Chessville Reviews - My Chess Battles with Bobby Fischer: Vols. 1 & 2 - by Pal Benko

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Reviewed by Michael Jeffreys

by Pal Benko

ChessonDVD.com

$23.95

1 DVD Disc (150 mins.)

Eight Games against a Legend

“I had seen the headlines already that was going to be published all over how I beat Bobby Fischer with a piece sacrifice...” – Pal Benko

When I originally started buying chess videos over a decade ago, I had no idea they would eventually become “obsolete.” Not the content mind you, but the medium itself! Video tape has now been almost completely replaced by digital media, i.e., DVD.

A company on the internet called ChessOnDVD offers over a hundred chess videos for sale that have been transferred over to DVD format, including the popular Foxy Chess Openings series. The benefits of DVD are manifold:

     1. They take up less space.
     2. You can watch them on your computer—obviously this is not possible with a VHS cassette.
     3. VHS tape degrades over time, whereas a DVD retains most of its original quality.

Yep, DVDs are currently the way to go (of course, until the next generation for storing media comes along!) However, before we get into my review proper, I want to tell you why this particular DVD by Benko was of interest to me.

It all started when I received a copy of Curacao 1962 by Jan Timman for review. As I was going through the games I came across Fischer-Benko in round 22. Benko, playing the black side of a French, sacs a knight to obtain serious threats against Fischer’s king. Here’s the game:

Fischer, Robert James - Benko, Pal
Candidates Tournament Curaçao (22), 14.06.1962

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.dxc5 Bxc5 7.Qg4 0–0 8.Bd3 f5 9.Qh3 Bxg1 10.Rxg1 Nc5 11.Bd2 Nc6 12.Nb5 Qb6 13.0–0–0 Bd7 14.Nd6 Na4 15.Bb5 Nd4 16.Be3

16…Ne2+! 17.Bxe2 Qxb2+ 18.Kd2 Qb4+ 19.Kc1 And here Benko could have made a draw, but he knows he has a strong attack and so goes for the full point: 19…Nc3 20.Rde1 Nxa2+ 21.Kd1 Nc3+ 22.Kc1 d4 23.Bf2 Rfc8 24.Bd3 Na2+ 25.Kd1 Nc3+ 26.Kc1 Rc5 and now take a look at this position:

White’s king has some big problems and it’s not clear how he will survive. However, Benko was in his usual time trouble whereas Fischer kept his cool and found the best move: 27.Qh4 The point of this move to protect the bishop on f2. Otherwise, bad things could happen, like this: 27.g4 Ra5 28.Kd2 Ne4+ 29.Ke2 Qd2+ 30.Kf3 Qxf2#

The game continued 27…Ra5 28.Kd2! Now that the bishop on f2 is guarded, Black has no useful discoveries. However, Benko now cracks under the pressure and instead of playing 28…Bc6!, which would have kept the attack going, he panicked and played the disastrous 28…h6? And seemly out of nowhere the tables completely turn: 29.g4! fxg4 30.Rxg4 Kh8 and now Fischer delivers the death blow:

31.Qxh6+! (and it’s mate next move.) 1–0

Although I don’t know Benko personally, I felt terrible for him. How devastated must he have felt to have been so close to defeating the great Bobby Fischer with the black pieces, even spurning a draw to go for the win, only to see it all blow-up in his face.

I was curious to hear in his own words his reaction to the loss, so I opened up a copy of Pal Benko, My Life, Games and Compositions by Benko and Silman. To my surprise, the game was nowhere to be found! Yes, there were several of his other games with Fischer, but not this one.

Not one to give up so easily, I remembered two video tapes that Benko had put out several years ago on his games with Fischer. So I went to the internet, did a search, and came across My Chess Battles with Bobby Fischer Vols. 1 & 2. Sure enough, the game in question was on there! After receiving a copy, I popped the DVD into my player, sat back, and watched the game from start to finish with the Hungarian accented Benko as my personal guide.

Trust me, just clicking through a game in a database or reading through it from a book does not even come close to comparing to having one of the players actually take you through it. Here is a screen shot of Benko talking to show you what he looks like:

And here is the final position from the historic game Fischer-Benko, Rd. 22, Curaçao, 1962:

And this is what Benko had to say as he showed the final move:

Well, it was a real heartbreak for me. At anytime I could make a draw, but it looks like I was going to win this by attack, but instead I get mated. It was a surprising outcome. Fischer came with the double check and so I get mated because I commit a tactical mistake in time pressure. And before I did not repeat moves just to gain time because I had seen the headlines already that was going to be published all over how I beat Bobby Fischer with a piece sacrifice, with a great attack. But it wasn’t the case this time.

I’ve bolded what to me is the most heartbreaking sentence. You can just imagine him sitting there attacking Fischer’s king, while thinking to himself how the game was going to be published around the world. Then suddenly, like a slap in the face from out of nowhere, he feels the burning pain of defeat envelop him as Fischer picks up his queen to take the h6 pawn.

Luckily for Benko, there were other games against Fischer. In fact, according to my Chessbase database, they played an astounding 19 times! This was over a span of eight years (1958-1966) with Benko winning three games, drawing seven, and losing nine.

Here are the eight that appear on the DVD:

Benko-Fischer, Portoroz Interzonal 1958
Benko-Fischer, Candidates Tournament 1959
Benko-Fischer, Buenos Aires 1960
Fischer-Benko, US Championship 1959
Benko-Fischer, Candidates Tournament 1962
Fischer-Benko, Candidates Tournament 1962
Fischer-Benko, Candidates Tournament 1962
Benko-Fischer, US Championship 1966

And here is a quick break down of the pros and cons of this DVD:

Pros

As I mentioned above, there is nothing like having the player himself take you through his own games. Not only do you get to see many of the side variations, of “what could have happened,” but even more importantly you get a feel for the player’s thought process as the game was going on. Like when Benko talks about being in time pressure or when he could have taken a draw, but chose not to, etc.
The games are very instructive and give you a “snapshot” of the state of chess theory of the French, King’s Indian and Sicilian defenses, as well as several other openings during the late 1950s to mid-1960s.
Benko also sets up the games by sharing interesting stories about the players or what was going on at the tournament away from the board. For example, just before going over his game with Fischer from round one of the 1966 US Championship, he shares two interesting facts: this was the only game he ever lost against Fischer with the White pieces (!), and that at the time he had no way of knowing that this would be the last time he would ever play Bobby.
For under 25 bucks, you get a full 2 ½ hours of material—an excellent value!

Cons

As you can see from the screen shot of the board, this is older “video” technology from several years ago. Thus, the quality of the board and pieces is not as sharp as today’s DVD presentations where, for example, Fritz or Chessbase is used.
Because these are copies of two entire video tapes, there is no easy way to get to one particular game. (The menu selection consists of only two choices: Vol. 1 or Vol 2.) The only way to get to a desired game is by fast forwarding through all the others.
The chess board is slightly crooked (you can see this in the screen shot above).

The Bottom Line

GM Pal Benko is an important part of chess history. In fact, as you probably know, if he hadn’t given up his spot in the 1970 world championship cycle to Fischer, Bobby would never have become world champion in 1972, or most likely, judging how things went, ever.

Thus we are extremely lucky to have this great man captured on tape, sharing with us eight of his great battles with a legend. Sure, the graphics are a little dated, but that is a small price to pay to be able to watch history unfold before your eyes.

On a scale of 1-10, My Chess Battles with Bobby Fischer Vols. 1 & 2 gets an 8.5.