Bobby Fischer's most instructive games of Chess 1956-1962
What you'll learn
- Be able to see the real Beth Harmon depicted in Netflix series Queen's Gambit - Beth was largely modelled on Bobby Fischer
- Be able to get more empathy for Fischer tactics and combinations
- Be able to leverage Fischer's opening repertoire with 1.e4
- Be able to put a "Fischer hat" on when those positions Fischer excelled at come in your own games
- Be able to see how Fischer took advantage of downsides of Opponent positions
- Be able to use the Kings Indian Attack system with White
- Be able to see a high number of Fischer wins - Note Tal wins reserved for another course on Tal :)
- Be able to see amazing resources uncovered by the latest engine technology such as Stockfish Neural Network
- Be able to pick up opening knowledge, middlegame tactics and strategy and endgame knowledge
- Be able to appreciate the Nd5 springboard in the Ruy Lopez which was mentioned in Netflix Queen's Gambit
- Be able to know more of Fischer's games beyond My 60 memorable games and the Fischer Spassky 1972 match
- Be able to see why many Fischer's opponents lost including Tal when they had Knight vs Fischer Bishop endgames
- Be able to understand more Bobby Fischer's chess openings
- Be able to see and appreciate the influence of Bobby Fischer's opening repertoire on Garry Kasparov with the Najdorf and King's Indian in particular
Requirements
- Knows the basic rules of chess and how the pieces move
Description
Learn about Bobby Fischer's evolving opening repertoire, tactics, and common strategies
In this course, Kingscrusher goes over Bobby Fischer's earlier career from when Fischer became very strong which was at the time of the "Game of the Century" game, and examines some of the more fun and instructive games Fischer played.
The course structures itself on Fischer's major tournaments during the time period 1956-1962 and tries to extract as much "instructive juice" from each and every game. The course also tracks historically any changes in Fischer's opening repertoire, and depth of tactics, strategy, and endgame technique.
Fischer has some of the most instructive games of any World chess champion and was in an era where Opening theory and Chess Engines were not so highly evolved. So quite often players were improvising more and the actual battle starting early in the games for instructive moments to learn from. Fischer's accuracy, when checked with modern engines, is often without any major errors - and for this reason, perhaps the Soviet Chess Grandmasters often referred to Fischer as a computer! This should be taken as a complement for Fischer's accuracy and determination to win every game. On certain statistical polls Fischer comes up as one of the most accurate world chess champions especially when factoring in the complexity of positions, comes even ahead of Capablanca for overall engine-like accuracy.
Fischer's Opening systems
Bobby Fischer had a specific system early on in his career which he used - The King's Indian Attack. This seemed to serve him very well and helped him win his first US Chess Championship - the first of many US championships he would win. Fischer gradually started to become more theoretical with 1.e4 and go into various specific variations of the Sicilian defence, Caro-Kann or other defences without resorting to the Kings Indian attack setup. In particular the Russians feared Fischer so much on the White side of a Sicilian defence with Bc4 that they would often use the Caro-Kann instead of the Sicilian defence against him!.
With Black, the Sicilian Najdorf vs 1.e4 is still very popular at the modern Grandmaster level, and Fischer's handling of the Sicilian Defence is highly instructive.
With black against 1.d4 Fischer used quite often the King's Indian defence but was also playing in this period the Nimzo indian defence and other systems as well.
Fischer's Middlegame tactics and strategies
Regarded as a "computer" by the Russians, Fischer's tactics are sometimes absolutely brilliant and "computer-like!". So much so that even grandmasters commentating expect Fischer to resign on occasion only for Fischer's opponent to resign abruptly a few moves later like in a classic game vs Byrne. Fischer is able to see the more "theoretical downsides" that are extremely subtle and often by force bring these to the surface to expose those downsides in reality.
Fischer's endgames
Fischer's will to win gives us great exposure in how to squeeze out wins from even very small advantages. Fischer would sometimes play out games across multiple adjournments even against feel US players like Sherwin when playing abroad. Fischer would basically take no prisoners and rarely offer draws. In trying to extract the maximum result from each and every game, we get to witness often highly instructive endgame technique, and especially where Fischer was renowned such as in Bishop vs Knight endgames. Many of Fischer's opponents make instructive blunders in seemingly innocuous rook and pawn endgames where Fischer's finesse and focus finds the narrow path to victories quite frequently even in seemingly drawish rook and pawn endgames.
Who this course is for:
- Beginner to intermediate players
Instructor
![Tryfon Gavriel](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 64 64"%3E%3C/svg%3E){kind=avatar}
- 4.6 Instructor Rating
- 2,213 Reviews
- 10,347 Students
- 28 Courses
Tryfon Gavriel, also known as "Kingscrusher" on the Internet. I am a FIDE Candidate Master (CM), and British Regional Chess Master, and run a popular Youtube channel for many years with over 114k+ Subs as of 2021 and a Silver Button Award.
I have done many shows on commercial chess servers. I am also the Webmaster of the correspondence-style chess server Chessworld which emphasizes game quality and research.
Playing experience
Over 35 years of playing activity both online and offline. Peak ICC blitz rating of 2625 (18-Jun-1999). Peak ICC 5 min auto-pairing of 2383 (29-Jun 2012). ECF Grading peak classical: 212 (A) ECF. Peak Rapid rating: 217 (C).
Lichess marathon top 10 finishers in 4 marathons so far. Top 50 finisher in 7 marathons so far. Top 100 finisher in 4 marathons so far. And top 500 in 1 marathon so far. Won quite a few tournaments at lichess - in fact giving me 3rd rank overall behind Lance5500 and papasi in a recent detailed statistical blog analysis titled "Lichess Marathon Statistics".
One of my earliest Over-the-board achievements in Chess was winning the Lloyds Under 18 national UK tournament in 1989. My trophy was awarded to me by Grandmaster and Ph.D. Mathematician Dr John Nunn.
Teaching experience
I have done teaching in Schools and also have done teaching online with several Lichess students on a regular basis, and have a very good coaching rating at lichess.
Other experiences
Played twice in the main British Chess championship. Many of my Youtube viewers claim big rating increases after watching my videos.
Best skills
I particularly love attacking chess, chess tactics, and combinations, and it is probably no accident that my "Complete Guide to Chess Tactics" has been a best-seller shortly after its release here at Udemy.
In general, I will try and give you greater enthusiasm for the game and in particular the dynamic attacking, aggressive tactical aspects of playing chess. My favorite heroes are mainly Attacking style tactical players: Paul Morphy, Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Tal, Bobby Fischer, and Garry Kasparov. if you want to be a dynamic aggressive attacking style player, I may be able to encourage you and find you relevant resources on that path. The dynamic aggressive attacking players were particularly strong tactically and would often trade off pawn structure neatness and material to try and checkmate the opponent's kings. Checkmate does win the game :) They were masters of finishing combinations naturally as they sought to reduce the king's safety of the opponent in various ways including bringing the King out for often beautiful mating combinations.
Chess Openings
In terms of concrete openings to make use of potentially teaching here at Udemy through courses. I like Solid openings on such as the London System. I also like provocative openings like the Knight's Tango systems to encourage weaknesses from opponents. I am also at faster time controls especially, particularly fond of aggressive openings and gambits. For example, the Smith-Morra Gambit vs the Sicilian Defence, and other gambits can be used aggressively even with the black pieces such as the Albin Counter Gambit. Gambits vary of course in soundness and it is important to teach what "ticks many boxes" for use in various time controls. Also, I like surprising opponents with openings such as the Nimzo-Larsen attack, the King's Indian Attack, The London System, and Queen's Knight attack system 1. Nc3, all of which I have courses for here at Udemy.
In the search for the ideal courses to provide you, I like to search within myself for my core strengths and passions within the passion of Chess.
I truly hope you enjoy my courses and they improve your chess and your enjoyment of chess generally - and life generally :)