In May the 6-time Norwegian champion, IM and correspondence GM Olaf Barda died in Oslo at the age of 61. In June it was the 1943 Dutch correspondence champion, 47 year old IM Carel van den Berg.
In September, 71 year old Jose Joaqin Araiza, the 1957 Mexican champion was lost. Finally, in October Russian GM Alexander Zaitsev, who was born with a club foot, died at the early age of 36 as a result of complications from the surgery.
The chess world's big headlines began on June 2 when Bobby Fischer beat Mark Taimanov 6-0, in the Candidates match in Vancouver, BC.
When Taimanov returned to the USSR he was banned from playing outside the country for several years and was stripped of his title Honored Master of Sport. If that wasn't enough as a concert pianist he was not allowed to give any more performances. He was also banned from writing any articles and was deprived of his monthly stipend.
Fischer's next victim was Bent Larsen who also got skunked 6-0 in Denver, Colorado. Fischer had won 19 straight games in international play against the strongest players in the world.
The come October, on the 26th, Fischer defeated Tigran Petrosian in Buenos Aires with a score of +5 -1 =3. As a reward for his stellar performance in succeeding in beating Fischer in a game and holding him to three draws Petrosian got fired from his job as editor of the Soviet chess magazine 64.
As a result of Fischer's phenomenal successes big tournaments like Mar del Plata didn't get major coverage. The tournament was a runaway for Soviet GM Lev Polugayevsky who started with a 7-0 score and never looked back, finishing first 3 points head of the field.
The play of Soviet IM Vladimir Savon (he was awarded the GM title in 1983) was solid and his 2nd place finished was well deserved. Argentine GM Oscar Panno could have finished clear second had he not suffered an early loss to the lowly placed Jorge Rubinetti.
The play of a young Henrique Meking and Walter Browne was disappointing, but in Browne's case there were extenuating circumstances. Browne himself contacted the tournament organizers and asked to play, but advised them that if invited, he would be 2-3 days late. About three days before the tournament started he received his invitation by telegram.
For readers too young to remember or who have never heard of them, there is an interesting 11-page PDF history of them HERE. After receiving the telegram Browne was off on a 17 hour long trip that included stops in Mexico City, Bogota, Lima and Buenos Aires before finally arriving one round late. That meant he had to play every day and night for the first six days and playing an average of 10 hours a say. Browne took it all in stride though because he never minded playing like that; he did it all the time in Swiss events, and he played in plenty!
In the following game Argentine GM Miguel Quinteros (born December 28, 1947 in Buenos Aires) was getting badly whipped by the virtually unknown local master Carlos Sumiacher, but managed to save the game when his opponent quickly crumbled after missing the win at move 25.
Quinteros won the Argentine championship in 1966 at the age of 18, the youngest player to ever win that event. He qualified for the 1976 Manila Interzonal and played for Argentina six times in the Olympiads (1970, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1982 and 1984).
Quinteros visited South Africa and gave simultaneous exhibitions in Cape Town, Sun City and Johannesburg which in 1987 got him barred from playing in FIDE events for three years because he was in defiance of FIDE sanctions against South Africa.
As an old friend of Bobby Fischer's, Quinteros was instrumental in bringing Fischer to Buenos Aires in June of 1996 where Fischer announced his Fischer Random Chess project. You can read about it in Mark Weeks' column HERE.
According to Mig Greengard, the project was a fiasco when, as usual, in a dispute over money, Fischer ended up canceling his remaining appearances and left Argentina in a snit. His departing words at the airport were, "Miguel is a bastard."
How good are Grandmasters? One time I saw Quinteros playing a local master for $20; Quinteros had one minute for all his moves while the master had five. In the half dozen or so games I watched Quinteros won them all! If ordinary GMs have unbelievable sight of the board, what must Carlsen and his ilk take in at a glance?
Carlos Sumiacher - Miguel Quinteros
Result: 0-1
Site: Mar del Plata
Date: 1971
Sicilian: Kan Variation
[...] 1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 e6 In an earlier game in the same tournament Quinteros introduced the new move 2...Qc7 against Mecking and ended up losing. It became known as the Quinteros variation, but the move had been played much earlier by Paul Vaitonis who played it twice in the 1951 Canadian championship.
3.d4 cxd4 4.♘xd4 a6 5.c4 g6 6.♘c3 ♗g7 7.♗e2 d6 8.O-O ♘e7 9.♗g5 O-O 10.♕d2 b6 11.♖fd1 ♖a7 Black is cramped and evidently the idea of this move is to get the R to d7 to support the advance ...d5 which in itself does not seem like a viable idea. 12.♗g4 White loses the upper hand
13.♘b3 ♖c6 Defending the d-Pawn is plausible, but capturing on c4 would gave gained black more freedom.
2...♕c7 3.c4
3.d4 cxd4 4.♘xd4 ♘c6 5.♘c3 e6 6.♗e2 a6 7.a4 ♘f6 8.O-O ♗b4 9.♕d3 O-O The position is equal. Anderson,F-Vaitonis,P/Vancouver 1951
3...d63...♘c6 4.♘c3 ♘f6 5.d4 cxd4 6.♘xd4 ♘xe4 7.♘db5 ♕a5 8.♕f3 ♘xc3 9.♗d2 a6 10.♗xc3 ♕b6 11.c5 ♕d8 12.♗c4 e6 13.♘d6+ ♗xd6 14.cxd6 O-O Chances are equal. Ridout,H-Vaitonis,P/Vancouver 1951
4.d4 ♗g4 5.d5 e5 6.♘c3 g6 7.♗e2 ♗xf3 8.♗xf3 ♗h6 9.♗xh6 ♘xh6 White is better. Mecking,H (2540)-Quinteros,M (2465)/Mar del Plata 1971 12.♖ac1 keeps an even firmer grip 12...♖d7 13.b4 d5 14.exd5 exd5 15.♘xd5 ♖e8 16.♗f3 ♗b7 17.♗g4 Black is probably already lost.
12...♖c7
12...♖d7 is out of the question! 13.♗xe6 fxe6 14.♘xe6 ♕e8 15.♘xg7 ♔xg7 16.♗h6+ wins.
12...♗xd4 This trades off his valuable B and is unpleasant, but it's his best choice. 13.♕xd4 e5 14.♕d2 ♗xg4 15.♗f6 ♗xd1 16.♘d5
16.♕h6 loses to 16...♘f5 17.♗xd8 ♘xh6 18.♗xb6 ♖b7 19.♗e3 ♘g4 20.♘xd1 ♘xe3 21.fxe3 and white is a whole R down.
16...♘xd5 17.♗xd8 ♘f4 18.♗xb6 ♖b7 19.♗e3 ♗g4 20.♕xd6 ♖e8 21.f3 In this highly unbalance material situation (Q+2Ps vs R +2Ns) the outcome is unclear. In Shootouts Stockfish scored +4 -0 =1) for white, but the games were long and a couple had fascinating endgames. 13...♖xc4 14.♕xd6 ♕xd6 15.♖xd6 ♘ec6 16.♗e2 ♖b4 Black remains cramped, but oddly enough there does not seem to be any way for white to take advantage of the seemingly precarious placement of the R.
14.♘e2 White fails to take advantage of black's last move. (14.♗e2 ♗b7 15.♖ac1 and black remains cramped.) 14...h5 For whatever reason Quinteros avoids taking the c-Pawn which would have been his best chance of equalizing. 15.♗f3 f6 16.♗e3 e5 Once again taking the c-Pawn would have been better, but not as good as it would have been previously. Instead black now get a very bad game. (16...♖xc4 17.♕xd6 ♕xd6 18.♖xd6 f5 19.♖xb6 fxe4 20.♘d2 White is better.) 17.c5 Well played! This takes advantage of the pin on the d-Pawn. 17...bxc5 18.♗xc5 ♗e6 19.♗xd6 ♖e8
19...♗xb3 20.axb3 ♕d7 21.♗a3 ♕xd2 22.♖xd2 Here, too, white has a winning position.
20.♘c5 Missing an even better move.
20.♕b4 Black has no good reply to this. 20...♗f7 21.♗xe5 ♕c8 22.♗d6
20...♗f7 21.♘c3 ♘c8 There was nothing better.
21...♕c8 22.♕e3 ♗f8 23.♘b3 and white has a serious bind on the position which gives him much the better game.
22.♗xb8 ♕xd2 23.♖xd2 ♗h6 This only worsens his situation. as it leaves him a piece down.
23...♖xc5 was relatively best. 24.♗e2 ♖c6 25.♘d5 with a dominating position.
24.♘d5 This is a gross blunder that turns the tables.
24.♖d5 This surprising move would assure white of obtaining a winning position as black has little choice except to accept the offer to regain his piece. 24...♗xd5 25.♘xd5 ♖xc5 26.♘xf6+ ♔f7 27.♘xe8 ♔xe8 28.♗e2 a5 29.♖d1 ♖c2 30.♗b5+ ♔e7 31.♖d7+ ♔e6 32.♖c7 is the clearest path to victory.
24...♗xd2 In the confusion of the last few moves white has managed to end up with only a N+P vs R which is not enough compensation.
24...♗xd5 loses to 25.♖xd5 ♘b6 26.♖d6 ♖xc5 27.♖xb6 with a won ending.
25.♖d1 White crumbles.
25.♘d7 was relatively best. After 25...♔g7 26.♘5xf6 ♖xf6 27.♗xe5 ♖xe5 28.♘xe5 White would be left with 3 Ps against a B, but in this case black would stand quite well. In a Shootout white scored +0 -5 =0, but the winning process was by no means easy! Here his the conclusion by stockfish at 17 plies. 28...♗g8 29.♖d1 ♖d6 30.♗e2 a5 31.♘c4 ♗xc4 32.♗xc4 ♖d4 33.♗e2 ♔f6 34.♔f1 ♔e5 35.f3 h4 36.g3 ♘d6 37.♗a6 ♗c3 38.♖c1 ♗xb2 39.♖c5+ ♔e6 40.♖xa5 ♖d2 41.gxh4 ♖xh2 42.♖g5 ♔f6 43.♖g4 ♗d4 44.♗d3 ♖f2+ 45.♔e1 ♖xf3 46.e5+ ♔xe5 47.♗xg6 ♖h3 48.♔e2 ♘c4 49.♖e4+ ♔d5 50.♖e8 ♘e5 51.h5 ♖h2+ 52.♔d1 ♔c4 53.♖c8+ ♗c5 54.♔c1 ♔d4 55.a4 ♘c4 56.♔b1 ♘a3+ 57.♔c1 ♘c4 58.♔b1 ♗d6 59.a5 ♘a3+ 60.♔c1 ♗f4+ 61.♔d1 ♘c4 62.♖d8+ ♔c5 63.a6 ♘e3+ 64.♔c1 ♘d5+ 65.♔d1 ♘c3+ 66.♔e1 ♗g3+ 67.♔f1 ♖f2+ 68.♔e1 ♖f8+ 69.♔d2 ♖xd8+ 70.♔xc3 ♗e5+ 71.♔c2 ♔d4 72.♔d2 ♖f8 73.♔e2 ♗g3 74.a7 ♗f4 75.h6 ♖a8 76.h7 ♗e5 77.♔f3 ♗h8 78.♔f4 ♖xa7 79.♔f5 ♖b7 80.♔f4 ♖c7 81.♗e8 ♖e7 82.♗g6 ♖a7 83.♗h5 ♖a6 84.♗d1 ♖f6+ 85.♔g4 ♖f2 86.♗a4 ♔e3 87.♔g5 ♔e4 88.♗c6+ ♔e5 89.♔g4 ♖f7 90.♔g3 ♔d4 91.♔g4 ♔e5 92.♔g3 ♔d4 93.♔g4 ♔e3 94.♔g5 ♖xh7 95.♗a4 ♖a7 96.♗d1 ♖a5+ 97.♔h6 ♔f4 98.♗c2 ♖a2 99.♗b1 ♖g2 100.♔h7 ♗f6 101.♗d3 ♗e7 102.♗g6 ♔e5 103.♔g7 ♔e6 104.♔h7 ♔f6 105.♗d3 ♗f8 106.♗f1 ♖h2+ 107.♔g8 ♗g7 108.♗h3 ♖h1 109.♔h7 ♖xh3+ 110.♔g8 ♖h8#
25...♔g7 (25...♗xd5 was even better. 26.exd5 ♖xc5 27.d6 ♖d8 etc.) 26.♖xd2 ♖xc5 27.h4 ♖d8 28.♔h2 ♖d7 29.b4
29.♗e2 doesn't do any good 29...♘b6 30.b4 ♖c8 31.♗a7 ♘xd5 wins
29...♖b5 White resigned. A game with some tricky tactics! (29...♖b5 30.♗c7 ♗xd5 wins easily.) Powered by Aquarium
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