In February IM Hans Kmoch (1894-1973) died in New York at the age of 78. In April National Master Aleksander Lipenieks (1908-1973) died in Lincoln, Nebraska at the age of 64. He was a 15-time city champion and it was he who organized the 1955 US Junior Championship where Bobby Fischer made his first appearance on the national chess scene. Finally, in December IM Braslav Rabar (1919-1973) died in Zagreb, Yugoslavia at the age of 54. He was Yugoslav champion in 1951 and 1953.
In January, 1973, the top players were 1) Fischer (2780), 2) Tal (2660), 3) Karpov (2660), 4) Spassky (2655), 5) Korchnoi (2650), 6) Portisch (2650), 7) Petrosian (2640), 8) Botvinnik (2630), 9) Polugaevsky (2625) and 10) Larsen (2620).
Bobby Fischer turned down a million dollar offer to play a match in Las Vegas. His attorney said that Fischer had over $10 million in offers to play or advertise, but he had turned them all down because he believed lending his name to something was beneath his dignity.
In November, 1973, Fischer was the guest of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos who was President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986 and widely considered by academics, economists, and journalists to have been a kleptocrat. A kleptocrat is a corrupt government official who uses political power to appropriate the wealth of their nation, typically by embezzling or misappropriating government funds at the expense of the people. Is it being sarcastic to think this description applies to most politicians?
Anyway, Fischer made an appearance at an international tournament that was won by Bent Larsen and played an exhibition game with President Marcos. The game lasted 5 minutes and was agreed drawn after eight moves. Fischer also defeated Florencio Campomanes, President of the Philippines Chess Federation, in a blitz game on television when the latter exceeded the time limit. All of Fischer's expenses were paid and he received an appearance fee of $20,000 (over $125,000 in today's dollars).
A strong tournament in 1973 was the Milan
Vidmar Memorial which commemorated Milan
Vidmar (1885–1962), who was a leading Slovenian GM. Mostly a biannual event, it was held in several Slovenian cities: Ljubljana, Portorož, Rogaska Slatina, Bled and Ptuj.
The first was held in 1969 in Ljubljana and was won by Albin Planinc. In 1995 the event was held in Ptuj was a Zonal Tournament. The last three regular tournaments were in 2007, 2009 and 2011 and were for the National championship. The last international event was held in 2016.
The 1973 tournament was split between Ljubljana and Portoroz and received no mention in Chess Life. The tournament was a runaway for Hungarian GM Lajos Portisch (born April 4, 1937). His positional style earned him the nickname the Hungarian Botvinnik. From the early 1960s into the late 1980s Portisch was one of the strongest non-Soviet players in the world. He participated in twelve consecutive Interzonals from 1962 through 1993, qualifying for the Candidates' cycle a total of eight times (1965, 1968, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1985 and 1988).
Today's game from the 1973 Vidmr Memorial features a game between a couple of the also rans, Janez Barle and Stojan Puc. Yugoslav IM Stojan Puc (1921-2004, 82 years old) was made an Honorary GM in 1984. IM Janez Barle (born in 1952) is a Slovenian IM and he won the Slovenian (regional) champion in 1972, 1974, 1980, 1981 and 1984.
Janez Barle - Stojan Puc
Result: 0-1
Site: Vidmar Memorial, Ljubljana / Portoroz
Date: 1973
Sicilian Scheveningen
[...] 1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.♘xd4 ♘f6 5.♘c3 d6 Black's modest d6-e6 P-center gives him a solid defensive setup. control of the critical d5 and e5 squares, and retains flexibility to break in the center with either ...e5 or ...d5. Black obtains rapid development and the opening provides sound counterchances and considerable scope for creativity. 6.♗e2 For the adventurous, Keres' 6.g4 s a fun continuation. 6...♘c6 7.♗e3 ♗e7 8.O-O O-O 9.f4 d5 Much more common is 9...a6 and occasionally 9...Bd7.9...e5 or 9. ..Qc7. The text has not worked out especially good for black. 10.e5
29.♗e3 ♗xd5 30.♕xd5 ♖xh5 31.♕xf7 ♕e8 32.♕c4 ♖h4 33.♕d5 ♕d7 White resigned; he a R down.
10.exd5 favors black. 10...exd5 11.♗f3 ♖e8 12.♖e1 Losing. He had to try 12.Bf2 12...♗c5 13.♘cb5 a6 14.♔h1 ♖xe3 15.♖xe3 axb5 and clack is wining. Wertjanz,D (2268) -Matt,F (2347)/St Johann im Pongau AUT 2016
10...♘d7 11.♔h1 ♘c5
11...♗c5 Is better. 12.♘a4 ♗xd4 13.♗xd4 ♘xd4 14.♕xd4 and now after 14...b6 black would have been equal. Winiwarter,F (2220)-Ozbilen,M (2103)/ Velden AUT 2009
(11...♗c5!?⩲) 12.♗f3 ♗d7 13.♕e2 ♖c8 14.♕f2 b6 15.♖ad1 ♕e8
15...♘xd4 was probably better as after 16.♗xd4 f5 17.exf6 ♗xf6 white can't claim any advantage.
16.♖fe1 ♔h8 Black has a cramped position 17.♕g3 ♖g8 18.f5 ♕d8 This move is much too passive and as a result black finds himself in a difficult position.
18...♘xd4 was his best chance, but even then white has good chances after 19.♗xd4 ♘a4 20.♘xa4 ♗xa4 21.♗h5 with the initiative.
19.♘xc6 ♖xc6 20.♖d4 ♕b8 21.♗f4 Although not bad, this was not his best move.
21.fxe6 fxe6 22.♘b5 ♘b7 and white has a couple of promising continuations. 23.♕h3 (23.♗e4 Glitzy! 23...g6 24.♕h3 a6 25.♘c3 ♕e8 26.♗d3) 23...♕xe5 24.♗d2 ♕f6 25.♗xd5 ♘c5 26.♗xc6
21...♕d8 22.♗e3 ♕b8 23.♗f2 Again, not a mistake, but not the best.
23.fxe6 fxe6 24.♘b5 ♘b7 25.♕h3 which is similar to the line previously mentioned.
23...b5 White has a very active position 24.♕h3 exf5 25.♖xd5 With this move white loses his advantage.
25.♘xd5 This is a must play. After 25...♗d8 26.b4 f4 27.♕h5 g6 28.♕h6 ♘e6 29.♘f6 White is better, but black is not without defensive resources.
25...♖h6 White has no completely satisfactory way of meeting this. 26.♗h5 (26.♕g3 ♗h4 27.♕f4 ♗xf2 and black wins.)
26.♕xh6 This is his best shot. After 26...gxh6 27.♗xc5 ♗xc5 28.♖xd7 ♖e8 black is winning, but white at least has some play.
26...♕c8 27.♕f3 b4 This probably deserves a question mark. Correct was 27...Be6 because after the text white could have made the game extremely difficult for black to win.
27...♗e6 and white's best line appears to be 28.♗e3 b4 29.♖xc5 ♗xc5 30.♗xh6 bxc3 31.♕xc3 gxh6 32.♗xf7 ♗b4 33.♕xc8 ♗xc8 34.c3 ♖f8 35.cxb4 ♖xf7 Here Stockfish gives balck a 4 Pawn advantage. In Shoouts white lost all 5 games, but the ending required precise play on clack's part.
28.♘d1 A final blunder after which white is clearly lost.
28.♗xf7 would give white some drawing chances. In Shootouts white scored +0 -3 =3, but most of the games went nearly 100 moves with some reaching tricky theoretical wins. 28...♖f8 29.♗xc5 ♗xc5 30.e6 ♗c6 31.e7 ♗xe7 32.♖xe7 bxc3 33.♕xc3 ♗xd5 34.♗xd5 ♕xc3 35.bxc3 with a technically won game for black.
28...♗e6
28...g6 also wins. 29.♗xc5 ♗xc5 30.♕f4 ♗f8
30...♖xh5 would be very wrong! 31.e6 ♗xe6 32.♕e5+ ♖g7 33.♖xc5 with equal chances.
31.♗f3 White's pieces have no escape. 31...♗e6 32.♖d2 g5 33.♕e3 ♗c5 34.♕e2 g4Powered by Aquarium
There are three photo collections on Fischer in the Philippines at Christian de Luca's channel on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Lokodely77/videos
ReplyDeleteThank you! Note: They were posted 4 years ago so they are pretty far down. Just do a search on the page for Fischer.
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