ChessBase 12 Printout, Douglas Griffin, 05/01/2018
C36 White. 5.c3 e7 In this way the
Spassky,B
Bronstein,D
27th USSR Championship final (16)
[Spassky]
Spassky's annotations to this game
appear in the Soviet Chess Yearbook
("Shakhmatnyi Ezhegodnik, 1960").
They are translated here from the
original Russian by Douglas Griffin.
1.e4 e5 2.f4 Grandmaster Bronstein
long ago expressed the idea that the
King's Gambit is no worse than other
openings, for example the Spanish
Game. Naturally the question is asked:
why then is the King's Gambit rarely
encountered? Perhaps it has been
refuted? No, to refute the King's
Gambit is impossible, as is the case
with any other opening founded on a
healthy positional basis. The
explanation for the lack of popularity of
this ancient opening evidently consists
in the fact that it is well studied and
many chessplayers do not wish to
determine the position so quickly,
preferring therefore a slow
manoeuvring game characteristic of,
say, the Spanish Game. Moreover, it
must be added that in our day
defensive technique is still more
advanced. Therefore to obtain an
attack (for the sake of which the King's
Gambit was employed in the past) turns (which Black weakened with his
out to be very difficult. It is not by
chance that the chessplayer employing
the King's Gambit, often obtain only a
minimal advantage... in the endgame.
It seems to me that in the King's
Gambit Black must play very accurately
in order to equalise the game. ef4
3.f3 d5 4.ed5 d6 Black defends
the f4-pawn, which in a number of
cases proves to be very unpleasant for
1
black knight brings the d5-square under
control and in some cases can reliably
defend the f4-pawn my means of ...
e7-g6. In his time Steinitz often
carried out this idea. 6.d4 0-0 7.d3
d7 8.0-0 h6 Probably, Bronstein
feared the move 9.g5 and therefore
prevented this possibility. However, the
move in the game permits White with
the aid of a pawn-sacrifice to exploit the
weakening of Black's king's flank.
[ Stronger was 8...f6
. For example: 9.e5 ed5
10.d5 d5 11.h5 g6 12.h6
f6 with a good game for Black. ]
9.e4 A move typical of such
situations. White sacrifices a pawn, but
in return significantly activates his
forces. d5 10.c4 e3 11.e3 fe3
12.c5 e7 Diagram
[ If 12...f4 , then 13.g3 f5 ( or
13...g5 14.fg5 hg5 15.h5
, winning ) 14.c3 g5 15.h4 e7
16.d5 with an attack for the
sacrificed pawn. ]
(Diagram)
13.c2 This outwardly simple move
proved to be the most difficult in the
game. White intends a plan involving
the exploitation of the diagonal b1-h7
careless 8th move) for the creation of
threats to the enemy king. e8
Black's situation is already joyless,
since the threat of 14.d3 is very
unpleasant.
[ Possibly, more chances of defence
were given by the continuation
13...f6 14.d3 e4 15.e4 g6
16.e3 g7 , although in this case
too Black's position is worse. ]
ChessBase 12 Printout, Douglas Griffin, 05/01/2018
a b c d e f g h
8 8
7 7
6 6
5 5
4 4
3 3
2 2
1 1
a b c d e f g h
14.d3 e2 Black strives to deflect the
white  from the diagonal b1-h7.
However, White is not obliged to take
the pawn and now initiates a
combination, as a result of which the
enemy  falls into a dangerous
situation.
[ In place of 14...e2 Black can play
more cautiously, thus: 14...f8
. In this case I intended to continue
15.e5 , and if e6 then 16.ae1
with a formidable attack. ]
15.d6 When I made this move, I was
quite aware that from the point of 'desk'
analysis it is not the strongest.
[ The most natural reply for White
appeared to be 15.f2 , retaining all
the advantages of the position. ]
[ What then provoked White to play
15.d6 ?
First of all, this move, irrespective of
whether it is good or bad, appealed to
me in its idea: White totally ignores
the 'sorry' threat of the enemy pawn
to win the worthless rook at f1.
Secondly, White immediately exploits
(how effectively, will be seen below)
the overcrowding of the pieces in the
centre to deliver a blow to the
opponent's king's flank.
2
Thirdly (a psychological factor), Black,
after the best continuation, must
direct his king to the centre. However,
it seemed to me that such a
continuation is not in the 'spirit' of
Bronstein, - who did not like to
wander with his king - and that my
opponent would try to conduct the
defence in another way.
Fourthly (a sporting factor) for Black
there remained all of 20 minutes for
26 moves.
Besides, account must be taken of
the unpleasant psychological effect of
such a move. Indeed, after the game
Bronstein said approximately the
following to me: "Well, of course, your
position in the tournament is not so
great. Clearly, you could permit
yourself to play in such a way. But
what was I to make of this?" ]
15...f8 Diagram
[ The best continuation for Black was
15...d6 16.h7 f8 17.cd6 ef1
18.f1 cd6 19.h8 e7 20.e1
e5 21.g7 g8 22.h6 b6
23.h1 e6 24.de5 . Despite the
fact that the opponent's king is in the
centre, it is not easy to attack, since
as well as having an extra exchange,
Black has pieces that are placed
sufficiently actively to conduct a
succesful defence. ]
[ After 15...f8 , however, Black
should lose. ]
(Diagram)
16.f7! ef1 17.f1 f5 Relatively
the best continuation.
[ Losing immediately is 17...f7
in view of 18.e5 g8 19.h7
h7 20.b3 , etc. ]
[ Nor does 17...d5 help on account
ChessBase 12 Printout, Douglas Griffin, 05/01/2018 3

a b c d e f g h a b c d e f g h

8 8 8 8

7 7 7 7

6 6 6 6

5 5 5 5

4 4 4 4

3 3 3 3

2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1

a b c d e f g h a b c d e f g h

of 18.b3 f7 19.f7 f7 20.c4

g6 21.g8! , and Black is helpless
against the threats of 22.e5 or 22.
h4. For example: f6 22.h4
h4 ( if 22...g5 , then 23.d5
h4 24.f4 g4 25.g3 h3
26.g2# mate ) 23.f7 h7 24.e8
, and Black, in view of the pinned
state of his pieces, must lose. ]
18.f5 d7 With the help of a piece
sacrifice Black has managed to gain
some time for defence. However,
despite this, matters are still very bad
for him in view of the weakened king's
flank. 19.f4
[ Also good was 19.d3 . ]
19...f6 20.3e5 e7 21.b3 e5
[ If 21...e6 , then 22.g4 . ]
22.e5 h7 23.e4 Diagram

(Diagram)

Black resigned.
On any move by Black there follows 24.
f8, etc.
1-0