Ivkov Wins a Chess Set

Borislav Ivkov

    Borislav Ivkov (1933-2022, 88 years old) was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia and was awarded the IM title in 1954 and the GM title in 1955. On August 24, 1983, he suffered a stroke, after which he was confined to a nursing home. He died on November 27, 1988. His opponent was GM J.H. Donner (1922-1988m 66 years old) who was a three-time Dutch Champion (1954, 1957 and 1958). 

    The game was played in the 4th Capablanca Memorial which was held in Havana in 1965. Itwas funded by Che Guevara (1928-1967) an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat, politician and military theorist. He was a major figure of the Cuban Revolution. He helped Fidel Castro overthrow the Batista regime after which he served in several high ranking government roles. 

    Seeking to spread revolutions elsewhere, he left Cuba for the Congo and later went to Bolivia, where he attempted to lead a guerrilla insurgency against the government. He was captured by the CIA-backed Bolivian army and executed on October 9, 1967, at the age of 39. 

    At the time Guevara was the director of the Cuban National Bank and Minister of Industry and he guaranteed a $3, 000 (about $39,00 today) for first prize with more than $4,500 (about $46,500 today) to be dispersed among the next five finishers.

    The event was significant because it was the first international tournament in which Bobby Fischer participating since the Curacao Candidates tournament in 1962. 

    He had agreed to attend for a $3,000 appearance fee, but when the U.S. State Department refused him a visa and he ended up laying by telex from the Marshall Chess Club. It cost the Marshall over $10,00 (over $100,00 today)! 

     Ivkov was leading for most of the tournament, but collapsed at the end. In the penultimate round, with a won game against the tailender Garcia, he blundered and lost. Then in the last round he played for a win against Robatsch and lost again. 

    In his game against Donner, Ivkov tried a new idea in the opening and xonxluded with a spectacular attack.. The game earned his a chess set that was awarded by Nicolas Rossolimo who at the time had a chess studio in Greenwich Village in New York. 

 

 

    It was in 1965, or maybe 1966, that I played an offhand game against Rossolimo in his studio. I thought I had a pretty good position out of the opening when he walked over to a display case and got a board that looked like it was made out of blue butterfly wings under glass and set it at the end of the table where the sun was shining. He then started grabbing the pieces off our board and setting them up one the new one saying, “I want to play on this board.” Of course, I lost and I’m blaming it on that hideous board sitting in the sun. 

 

[Event "Havana"] [Site ""] [Date "1965.09.13"] [Round "13"] [White "Borislav Ivkov"] [Black "Jan Hein Donner"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C81"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "41"] [EventDate "1965.08.25"] {C81: Open Ruy Lopez} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 { The open Ruy Lopez, wbich was a favorite of Max Euwe had been deeply analyzed by Dutch players.} 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 {[%emt 0:00:11]} 9. Qe2 { Usual is 9.Nbd2} Nc5 10. Rd1 Nxb3 11. cxb3 {This goes against the axiom that captures should be made towards the center with 11.axb3. Ivkov’s new idea in this well analyzed position is to control the weak dark squares on the Q-side and center. Rossolimo thought black should now play 11...Nb8, but6 Donner’s move is actually the best reply.} Be7 {GM Nicolas Rossolimo thought black should play 11...Nb8} (11... Qd7 {as played in Ambartsumian,T (2325)-Lysyj,I (2574) Goris ARM 2025 also seems satisfactory.} 12. Nc3 Bb4 13. Bf4 O-O {equals }) (11... Nb8 {as suggested by Rossolimo is unsatisfactory.} 12. Nc3 c6 13. Nd4 Qc8 14. Bg5 Bc5 {White is better.} 15. Rac1) 12. Nc3 {[%mdl 32] This N is headed for f5} O-O 13. Be3 (13. Bf4 Qd7 14. Rd2 Rad8 15. Rad1 Qc8 16. Qe3 { is about equal. Jarmula,L (2477)-Muzychuk,M (2560) Germany 2019}) 13... Na5 { In view of his next move Donner's purpose for this move is unclear.} (13... Qd7 14. Rd2 Rad8 15. Rad1 Qc8 16. h3 h6 17. a3 d4 18. Nxd4 Nxd4 19. Rxd4 Bxb3 20. Nd5 Rxd5 21. Rxd5 Qe6 {Black has completely equalized. Shyam,S (2502)-Girya,O (2402) chess.com INT 2023}) 14. Rac1 Nb7 {Whatever the purpose of this movr it gets no further.} (14... c5 {is the logical reply.} 15. Ne4 c4 16. bxc4 Nxc4 17. Bf4 {White's advantage is minimal.}) 15. Ne4 {[%mdl 2048]} Bg4 (15... Rc8 { Hoping to play ...c5 is met by} 16. Nc5 Bxc5 17. Bxc5 Nxc5 18. Rxc5 {leaves black with a bad B and a weak c-Pawn.}) 16. h3 Bxf3 17. Qxf3 {The threat is 18. Rxd5 nd the R cannot be takes because if 19.Nf6+ winning the Q.} c6 {What could be more natural than this? Unfortunately is allows white to obtain a game winning advantage.} (17... dxe4 {This surprising riposte nearly equalizes. } 18. Rxd8 exf3 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. Rxc7 Nd6 21. Rxe7 Nf5 {and the N on b7 has found employment.}) 18. Ng3 Rc8 19. Nf5 g6 {Of course he doesn't want the N to remain on f5, but even another reply would not have been any better.} 20. Rxd5 {[%mdl 512] An astonishing reply!} Qe8 (20... cxd5 21. Rxc8 gxf5 (21... Qxc8 22. Nxe7+ Kh8 23. Qf6#) 22. Rxd8 Rxd8 23. Qxf5 {White has a winning advantage.} ) 21. Bh6 {Black resigned.} 1-0