Chess
comparing today's champions
with the great champions of the
past. But earlier this year the
most detailed computer study
ever conducted hailed Bobby
Fischer as the best player ever.
On truechess.com, researcher
Charles Sullivan explained how
he ran 12 computing threads
24 hours a day for 15 months
to analyse 18,785 games of
the champions since the first,
Wilhelm Steinitz in 1886. Based
on Rybka and Crafty programs,
he compared the moves chosen
in more than 600,000 positions
with a norm called "average
grandmaster move".
Sullivan found that in his best
year, 1968, Fischer's choices
were better than the average
GM move more than 40 per
cent of the time. Current world
champion Vishy Anand, in his
best year, 2006, was second
with 31 per cent. Vladimir
Kramnik and Vasily Smyslov
interesting battle for second
place." His remark was not
hubris, but that of someone
who knew he was nearing his
peak of chess perfection - and
he only allowed four draws in
his commanding victory.
R Fischer - A Matanovic
Vinkovci, 1968
Ruy Lopez, Chigorin variation
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6
4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0–0 Be7 6 Re1
b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 0–0 9 h3
Nd7 10 d4 Bf6 11 a4 Na5 12
Bc2 Nb6 13 b4 Nac4 14 a5
Nd7 15 Bb3 exd4 16 cxd4 c5
17 Bf4 cxb4 18 Nbd2 d5 19
exd5 Nxa5 20 Bd6 Nxb3 21
Qxb3 Re8 22 Bc7 Rxe1+ 23
Rxe1 Qxc7 24 Re8+ Nf8 25
Qxb4 Be7 26 Rxe7 Qd8 27
Ne5 Ng6 28 Nc6 Qf8 29 Qc5
a5 30 Rc7 Qe8 31 d6 Bd7 32
Ne7+ Kh8 33 d5 a4 34 Nb1
Nf8 35 Na3 f6 36 Rb7 Qh5
37 Nxb5 a3 38 Nxa3 Qd1+ 39
Kh2 Qd2 40 Qe3! Qa5 41 Nc4
Qa6 42 Qb3 Ba4 43 Qb4 Nd7
44 Nb2 1–0
- who sadly passed away this
year, aged 85 - were tied for
third at better than 21 per cent.
Anand is also a distant
second to Fischer when the
research is expanded to cover
the best two-year periods of
the champions. Fischer also
holds a dominating lead over
second-placed Garry Kasparov
in his best five-year spread.
In 1968 at Vinkovci, Croatia,
Fischer commented before the
start that "There will be an