What actually took place, as they say, was:
20.Nf3?
The capitulation...
20...Bb7 21.Rg6 Nf4!








A magnificent idea. By exchanging the opponent's dark-squared bishop, Fischer deprives White of any further illusions.
22.Bxf4 exf4
At the cost of a deterioration in the central pawn structure, Fischer opens the game and the bishops find their invincible power. It is one more example of his favorite method of transformation of one kind of advantage to another.
23.Rd1 Qe7 24.Re6 Qc5+ 25.Kf1 Rfd8








Fischer is in his element. Intercepting the initiative, he develops offensive potential all over the board with irrepressible energy. First of all he threatens 26... Bd5.
26.Rxd8+ Rxd8 27.Qa4
A hope to simplify the defense by eventual rook exchanges turned out to be in vain.
27...Qc1+ 28.Kf2
Better is 28.Ne1
28...Bf8!
A universal maneuver - it prevents simplifications, (29.Re8?? Bc6) and creates a terrible threat: 29... Bc5+ .
29.b4 Be4!








Black's attack develops itself, and his doubled pawns provide important outposts for his pieces.
30.Re8?
The evidence of hopelessness and confusion. In any case more persistent would be 30.Qb5 so that in the event of 30...Qe3+ 31.Kf1 Rd1+, to be protected by the move 32.Ne1. Alas, at this moment I no longer owned my nerves...
30...Bc6 31.Qxc6
Nothing changes by 31.Rxd8 Bxa4 32.Rxf8+ Kg7.
31...Qxc6 32.Rxd8 Qf6
The rest is clear and simple without need of comment.
33.Rc8 Qe7 34.Kf1 Kh7 35.Nd4 Bg7 36.Nb5 Be5 37.a3 Qd7 38.Ra8 f3 39.gxf3 Bxh2 40.Kg2 Qg7+ 41.Kxh2 Qe5+ 42.Kg1 0-1








In this position the game was adjourned and, certainly, I resigned without resuming play. Perhaps, it is the most bitter game of my life. I felt it sharply at first, then painfully for many years...


On Sunday, January 8, 2023 at 12:22:05 PM UTC-5, vtview...@gmail.com wrote:
> What actually took place, as they say, was:
> 20.Nf3?
> The capitulation...
> 20...Bb7 21.Rg6 Nf4!
> 







> A magnificent idea. By exchanging the opponent's dark-squared bishop, Fischer deprives White of any further illusions.
> 22.Bxf4 exf4
> At the cost of a deterioration in the central pawn structure, Fischer opens the game and the bishops find their invincible power. It is one more example of his favorite method of transformation of one kind of advantage to another.
> 23.Rd1 Qe7 24.Re6 Qc5+ 25.Kf1 Rfd8
> 







> Fischer is in his element. Intercepting the initiative, he develops offensive potential all over the board with irrepressible energy. First of all he threatens 26... Bd5.
> 26.Rxd8+ Rxd8 27.Qa4
> A hope to simplify the defense by eventual rook exchanges turned out to be in vain.
> 27...Qc1+ 28.Kf2
> Better is 28.Ne1
> 28...Bf8!
> A universal maneuver - it prevents simplifications, (29.Re8?? Bc6) and creates a terrible threat: 29... Bc5+ .
> 29.b4 Be4!
> 







> Black's attack develops itself, and his doubled pawns provide important outposts for his pieces.
> 30.Re8?
> The evidence of hopelessness and confusion. In any case more persistent would be 30.Qb5 so that in the event of 30...Qe3+ 31.Kf1 Rd1+, to be protected by the move 32.Ne1. Alas, at this moment I no longer owned my nerves...
> 30...Bc6 31.Qxc6
> Nothing changes by 31.Rxd8 Bxa4 32.Rxf8+ Kg7.
> 31...Qxc6 32.Rxd8 Qf6
> The rest is clear and simple without need of comment.
> 33.Rc8 Qe7 34.Kf1 Kh7 35.Nd4 Bg7 36.Nb5 Be5 37.a3 Qd7 38.Ra8 f3 39.gxf3 Bxh2 40.Kg2 Qg7+ 41.Kxh2 Qe5+ 42.Kg1 0-1
> 







> In this position the game was adjourned and, certainly, I resigned without resuming play. Perhaps, it is the most bitter game of my life. I felt it sharply at first, then painfully for many years...

Some losses can affect some players for a long time.

The closest I came was in what should have been my first win against a master. Having outplayed him in the middlegame I threw away the win in
time pressure, then the draw after the time control. The way to draw such positions had been discussed in one of the few university club sessions I
had missed that season. Luckily I was paired with a master two games later and won. That eased the pain. Erased it, actually.

An acquaintance was playing in the Toronto closed and doing very well with 5.5/6 and five rounds to go. He was easily winning his
current game after a masterly positional piece sacrifice. But Kotov's "dizziness due to success" struck. Having a mate in
three he sacrificed his queen for a mate in two that didn't exist. So good was his position that if his d pawn had been
on d4, he could still have mated via a Ra1-a3-h3 and mate on h8. But with the pawn on d3 he was a tempo short.

He scored no more than a draw or two in the rest of the event, and over the next few months his rating plummeted. But he took a pause
from chess, got promoted at work, and a couple of years later was rated higher than ever.

Tal said that after a bad loss he was not depressed, but was determined that his next game would not be a draw.

William Hyde

> The closest I came was in what should have been my first win against a master. Having outplayed him in the middlegame I threw away the win in
> time pressure, then the draw after the time control. The way to draw such positions had been discussed in one of the few university club sessions I
> had missed that season. Luckily I was paired with a master two games later and won. That eased the pain. Erased it, actually.

I had just lost a game to a 2000 player up in the freezing Vermont mountains [usual excuses] and ventured down south to Nassau St in Princeton and was delighted to see a simul taking place at one end of the street — Magnolia blossoms everywhere. The NY player was a much published IM and he brought along 3 Sicilian titles to sell, so I thought, 'what the hell' and sat down responding c5 to his e4.

Won a pawn in a Pelikan or Sveshnikov variant — and he didn't really know what to do; the other players were beginners and he was spending more time at our table than all the rest together. Things continued well and I messed up his K side and announced mate in 8 [laugh].

He kept asking my name, but I suppressed it, though could not hide the accent, managing only to get out "I am too tall* to be Short." I almost tried a Russian accent but his name was a little Slavish, so skipped that and went and had a straight Stoli in celebration.

Cordially, Phil
*5 feet 15
> An acquaintance was playing in the Toronto closed and doing very well with 5.5/6 and five rounds to go. He was easily winning his
> current game after a masterly positional piece sacrifice. But Kotov's "dizziness due to success" struck. Having a mate in
> three he sacrificed his queen for a mate in two that didn't exist. So good was his position that if his d pawn had been
> on d4, he could still have mated via a Ra1-a3-h3 and mate on h8. But with the pawn on d3 he was a tempo short.
>
> He scored no more than a draw or two in the rest of the event, and over the next few months his rating plummeted. But he took a pause
> from chess, got promoted at work, and a couple of years later was rated higher than ever.
>
> Tal said that after a bad loss he was not depressed, but was determined that his next game would not be a draw.
>
> William Hyde