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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
m a t c h ) .
ACTIVE BISHOP vs. PASSIVE BISHOP
In this position White has a well posted bishop in the center which is free to
maneuver over much of the board. Black’s bishop, in contrast, is “biting on
granite”. It has no scope because of the white pawn chain: e4, f3, g4. If Black
were to try the move ... h7-h5, to break open the prison bars, White would
simply respond with h2-h3, so that if Black exchanged pawns on g4 White
could recapture with the h-pawn, thereby keeping the prison intact. So
although White’s bishop and Black’s bishop have the same material value,
Black’s piece is useless to him. White already has the unstoppable threat of
Bd5-b7, picking up the a6 pawn.
1 ... Ke7-d6
2 Bd5-b7
The attempt to trap Black’s bishop by 2 h2-h4 (threatening 3 h4-h5) does not
work and, in fact, would be a serious mistake because it allows 2 ... h7-h5
under favorable circumstances White would no longer have the reply h2-h3 at
his disposal.
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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
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