Maric Slays A Dragon At Vinkovci 1970

 

     The second international tournament of "The Autumn of Vinkovci 1970" was slated to be a much grander affair than the first which was held in 1968. In that one Robert J. Fischer finished first by two whole points. For this year's tournament the organizers had secured in the participation of both Fischer and World Champion Boris Spassky. 

     But then the USSR Chess Federation would not give Spassky permission to participate. Then came a telegram from Fischer stating that he was ill and unable to play. The speculators speculated that that wasn't true and he had learned that Spassky wasn't playing and simply no longer had any interest in the event. The speculators also speculated that it was probably a good idea that he didn't play because he had already played in tournaments in Zagreb, Buenos Aires and the Olympiad in Siegen and his next event was the Interzonal, and so it was best to skip Vinkovci. 

     With Spassky and Fischer not playing Vinkovci lost its luster and importance. Plus the organizers were forced to scramble to salvage the tournament. Fortunately they were able to get former World Champion Tigran Petrosian, Bent Larsen, Vlastimil Hort, Mark Taimanov, David Bronstein, Svetozar Gligoric, Laszlo Szabo and Dragoljub Minic...not a bad lineup at all. 

     Unfortunately the three local players Ledic, Ozanic and Tomic pulled the prestige down a bit as they were only able to garner one draw from thirty games played against the first ten in the tournament, losing all 29 other games. That said, if the last three players' games are eliminated, the number of draws was appalling and a slap in the face of organizers and chess fans. Larsen won mainly because he scored wins against the five last placed players. From the first ten, he won only two games and lost one, drawing the remaining seven games. 

     The finish of Bronstein, Petrosian and Taimanov was surprising. The latter was, along with Gligoric, leading when in round 12 he unexpectedly lost to Petrosian (one would have expected a draw!). After his loss Taimanov went into a funk and successively lost to Larsen and Minic. It was a catastrophe as in only four rounds he fell from first to ninth place. For Petrosian it was the same old story...too many draws. Bronstein fought for first place and was the only player to go undefeated.

     Hort and Gligoric were in the race for first for a while, but Hort's defeat by the young Argentinian Miguel Quinteros was catastrophic. Gligoric's decisive setback was his loss to Larsen. 

     The following last round game was one of the sensations of the tournament. Maric won the prize for the most beautiful game of the tournament. Besides the game Petrosian lost $600 in prize money compared to if he had won as expected.

     The winner, Ruolf Maric (May 13, 1927 - August 16, 1990, 63 years old) was a Yugoslav IM (title awarded in 1964). He was awarded the Honorary GM title shortly after his death.

Rudolf Maric - Tigran Petrosian

Result: 1-0

Site: Vinkovci

Date: 1970

Pirc Defence: Classical System

[...] 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.♘c3 ♘f6 4.♘f3 ♗g7 5.♗e2 O-O 6.O-O c6 Black could get greater freedom after 6...Bg4 but it would mean trading his B for a N. 7.h3 Preventing ...Bg4 and confining black's B to s passive role. 7...♘bd7 8.♗e3 e5 It was better to play 8...Qc7 which would have prevented white from playing 10.Qd6. 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.♕d6 ♖e8 Better was 10...Ne8 driving the Q back.

10...♘e8 11.♕d2 ♕e7

11...♘c7 12.♗c4 ♘b6 13.♕xd8 ♖xd8 14.♗b3 ♗e6 15.♖fd1 ♖xd1+ 16.♖xd1 ♗xb3 17.cxb3 ♘e6 is equal. Inkiov,V (2436)-Chatalbashev,B (2534)/Berlin 2016

12.a4 ♘c5 13.b4 ♘e6 14.♖ab1 ♘8c7 wiht equal chances. Grandelius,N (2603)-Karthikeyan,M (2504)/Dubai 2015

11.♗c4

11.♖ad1 ♗f8 12.♕d2 ♕c7 13.♗g5 b5 14.♗d3 a6 is even Ljuca,M (2200)-Rukavina,J (2450)/Sombor 1974

11...♕e7

11...♗f8 forcing the retreat of the Q is met by 12.♕d2 b5 This brings about unclear complications which was not in Petrosian's style.

12...♘b6 13.♕xd8 ♖xd8 14.♘xe5 ♘xc4 15.♘xc4 b5 Intending ...b4 and ...Nxe4 16.♗g5 ♗g7 17.♖fe1 bxc4 18.e5 and white has better chances.

13.♗b3 b4 14.♘g5 bxc3 15.♗xf7+ ♔h8 16.♕xc3 ♖e7 17.♘e6 ♖xe6 18.♗xe6 ♕e7 19.♕xc6 with roughly equal chances.

11...♘b6 12.♕xd8 ♖xd8 13.♗b3 ♗e6 14.♗xe6 fxe6 15.♘xe5 ♘xe4 16.♘xe4 ♗xe5 White has a minimal advantage owing to black's weakened e-Pawn, but a draw seems likely.

12.♕xe7 ♖xe7 13.a4 b6 Black has no completely satisfactory answer. No matter what he plays white has slightly the better of it. 14.♖fd1 ♗b7 15.♖d6 a6 Black's defense poses a difficult dilemma. (15...♘e8 16.♖d2 ♘df6 17.♖ad1 c5 18.♘g5 with the initiative.) 16.♖ad1 b5 17.♗b3 h6 This parries 18.Ng5. Playing 17...Rf8 runs into the same problems as in the game. 18.g4 ♖c8 Petrosian hastens to defend the 7th rank with ...Rc7 and soon arrives in a position in which he has no moves.

18...c5 This counterattack would nit have proved any better as after 19.axb5 axb5 20.♘xb5 ♗xe4 21.♘d2 ♗b7 22.♘c3 white is better.

19.g5 hxg5 20.♘xg5 ♖c7 21.a5 ♔f8 This loses outright.

21...♗h6 would have at least allowed him to play on after 22.h4 ♔g7 White is better, but there is no immediate forced win.

22.♗xf7 ♖xf7 23.♘e6+ The fatal flaw in black's 21st move. 23...♔g8 24.♘xc7 ♗f8

24...♘f8 25.♘e6 b4 26.♘g5 bxc3 27.♘xf7 ♔xf7 28.bxc3 ♘xe4 29.♖d7+ ♘xd7 30.♖xd7+ White has a winning endgame.

25.♘e8!25...♔h7 26.♖xd7! Petrosian resigned. (26.♖xd7 ♘xd7 27.♖xd7 ♖xd7 28.♘f6+ wins.)

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