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1994-06-13
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Evans On Chess. April 8, 1994. Copyright by GM Larry Evans
ENDURING ERRORS
Chess books are not perfect. It's amazing how often the same errors endure no
matter how often a reprint or new edition comes out.
Alas, the author isn't always around to make corrections; each new generation
has to stumble over the same old pitfalls. Yet it's not a total loss, as one
reader pointed out, because some discarded gambits are revived in the
process.
But a misprint in the score of a game is exasperating, and sometimes we just
have to guess at a move. A typo still reverberating in world circles can be
found in game 17 of Bobby Fischer's MY 60 MEMORABLE GAMES, a classic
published in 1969 that had many printings. I wrote introductions to each
game, including three of his losses, and still hear from alert readers how
Fischer missed a win against Mikhail Tal in Yugoslavia in 1959.
The book gives the final moves as 50...Ba1 51 a4 b2 and Black wins. This is
faulty because 50...Ba1?? 51 Rc8! Kb7 52 Rxc3 b2 53 Rb3 turns the tables and
wins for Fischer. Readers have no way of knowing that the book omits a move.
The actual finale was 50...Kc7! 51 Rb5 Ba1 52 a4 b2! and White resigned,
since 53 Kxc3 b1/Q wins (see score below).
Although I pointed this one out years ago in my Chess Life column, error is
passed from hand to hand like the olympic torch. It was transported into THE
GAMES OF ROBERT J. FISCHER (#645) by O'Connell and Wade in 1972.
Even the experts were stumped. The late B.H. Wood, a noted British chess
journalist, also was unaware of the typo (though he weighed the possibility)
when he devoted an entire article to how Fischer blew it. Wood speculated:
"Even at 16, could Bobby Fischer overlook such an obvious move
and throw away a game he could have won by a two-move combination?
Did he work on the book as assiduously as we have all assumed?
Or (whisper it not in Gath) was the book ghosted? Could a world
champion err, first in play and then in calm armchair analysis,
quite so mightily? Your guess is as good as mine."
When something just doesn't make sense, it's safe to suspect a typo. Here's
the correct score in full.
White: BOBBY FISCHER Black: MIKHAIL TAL Sicilian Defense Yugoslavia, 1959 1
e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bc4 e6 7 Bb3 b5 8 f4 b4 9 Na4
Nxe4 10 0-0 g6 11 f5! gxf5 12 Nxf5 Rg8 13 Bd5! Ra7 14 Bxe4 exf5 15 Bxf5 Re7
16 Bxc8 Qxc8 17 Bf4? Qc6 18 Qf3 Qxa4 19 Bxd6 Qc6! 20 Bxb8 Qb6 21 Kh1 Qxb8 22
Qc6 Rd7 23 Rae1 Be7 24 Rxf7 Kxf7 25 Qe6 Kf8 26 Qxd7 Qd6 27 Qb7 Rg6 28 c3 a5
29 Qc8 Kg7 30 Qc4 Bd8 31 cxb4 axb4 32 g3? Qc6 33 Re4 Qxc4 34 Rxc4 Rb6 35 Kg2
Kf6 36 Kf3 Ke5 37 Ke3 Bg5 38 Ke2 Kd5 39 Kd3 Bf6 40 Rc2 Be5 41 Re2 Rf6 42 Rc2
Rf3 43 Ke2 Rf7 44 Kd3 Bd4 45 a3 b3 46 Rc8 Bxb2 47 Rd8 Kc6 48 Rb8 Rf3 49 Kc4
Rc3 50 Kb4 Kc7! (move omitted) 51 Rb5 Ba1 52 a4 b2! White Resigns