Fischer's Queen's Gambit Masterclass

Game six of the 1972 World Championship match is widely regarded as the best game either player produced across the twenty one games they contested in Reykjavik. Fischer, who had spent his career mostly avoiding 1.d4, opened with the queen's pawn against Spassky for what may have been the first time in a serious game between them, and the surprise held: his plan, a slow grip on the queenside and centre in a Queen's Gambit Declined structure, unfolded with almost no wasted moves.

By the middlegame Fischer had won the bishop pair and pushed his queenside majority into a bind that Spassky's pieces could not untangle. The most quoted detail from the game happened after the final move: Spassky, the defending champion, stood and applauded along with the rest of the auditorium, a gesture Fischer later called one of the most touching moments of his career. Spassky resigned after 41.Qf4, his position collapsing on both sides of the board.

The result put Fischer three points clear in the match and effectively decided the destination of the world title. Even players with little sympathy for Fischer's later conduct tend to agree that this game, not any of his more famous attacking wins, is his technical masterpiece.