Rg2 Ne7? (now was the time to batten down with 19…Nxg5 20. Nxg5 Qh6!, with the queen in a prime defensive post) 20. Bd2 Ng6 21. Qe2 Qf6 22. Rg4! — Dominguez Perez’s problem is that he has no good way to stop the simple advance of the White h-pawn, which will evict the numerous defenders he has posted around his king.

After a little prep work, Niemann mobilizes with 27. h4 c4 (Black’s attempts at a diversion are easily brushed off; on 27…Re8, White stays on top after 28. h5 Ngf8 29. Nh4 Ne6 30. Nf5) 28. h5 Ne7 29. Rxg7 Rg8 30. R7g3! b5 (Rxg3 31. fxg3 Qe6 32. g4, and a new, equally deadly pawn storm commences) 31. Ng5, with the nasty threat of 32. Rf3.

White’s attack makes up in power what it lacked in subtlety: Black is just swept aside after 33. Qf3! Nc8 (the threat was 34. Bf6+ Kh7 35. Rg7+ Kh6 [Rxg7 36. Rxg7+ Kh8 37. Rxf7+ Kg8 38. Rg7+ Kf8 39. h6] 36. Qe3+ Kxh5 37. Rh7 mate, but Black’s move fatally blocks the coordination of his rooks) 34. Bf6+ Bxf6 35. Rxg8+ Kh7 36. Re8!! — a nice touch that brings about resignation. It’s mate on 36…Qxe8 (Ne7 37. Rxa8; 36…Be7 37. Qg3 Qf6 38. Qg8+ Kh6 39. Qh8+ Qxh8 40. Rxh8 mate) 37. Qf5+ Kh6 38. Qxf6+ Kxh5 39. Bd1 mate.

We’ll have more games and results from both championship tournaments in the columns to come.

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It was not exactly a weak field that Fischer mowed down in the fabled 1963-64 event, with strong GMs Sammy Reshevsky, Pal Benko, Larry Evans and Robert Byrne all in the field that year. The American superstar, who just turned 20 that year, included four games from the New York event in his classic “My 60 Memorable Games,” including the famous sacrificial brilliancies against Benko and Byrne. Also making the anthology was today’s second game, a tougher and in some ways even more impressive win over a game GM Arthur Bisguier in a double-edged Ruy Lopez Chigorin Defense.

We’ll go largely with Fischer’s analysis, as today’s computers have found just a few tweaks to his original take on the game back in 1969. White wins the opening battle with a finesse Fischer learned from Soviet great David Bronstein: 15. Qe2 Nh5?! (White’s next move makes this a clear loss of time) 16. g3! (also good was first 16. a4 Rab8 and then 17. g3), taking away the f4-square and inviting 16…Bxh3?! 17. Ng5! Bxg5 (Bxf1 18. Qxh5 Bxg5 19. Bxg5 f6 20. Bxf6! gxf6 21. Kxf1 Rd2 22. Re2, with the advantage) 18. Bxg5 Nf6 (Fischer was nothing if not hyper-alert at the chessboard — on 18…Bxf1?, White plays 19. Bxd8!) 19. Bxf6 gxf6 20. Ne3, and “White has more than enough for the pawn,” in Fischer’s words.

White’s strategic edge grows as he obtains two good bishops against Bisguier’s two limited knights, but Black fights back with some enterprising moves that put the perfect streak in real jeopardy: 23. Qf3! (pretty much forcing the bishop trade, as 23…Rf8 24. Ne3 has the White knight eyeing the beautiful d5 outpost) Bxg4 24. Qxg4 Ne6 25. h5?! (Bobby said later that the more accurate 25. Be3! kept the positional clamp in place) Kh8! 26. Kg2 (and here Fischer writes that White is “in trouble” after 26. hxg6 Rg8, though the engines now say White retains the edge on 27. Kg2 Rxg6 28. Qf3 Rd8 29. Be3 Rg7 30. Rad1) g5 27. Be3 Nf4+!, when 28. gxf4 gxf4 attacks the bishop and threatens to pin the White queen, equalizing for Black.

But after his inspired defense, Bisguier immediately opens another path to victory for White on 28. Kh2 Nd3 29. Bxd3 cxd3? (Rxd3 was the right recapture, as White’s advantage is minimal on 30. Red1 Rad8 31. Rxd3 cxd3 [Rxd3? 32.Qc8+ Nd8 33. Qxa6] 32. Rd1 Rd7 33. Rd2 Nd8 34. Bc5 Qf7 35. Qf3 Kg7) 30. Red1 Rd7 31. Rd2, and the impossibility of defending Black’s weak d-pawn proves fatal.

Fischer tops the final winning concoction with some nice tactical cherries: 31…Na5 (hanging tough doesn’t work either: 31…Rad8 32. Rad1 Qf7 33. Bb6 Rb8 34. Bc5 Rdb8 35. Qf3, and the pawn still falls) 32. b3 Qd6 (on 32…Rc8, White had prepared the clever 33. Rxd3! Rxd3 34. Qxc8+ Kg7 35. Qxa6 Qc7 36. Qxb5, winning) 33. Rad1 Re8 (see diagram; Black prepares to give up the queen for two strong rooks, but Fischer has other ideas) 34. Rxd3 Qxd3 35. Qxd7!, a double-cross X-ray that forces instant resignation.

Bisguier sees the hopeless bind he will be in after 35…Qxd7 36. Rxd7 Re6 (to prevent 37. Rd6) 37. Kh3 (the king’s infiltration will prove lethal) Nc6 38. Kg4 Ne7 39. Bc5 Ng6 40. Rc7 Re8 41. Kf5 and Black’s game collapses.

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Niemann-Dominguez Perez, U.S. Championship, St. Louis, October 2024

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 O-O 7. Re1 a5 8. h3 h6 9. Nbd2 Be6 10. Bb5 Bb6 11. Nc4 Bc5 12. Ba4 Bxc4 13. dxc4 Nh5 14. g4 Nf6 15. g5 hxg5 16. Bxg5 Qc8 17. Kh2 Nh7 18. Rg1 Qe6 19. Rg2 Ne7 20. Bd2 Ng6 21. Qe2 Qf6 22. Rg4 c6 23. Rag1 Kh8 24. Bc2 Bb6 25. R1g2 Bd8 26. c5 dxc5 27. h4 c4 28. h5 Ne7 29. Rxg7 Rg8 30. R7g3 b5 31. Ng5 Nxg5 32. Bxg5 Qe6 33. Qf3 Nc8 34. Bf6+ Bxf6 35. Rxg8+ Kh7 36. Re8 Black resigns.

Fischer-Bisguier, U.S. Championship, New York, December 1963

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d6 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 Nc6 13. dxc5 dxc5 14. Nf1 Rd8 15. Qe2 Nh5 16. g3 g6 17. h4 Be6 18. Ne3 f6 19. Nd5 Qb7 20. Nxe7+ Qxe7 21. Nh2 Ng7 22. Ng4 c4 23. Qf3 Bxg4 24. Qxg4 Ne6 25. h5 Kh8 26. Kg2 g5 27. Be3 Nf4+ 28. Kh2 Nd3 29. Bxd3 cxd3 30. Red1 Rd7 31. Rd2 Na5 32. b3 Qd6 33. Rad1 Re8 34. Rxd3 Qxd3 35. Qxd7 Black resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.