[Event "Candidates Final"]
[Site "Buenos Aires"]
[Date "1971.??.??"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Fischer, R"]
[Black "Petrosian, T"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Karpov, An"]

{ Sicilian Defense B42
In September, I had the opportunity to take a vacation for a week in New York City. During my stay, I was able to visit the United Nations where I attended a speech by the Secretary General in my role as the Chairman of the International Association of Peace Foundation, and met with Carol Bellamy - the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). I rounded out my "vacation "by annotating US Championship games and spending over twenty hours in our film studios, completing a long-standing and important personal project of mine - the creation of a series of chess videos concerning the best games of Bobby Fischer! Before, we examine one of the fruits of my labors during my week in New York, I must say that I need another vacation! 
I am happy to report that my time in our film studios was well spent, as my friend GM Ron Henley and I filmed three new chess videos about Bobby Fischer (scheduled for release in December 1997). The second and third volumes cover his 1972 and 1992 matches with Boris Spassky respectively, while for the first video, I personally selected games from before Fischer's first match with Spassky - games that I remember making a great impression on me, when I was an up and coming young player.
For many years Petrosian was considered the most difficult player to beat. Petrosian played very solid chess and had a great deal of match experience. It was impressive how Fischer could so easily beat Petrosian with simple methods as we shall see in this game from their Candidates Final match in 1971. } 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. O-O d5 8. c4 { Fischer plays simply. Alternatively, after 8.Nd2 Nf6 9.Qe2, White plays for the attack, but Black has queenside and central chances. } 8... Nf6 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. exd5 exd5 { Petrosian probably didn't like 10...Nxd5 because of 11.Be4 and now 11...Bb7 12.Qb3 is unpleasant, intending Rf1-d1 and Nb1-c3, while 12.Nc3 is also possible.
{
Petrosian thought 10...Qxd5 was best, but after 11.Nc3, White is two tempos ahead and should be able to exploit this. } 11. Nc3 Be7 12. Qa4+ $1 { This is a very unpleasant check. } 12... Qd7 { After 12...Bd7 13.Qc2, White has some pressure, but after 13...0-0 14.Bg5 h6 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Nxd5, chessplayers these days would not be so afraid of having this position with Black - Black has the bishop pair, but Fischer knew Petrosian didn't like to sacrifice pawns, so he believed Petrosian wouldn't even consider this line. } 13. Re1 $1 { Very simple - pinning the bishop on e7. If 13.Bb5 axb5 14.Qxa8 0-0, when Black can continue with Bc8-b7, and d5-d4, when Black is better developed with a strong passed d-pawn, and the White queen is out of play. } 13... Qxa4 { If 13...d4 14.Nb5 0-0 15.Qxd4 axb5 16.Qxd7 Bxd7 17.Rxe7, or 13...0-0? 14.Qxd7 Bxd7 15.Rxe7 and White is winning. } 14. Nxa4 Be6 { The position is almost equal but Fischer shows good technique in this position. } 15. Be3 O-O { If 15...Nd7 16.f4 g6 17.Rac1 0-0 18.Bd4, intending 19.f5 gxf5 20.Bxf5 Bxf5 21.Rxe7, etc. } 16. Bc5 Rfe8 17. Bxe7 Rxe7 18. b4 $1 { Fixing the a-pawn and preparing Na4-c5. } 18... Kf8 { Freeing the pin on the e-file. } 19. Nc5 Bc8 20. f3 { Taking the e4- and g4-squares away from the Black knight. } 20... Rea7 21. Re5 Bd7 { Intending Bd7-b5. } 22. Nxd7+ { Given two exclamation marks by Petrosian. An incredible move - Fischer surrenders his strong knight for Black's bad bishop, but as we shall see - Fischer knew quite well what he was doing! Nowadays all players would consider playing 22.a4 with a big advantage. } 22... Rxd7 23. Rc1 { Threatening Bd3xa6 or Rc1-c6. } 23... Rd6 { Fischer loved the R + B vs R + N endings. } 24. Rc7 Nd7 25. Re2 g6 26. Kf2 h5 { In principle this is bad because after h2-h4, White would eventually get another passed pawn in most endings with g2-g4. If 26...Re8 27.Rxe8+ Kxe8 28.Rc8+ Ke7 29.Ra8 Ne5 30.Bxa6, White has an extra pawn, and most probably nothing will happen for Black, for example: 30...d4 31.Ke2 d3+ 32.Kd2 and White is easily winning. } 27. f4 { Also good is 27.h4. } 27... h4 28. Kf3 f5 29. Ke3 d4+ { After 29...Nf6 30.Kd4 Ne4 31.Rec2 the open file decides the game in White's favor. } 30. Kd2 Nb6 31. Ree7 Nd5 32. Rf7+ Ke8 33. Rb7 Nxb4 { If 33...Nxf4 34.Bc4 winning. } 34. Bc4 { Because after 34...Rc8 35.Rfe7+ Kf8, 36.Rh7 leads to mate by force.
After defeating Petrosian, only the World Champion Spassky was left on Fischer's road to the chess title. } 1-0