The Rise of Bent Larsen

     February 1956 was a sad month because on February 4th, Dr. Savielly Tartakower died at the age of 68 in Paris. On a happier note, a few months later at the Olympiad in Moscow Bent Larsen (March 4, 1935 – September 9, 2010) made his debut in the international arena. Like Tartakower, Larsen was to become known for his imaginative and unorthodox style. 
     Larsen won the Danish championship six times and was a Candidate for the World Championship four times, reaching the semifinal three times. Larsen became a GM in 1956 with his gold-medal performance on board one at the Moscow Olympiad, where he drew World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik. He suffered from diabetes and died in 2010 from a cerebral hemorrhage. 
     The 12th Olympiad took place between August 31 and September 25, 1956, in Moscow and the Soviet team (Botvinnik, Smyslov, Keres, Bronstein, Taimanov and Geller) which had won the previous two Olympiads, was the huge favorite and they lived up to expectations. 
     A total of 34 teams were entered and were divided into four preliminary groups of eight or nine teams. The top three from each group advanced to Final A, the teams placed 4th–6th to Final B, and the rest to Final C. All groups and finals were played as round-robin tournaments. The US did not sent a team to the Olympiad that year, but less than a month after the Olympiad, on October 17th at the Marshall Chess Club in New York, 26-year-old Donald Byrne sat down to play 13-year-old Bobby Fischer in what was later to be called "The Game of the Century" by Hans Kmoch in Chess Review. 
     Even though the Soviet Union was the heavy favorite, authorities treated the event dead seriously.  Things were changing in the Soviet Union. Unknown to the world at the time, at the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union held during February, the Soviet Leader, Nikita Khrushchev, had given a speech condemning former Soviet premier Joseph Stalin who had died three years earlier. Khrushchev denounced Stalin as a cruel leader who had created a toxic, suspicious and terrifying environment in which persecution was rife. Khrushchev stated that Stalin's "cult of personality" must be dismantled and urged the Soviet Congress members to reveal the truth about Stalin slowly to the Russian public. The entirety of the secretive speech was not revealed to the Russian people until 1988. And, a win by the Soviet team would go a long way to “prove” the superiority of the Soviet system.

    The Red Army Central Theater was the venue. The main final consisted of 12 teams. The Soviets started with impressive 4-0 over England and took the early lead. After challenges by Hungary, Yugoslavia and unexpectedly Switzerland, in round 9 the Soviets trounced Denmark by scoring three wins and assured themselves a first place finish. But the sensation was on on board 1 where Larsen held the World Champion, the mighty Botvinnik, to a draw. When it was all over, the Soviets won another trophy but this time it was not so easy. They lost their first ever match and couldn't overtake their competitors until penultimate round. 

Final A 
1-Soviet Union (Botvinnik, Smyslov, Keres, Bronstein, Taimanov and Geller)
2-Yugoslavia (Gligoric, Matanovic, Ivkov, Karaklajic, Milic, Durasevic) 
3-Hungary (Szabo, Barcza, Benko, Szilagyi, Bely, Portisch) 
4-Argentina (Najdorf, Bolbochán, Panno, Pilnik, Sanguineti, Wexler) 
5-West Germany (Unzicker, Schmid, Darga, Pfeiffer, Niephaus, Teschner)
6-Bulgaria (Padevsky, Minev, Kolarov, Tringov, Tsvetkov, Milev) 
7-Czechoslovakia (Filip, Pachman, Sefc, Rejfir, Alster, Jezek) 
8- England (Golombek, Penrose, Wade, Milner-Barry, Clarke, Phillips)
9-Switzerland (Blau, Bhend, Walther, Keller, Johner) 
10-Denmark (Larsen, Poulsen, Pedersen, Ingerslev, Nielsen, Enevoldsen) 
11-Romania (Balanel, Ciocaltea, Troianescu, Soos, Ghițescu, Radulescu) 
12-Israel (Czerniak, Porath, Aloni, Oren, Dobkin, Smiltiner)