Gheorghiu Demolishes de Castro

     It’s been quite an ordeal recovering from the recent flooding. Cleanup, replacing lost items and dealing with the insurance company has not left much free time, but a few spare moments here and there have been spent looking around in the 1970s chess world. 

     The year 1973 was filled with events: it saw the birth of the first mobile phone, abortion being declared a constitutional right, and the Battle of the Sexes, the most-watched tennis match of all times, It was a match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, the two greatest tennis players of the day. King won easily.

     Vasily Panov (1906-1973) died in the USSR at the age of 66. He was champion of Moscow in 1929. Al Horowitz (1907-1973), a leading US players in the 1930’s and publisher of the great Chess Review magazine, died at the age of 65 in New York. Hans Kmoch (1894-1973) also passed away in New York at the age of 78.

     Aleksander Lipenieks (1908-1973) died in Lincoln, Nebraska at the age of 64. He was the city champion 15 times and also published a number of chess books. FIDE President Folk Rogard (1899-1973) died in Stockholm, Sweden at the age of 73. 

     Three-time USSR Champion Leonid Stein (1934-1973) died of a heart attack at the age of 38 in Moscow. And, two-time Yugoslav champion Braslav Rabar (1919-1973) died in Zagreb, Yugoslavia at the age of 54. 

     At the beginning of the year the world’s top rated players were: 1) Bobby Fischer (2780), 2) Mikhail Tal (2660), 3) Anatoly Karpov (2660), 4) Boris Spassky (2655), 5) Viktor Korchnoi (2650), 6) Lajos Portisch (2650), 7) Tigran Petrrosian (2640), 8) Mikhail Botvinnik (2630), 9) Lev Polugaevsky (2625), and 10) Bent Larsen (2620). 

     Walter Browne won the National Open in Las Vegas on tiebreaks over Laszlo Szabo and James Tarjan. He also won the World Open in New York City. Arthur Bisguier won the big Lone Pine tournament in California. Norman Weinstein, age 22, won the US Open, held in Chicago. 

     Bobby Fischer was making news. He was offered a million dollars to play a match in Las Vegas. According to his lawyer, Paul Marshall, Fischer had over $10 million in offers to or advertise, but he turned them all down...it was beneath his dignity to advertise any product. 

     He moved to Los Angles to continue his religious studies with the Worldwide Church of God. 

     In August, he announced his upcoming plans at a press conference in Beverly Hills, California with the chief lawyer for the Worldwide Church of God standing by his side. 

     In November, 1973, Fischer was the guest of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos against whom he played an exhibition game that was broadcast on television. It lasted 5 minutes and a draw agreed after 8 moves. 

     Fischer also played Florencio Campomanes, President of the Philippines Chess Federation, a blitz game on television. Fischer won on time. 

     Ourense is a city in northwestern Spain known for its hot springs; they held an international tournament there in January of 1973. 

     From the beginning it looked like Romanian GM Florin Gheorghiu was going to win, which he did. The one point margin of victory was mainly due to defeat of Pal Benko in the very first round. 

 

 

     The tournament produce a number of interesting games, especially miniatures. Here is one of the more entertaining games in which Gheorghiu totally destroys De Castro. 

      Florin Gheorghiu was born in Bucharest on April 6, 1944. He won the World Junior Championship in 1953 and was awarded the IM title. In 1965 he became a Grandmaster. He won the Romanian Championship in 1960 (age 16), 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1973, 1977 and 1984. At his peak in November 1980, he was rated No. 10 in the world. 

     Edgar De Castro was a Filipino player and International Arbiter and from the begin of 1960s to the mid-1970s was one of the leading Filipino players. Other than that nothing is known about him. 

[Event "Orense, Spain"] [Site ""] [Date "1973.01.14"] [Round "?"] [White "Florin Gheorghiu"] [Black "Edgar de Castro"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B87"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "1973.01.08"] {Sicilian Defense} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Bb3 b5 8. O-O Bb7 {Risky. Black delays castling and quickly experiences difficulties on the e-File. Much better was 6...Be7} (8... Be7 9. Qf3 Qc7 10. Qg3 O-O 11. Bh6 Ne8 {Black's defenses are adequate.}) 9. Re1 Nbd7 10. Bg5 Nc5 { This is a tactical error that allows white ti immediatley gain the advantage. Forcing white to make a decision with his B with 10...h6 was a reasonable try.} 11. Bd5 {Black is already in trouble.} b4 {[%mdl 8192]} (11... exd5 12. exd5+ Kd7 13. b4 Na4 14. Nxa4 bxa4 15. c4 {and white is winning.}) (11... Be7 { keeps the damage to a minimum.} 12. Bxb7 Nxb7 13. Nc6 Qc7 14. Nxe7 Kxe7 { White is better, but there is no forced win.}) 12. Bxb7 {Already white's position can be declared as won.} Nxb7 {There was no better alternative.} ( 12... bxc3 13. Nc6 Qc7 14. Bxa8 cxb2 15. Rb1 {is equally hopeless for black.}) 13. Nd5 {[%mdl 512]} exd5 (13... Rc8 14. Qf3 Be7 15. Nxe7 Qxe7 16. Nf5 exf5 17. exf5 {and wins.}) 14. exd5+ Kd7 15. c3 {White needs to open more lines.} b3 ( 15... bxc3 16. Qa4+ Kc8 17. Qc6+ Kb8 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. Re8) 16. Qxb3 Nc5 17. Qc4 Rc8 {It's kind of hard to believe but up to here these moves were all played the previous year!} (17... Qc8 18. Nc6 h6 19. Bxf6 gxf6 20. Re3 Kc7 21. b4 Rg8 {Black resigned Tal,M (2625)-Mukhin,M (2420) Baku 1972}) 18. b4 Nce4 19. Qxa6 Nxc3 20. Rac1 Rc7 21. Qd3 {It's a moot point but there was a mate in 16 with 21.Rxc3} (21. Rxc3 Rxc3 22. Qa4+ Kc8 23. Nc6 Qb6 24. Qa8+ Kc7 25. Qd8+ Kb7 26. Qb8+ Ka6 27. b5+ Kxb5 28. Rb1+ Kc4 29. Qxb6 Kxd5 30. Qb5+ Rc5 31. Rd1+ Ke6 32. Nd4+ Ke7 33. Re1+ Kd8 34. Re8+ Kc7 35. Qb8+ Kd7 36. Qd8#) 21... Qc8 22. Nb5 {Black resigned} (22. Nb5 Ne2+ 23. Qxe2 Rxc1 24. Rxc1 Qxc1+ 25. Bxc1 {etc.}) 1-0