Six Surprising Chess Facts About Bobby Fischer (part five)

1. He had a 50% score against Damiano's Defence
2. He played the Morra Gambit
3. Opponents were more likely to meet Fischer's 1.e4 with 1...e5 than with 1...c5
4. He had a better record as White in double e-pawn openings with the King's Gambit than with 2.Nf3
5. The Exchange Variation of the Spanish was a sideline for Fischer compared with his use of 4.Ba4
Fischer first played the Spanish Exchange against Lajos Portisch at the 1966 Olympiad.
He played it 10 more times in his career, overall scoring 86%, according to ChessBase's 2019 Mega database.
But he played 4.Ba4 102 times, with 27 of those coming after the Portisch game. He scored 83% in those 27 games.
The Spanish Exchange is often thought of as an endgame weapon, but six of Fischer's eight wins with it lasted under 35 moves, and the longest only went 42 moves.
For Fischer the Spanish Exchange was a rich tactical fight, rather as Alexei Shirov, in his Beating The Berlin Defence DVD for ChessBase, emphasises the tactical complexity of the Berlin Wall rather than its positional side.
Here is Fischer's shortest win in the Spanish Exchange.
Fischer - Boris Spassky
Match 1992, game nine
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0
As is well-known, the older masters preferred 5.d4 or 5.Nc3 but Fischer popularised kingside castling. His decision is generally credited as having been inspired by the games of Dutch IM Johan Barendregt. This has been questioned by some, at least on the internet, who rightly point out Fischer could have come up with the idea by himself. However, Fischer specifically names Barendrget in My 60 Memorable Games.
5...f6 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 c5 8.Nb3 Qxd1 9.Rxd1 Bg4
The most popular move in Mega19, although Barendregt's opponents tended to prefer 9...Bd7 or 9...Bd6. The latter was Portisch's choice against Fischer.
10.f3 Be6 11.Nc3 Bd6 12.Be3 b6 13.a4 0-0-0 14.a5 Kb7
Normal, but Stockfish10 and Komodo10 prefer giving up the bishop-pair with 14...Bxb3 15.cxb3 b5.

Fischer to make his 15th move

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15.e5!
First played, it seems, in Andras Adorjan - Borislav Ivkov, Skopje 1976 (½–½,  21 moves).
15...Be7
If 15...fxe5, then 16.axb6 Bxb3 (best, as 16...cxb6 runs into 17.Ne4, eg 17...Be7 18.Rxd8 Bxd8 19.Nbxc5+! etc) 17.bxc7 Bxc7 18.Rxd8 Bxd8 19.cxb3, when Black cannot defend all his weaknesses.
16.Rxd8 Bxd8 17.Ne4
This is given as a novelty by Curt Hansen in Mega19, despite appearing in five earlier games in the same database.
17...Kc6?
But this really is a novelty, and it effectively loses on the spot. White is just a little better after 17...Bxb3 18.cxb3 Be7.
18.axb6 cxb6 19.Nbxc5! Bc8
Or 19...bxc5 20.Rxa6+ etc.
20.Nxa6 fxe5 21.Nb4+ 1-0
Black is losing more material, or getting mated, eg 21...Kb5 22.Nc3+ Kc4 (22...Kxb4 23.Ra4#) 23.Nbd5 and 24.b3#.