US Championship

Bobby Fischer vs. Arthur Bisguier

New York - 1962/3

Larry Evans wrote in My 60 Memorable Games that Bisguier is the one Grandmaster who consistently achieves decent middlegame positions against Bobby Fischer, only to throw them away for no apparent reason.

This game isn't in the book, but it's the perfect example of the genre. In the final round of the 1962/3 US Championship, Fischer and Bisguier played, each with a 7-3 score. Bisguier has full equality, and after a move like 23... Kd7 or 23... a5, is well on the way to drawing and sharing the title with Fischer. Instead, he plays the incomprehensible 23... Bd8, allowing Fischer an elementary 2-move combination that allows him to plant a Knight firmly on d6, and that's all she wrote, campers. Absolutely amazing, and I don't mean that in a good way.