Vladimir Vukovic (August 26, 1898, Zagreb – November 18, 1975, Zagreb), a Croatian chess writer, theoretician, player, arbiter, and journalist is probably best known for his classic book, The Art Of Attack In Chess, in which he expounds both the basic principles and the forms of attack on the King.
There have been four of the Tournaments of Peace held. The first took place in April 1965, and was organized by Zagreb city officials and Zagreb chess players. First place was shared by Borislav Ivkov and Wolfgang Uhlmann with 13.5-5.5. World Champion Tigran Petrjosan finished third a point behind.
The second was held in Rovinj and Zagreb in 1970 and is remembered because of the performance of the legendary Robert J. Fischer.
The third was played in 1975 and first place was snared by Hungarian GM Gyula Sax with a score of 8.5-4.5. He was followed by local players Kovacevic, Nikolac and Ceckovski who scored 8.0-5.0.
The fourth, this time a Swiss system, took place in 2018 in Zagreb and was won Indian GM Baskaran Adhiban. Second place went to Bacrot on tiebreaks ahead of Ivanchuk.
Bobby Fischer won the second tournament in 1970 by a full two points over his nearest competitors, which included 10 other GMs in a field of 18 players. The tournament was held in two different cities in Yugoslavia: Rovinj from April 12th to April 26th, and Zagreb from April 27th to May 8th. It followed the USSR vs. Rest of the World match which had been held in Belgrade and the Unofficial World Speed Championship in Herceg Novi which was also won by Fischer.
Fischer lost only one game, but was it because he was cheated? He jumped out to a quick lead, scoring 6.5 points in the first seven rounds! Then came round 8 and the cheating incident as was alleged by some when he suffered his only loss at the hands of a little known Yugoslav player named Vlatko Kovacevic who was playing black.
Kovacevic (March 26, 1942 in Dubrovnik) was awarded the GM title in 1976 and had some tournament success in the mid-1970s to mid-1980s. He played in six Olympiads.: for Yugoslavia in 1982, 1984, 1988 and 1990 and for Croatia in 1992 and 1998.
Fischer's loss to Kovacevic was his first loss since he had lost to Geller in Skopje three years earlier in 1967. How did Kovacevic pull off his win? Here is the position after Fischer’s 18.f3:
Kovacevic had played an opening innovation on move 10 and it resulted in his gaining a huge advantage to the point that in the diagram he is clearly winning.
According to Kovacevic he was nervous at the prospect of defeating the mighty Fischer and began walking around the room. That’s when Rona Petrosian approached him and said something he claimed he didn't understand because he didn’t speak Russian.
This game appears in William Lombardy’s book published in 1972, Modern Chess Opening Traps. Lombardy stated simply that in an earlier round Fischer had brilliantly defeated East German GM Wolfgang Uhlmann, but some questioned Fischer’s opening analysis. Lombardy made no mention of any controversy and simply stated that Kovacevic found the flaw.
According to Victor Korchnoi in Chess Is My Life, in the diagrammed position Fischer set up a trap for Kovacevic. Tigran Petrosian, his wife and Korchnoi were watching the game and Korchnoi loudly said "How interesting" after realizing Fischer's trap. He then proceeded to explain that if Kovacevic fell for it and trapped Fischer's Queen he could lose. That’s when Petrosian's wife said she would inform Kovacevic.
She then approached Kovacevic while he was walking around and warned him. Of course Kovacevic insisted that he found the right move on his own and that it was only afterwards that he realized Petrosian's wife had tried to warn him.
Kovacevic wrote that after the game Fischer said “Very good,” signed the scoresheet and left. Before Kovacevic could sign his own scoresheet Petrosian grabbed it from his hands and exclaimed, “For Moscow, for Moscow!”
Of course nobody knows what really happened, but I doubt that Kovacevic needed anybody’s help in finding the right move (18...e3!) from the diagram. He was a strong player even if not well known at the time. Stockfish’s top choice is 18...e3 and it gives black an advantage of almost six Pawns, so there is no reason to suspect that a strong master wouldn’t find it.
In fact, black has two other moves that aren’t bad: 18...Nf8 (4.33 Ps in black’s favor) and 18...Nh4 (1.70 Pawns in black’s favor). After both of those moves Fischer could still have escaped with his Q with 19.Qb5, but that move would have been worse that letting black capture it. The bottom line is, I believe Kovacevic.
In the end, the loss didn’t matter all that much though it could have. Fischer defeated Gligoric in the next round and had a point and a half lead over the field after nine rounds. His final three rounds were tough draws against Browne (who should have won), Korchnoi and Petrosian.
Final standings:
1) Fischer 13.0
2-5) Hort (undefeated), Gligoric, Smyslov and Korchnoi 11.0
6) Petrosian 10.5
7-8) Minic and Ivkov 9.0
9-11) Bertok, Kovacevic and Uhlmann 8.5
12) Browne 7.5
13-15) Ghitescu, Kurajica and Parma 6.5
16) Marovic 6.0
17) Udovcic 5.5
18) Nicevski 3.5
As I have mentioned a few times in the past, there were others playing in this tournament besides Fischer and they also played some good games. Take a look at this Petrosian vs. Gligoric game. It wasn’t often that Petrosian, who at one time had the reputation of being the hardest player in the world to defeat, got beaten so soundly.
Gligoric’s style was classical: he went for a strong Pawn center, the pair of Bs and his play was always aggressive. Like Fischer, he didn’t believe in psychological warfare. The title of his biography was "I play against pieces."
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