The Games of Boris Spassky – Part V – Fischer-Spassky 1992 Game 4

The 1992 Fischer-Spassky match in UN-sanctioned Yugoslavia was highly consequential to the sport of chess.  At five million dollars with the winner taking two-thirds, the purse was was astronomical.  No chess event in history has offered anything close to this prize, and it rivalled that of the best-paid sportsmen of the time:  Bobby Bonilla had recently signed for six million dollars a year to become baseball’s richest player, and Michael Jordan’s salary during his second championship season was $3.25 million.

More importantly, Fischer’s clock revolutionized gameplay with the abolishment of adjournments.

In the 20th century standard time control was 150 minutes for the first 40 moves; afterwards, play continued until one player sealed his move. The game would be adjourned, clocks stopped, and play would resume another day with the unsealing of the move. Multiple adjournments for a single game were uncommon but happened during World Championship matches.  There was no prohibition on overnight analytic assistance, so it was common for Soviet players in high-level tournaments to have a small team who would analyze into the night; the following day the analysis would be reviewed by the player who would then have an outside advantage in the adjourned session.  This state of affairs irked Fischer no end.

For the 1992 match, 111 minutes were allotted for the first 40 minutes; an additional 40 minutes were added after the 40th move, 30 after the 60th move, and 20 minutes for each additional twenty moves.  The new clock provided a one-minute time increment added with each move played; effectively, the players still had 150 minutes for 40 moves but with the increment the nature of time trouble was transformed and a game concluded in one sitting of indefinite length.

Spassky, having lost the first game, struck back in game four to even the match at one apiece in a race to ten wins.  After an early exchange of queens Fischer struck out on the kingside; Spassky’s maneuvering on the queenside led to a decisive exchange sacrifice on the twentieth move.

The post-game press conference saw Fischer state “But that’s chess you know.
One day you give a lesson, the next day your opponent gives you a lesson.”