Here is a famous game played between Bobby Fischer and Samuel Reshevsky in 1958 at the US Championship. When reviewing this game, I recommend that you have a chessboard and that you need to know algebraic chess notation to understand these moves. Enjoy.

1. e4 As Bobby Fischer once said, “1.e4 is better by proof”

1. c5 This is the Sicilian Defense. Black tries to control the d4 square and prevents White from achieving the ideal pawn center.

2. Nf3 The most common follow-up move is 1…. c5. White prepares to play d4 and then exchange one of his central pawns for an active position.

2. Nc6 Black plays this move to save d5 for one tempo instead of two. Normally he would play d6 as the second move and then advance the pawn to d5, now he will play d5 later and save a move.

3. d4 White intends to exchange this d4 pawn for an active position with his knight on d4.

3. cxd4 There really isn’t a good alternative here.

4. Nxd4 Now White has exchanged one of his central pawns for an active position.

4. g6 This is the Accelerated Dragon Variation. Black prepares to fianchetto his bishop on g7, where it will breathe fire down the a1-h8 diagonal.

5. Be3 Developing a bishop to add another layer of protection to the knight.

5. Nf6 Black forces White to immediately play Nc3 to defend his e4-pawn so that he doesn’t have time to play c4 and enter a Maroczy Bind.

6. Nc3 White defends the pawn.

6. Bg7 Black fianchettan the bishop on g7.

7. Bc4 White blocks the d5 square so that Black cannot play d5 and instantly activate his pieces in short order.

7. 0-0 Black simply castles and saves his king.

8. Bb3 White sets a trap by tempting Black to play Na5, in which case he would be completely lost after a surprising tactical sequence while simultaneously moving his bishop back to a more stable safe square.

8. Na5 Black then brazenly falls into this trap because of the temptation to cut off White’s powerful light-squared bishop. However, he won’t have time to do this and will now see a brilliant tactical sequence from Fischer that secures him a winning lead.

9. e5 chases Black’s knight to the terrible e8 square which disconnects Black’s queen and rook and occupies the only safe square Black had to place his queen on…

9. Ne8 There was no other safe square to go to, but now…

10. Bxf7+!! This brilliant sacrifice will soon win White the enemy queen.

10. Kxf7 The only decent response here. Rxf7 leads to Ne6 where White wins the queen.

11. Ne6! But this comes anyway. Black cannot take the knight with the king because it would be checkmate after Kxe6 Qd5+ Kf5 g4+ Kxg4 Re1+ Kh4 (Kf5 Rg5#) Bg5+ Kh5 Qd1+ Kf3 Qxf3#.

11. dxe6 The only way to get something for the queen besides the bishop.

12. Qxd8 Black can resign here. His king is in a terrible place, he is behind in development, his pieces are placed on terrible squares and he is materially down. However, Reshevsky continues to play.

12. Nc6 Repositioning the knight on a better square and attacking the queen at the same time.

13. Qd2 However, this is easily resolved.

13. Bxe5 Win a pawn but Black is still lost here.

14. 0-0 Why not?

14. Nd6 Again repositioning one of his bad pieces.

15. Bf4 When you are up on material trade pieces but not pawns.

15. Nc4 Trying to drive away the defender of the bishop.

16. Qe2 But now, instead of the bishop, White will capture the knight.

16. Bxf4 Black exchanges.

17. Qxc4 White recovers the lost material.

17. Kg7 Gets out of the pin. It’s never good to stay on a pin as that’s where tactics come from.

18. Ne4 White centralizes his knights.

18. Bc7 Black relocates his knight to a better square. Bishops generally like to be away from the action.

19. Nc5 Threatens the pawn on e6.

19. Rf6 Which is now defended by Black.

20. c3 Reduces the effectiveness of a subsequent Be5.

20. e5 Black opens the diagonal for the light-squared bishop. The only thing he can do in this position is improve the quality of his pieces and hope that a tactical sequence will emerge.

21. Rad1 White occupies the open e-file with his rook. Rooks like to be in open files.

21. Nd8 Black is trying to reposition the knight on the d6 square via a d8-f7-d6 route where it will be more active.

22. Nd7 However, White will have none of this and repositions his own knight on a more active square.

22.Rc6 Attacks the queen and forces her to move.

23. Qh4 Now White is the one making the threats, attacking the e7-pawn.

23. Re6 Protect the pawn.

24. Nc5 attacks the rook. Initiative is a dynamic advantage, so you must maintain it through continual threats.

24. Rf6 The only way to keep the e7-pawn protected.

25. Ne4 Continue harassing the enemy rook.

25. Rf4 Attacks the queen but now loses the pawn. If Re6 again, Ng5 wins more material for White.

26. Qxe7+ White captures the pawn with a check.

26. Rf7 Defend the king and attack the queen.

27. Qa3 White places the queen in a safe place, away from further attacks.

27. Nc6 The time when the knight would have been good on d6 is long gone, so it returns to c6, where it is more active.

28. Nd6 White is exchanging pieces.

28. Bxd6 Black is forced to accept.

29. Rxd6 White recovers with the rook by putting it in a more active position, possibly planning to double his rooks.

29. Bf5 Black finally finishes his development, 29 enters the game.

30. b4 White is going to chase the knight.

30. Rf8 Preparing to play Rd8 where after the rook exchange, the black knight will not end up on d8.

31. b5 Forcing the knight to move.

31. Nd8 There aren’t exactly many good squares to move the knight to.

32. Rd5 Attacking the now unprotected e5-pawn.

32. Nf7 Which is defended by Black.

33.Rc5 Threatening to move the rook to the 7th rank.

33. a6 Threatening to take a pawn and buy a tempo by attacking the queen.

34. b6 Fischer won’t have any of that and just advances the pawn.

34. Be4 Protect the pawn on b7.

35. Re1 Moves the rook to a more active file with tempo.

35. Bc6 Prevents the rook from reaching the seventh rank.

36.Rxc6!! Black will recover and then White will have a powerful passed b-pawn.

36. bxc6 Black cannot afford to lose more material.

37. b7 You have to push the passed pawns.

37. Rab8 The only move that gets the rook out of harm’s way and prevents the b-pawn from advancing.

38. Qxa7 White is happy to win free pawns. This also protects your pawn.

38. Nd8 Black desperately wants to get rid of that pawn as it is completely blocking his pieces.

39. Rb1 Fischer just defends.

39.Rf7 Adds the final attacker to the pawn that Fischer can no longer defend.

40. h3 An important luft or escape for the king against a back-rank checkmate.

40. Rfxb7 Black finally gets rid of that pawn.

41. Rxb7 White captures the rook.

42. Rxb7 Black gets the rook back.

43. Qa8 And now White is about to win another piece. Note that the move h3 proved to be very important as otherwise Black could now checkmate on b1 with the rook.

I hope you enjoyed this game and got something out of it. This trap that Bobby Fischer used is very useful to know if you see the Accelerated Dragon a lot. Good luck in your chess improvement!