Robert Eugene Byrne vs Bobby Fischer – “The Brilliancy Prize” – US Championship 1963

Robert Eugene Byrne vs Robert James Fischer. This 21-move game achieved the “Brilliancy Prize” at the US Championship in 1963. [Event "US Ch."] [Site "-"] [Date "1963.12.18"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "3"] [Result "0-1"] [White "Robert Eugene Byrne"] [Black "Robert James Fischer"] [ECO "E60"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "42"] 1. d4 {Notes from various sources.} Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 c6 4. Bg2 d5 5. cxd5 {5.Qb3 maintains more tension. — Fischer} cxd5 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. e3 OO 8. Nge2 Nc6 9. OO b6 10. b3 {It’s hard for either side to introduce an imbalance into this essentially symmetrical variation. Deadeye equality also ensues afer 10.Nf4 e6 11.b3 Ba6 12.Re1 Rc8 13.Ba3 Re8 14.Rc1 (Stahlberg-Flohr, Kemeri 1937) — Fischer} Ba6 11. Ba3 {After White’s 11th move I should adjudicate his position as slightly superior, and at worst completely safe. To turn this into a mating position in eleven more moves is more witchcraft than chess! Quite honestly, I do not see the man who can stop Bobby at this time. — KF Kirby, South African Chess Quarterly} Re8 12. Qd2 e5 {! I was a bit worried about weakening my QP, but felt that the tremendous activity obtained by my minor pieces would permit White no time to exploit it. 12…e6 would probably lead to a draw. — Fischer} 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Rfd1 {“Add another to those melancholy case histories entitled: The Wrong Rook.” — Fischer ~ “This is very much a case of ‘the wrong rook’. One can understand Byrne’s desire to break the pin on the e2 …