The top game of the 7th round was the encounter of tournament leader Paul Keres against his closest rival, World Champion Tigran Petrosian. But after a bloodless fight the game soon ended in a draw. Probably one should not expect more when two Soviet grandmasters compete in western countries and one of them is the World Champion.
The Estonian Paul Keres speaks excellent German and his friendly character makes him very popular in Bamberg. Keres is a good friend of Lothar Schmid and a welcome guest in the Schmid household. Whenever possible Keres plays tennis but since the 1960s he has been plagued by gout which makes it difficult for him to follow this passion.
The World Champion Tigran Petrosian is Armenian but he was born and raised in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. But as a young man he moved to Moscow to have more chances to play chess. Petrosian is a also quite likeable but you can feel that his life was not always. But that also applies to Paul Keres. After the game, the two top chess players relaxed with a round of table soccer.
Tigran Petrosian and Paul Keres
Borislav Ivkov seized the opportunity and defeated Hans-Günter Kestler, who was out of form that day, to draw level with Keres.
18.... a4 A kind of blackout. Better was 18...Nf7 though White is still better. 19.Nxa4 b5 20.Nxc5 Apparently Kestler had underestimated or missed this possibility. 20...dxc5 21.Qxd7 Bxd7 22.Bxe7 Rfe8 23.Bd6 Winning another tempo. 23...Rb6 24.Bxc5 1–0
Rudolf Teschner demolished Jürgen Teufel who allowed himself too many inaccuracies.
14.Ne4 f6? Careless. 15.Nxf6 Bg7 16.Rxd7+ Bxd7 17.Bxe5+ Kc8 18.Nxd7 Bxe5 19.Nxe5 White has two pieces and two pawns for the rook and the game is practically over. 19...Kc7 20.f4 Rhe8 21.h4 a5 22.Bd3 a4 23.b4 a3 24.Kc2 Rad8 25.h5 1–0
Helmut Pfleger won a nice game against Roman Toran.
41.h4 Creating a fatal weakness. 41...b5 With an eye on the weak square g3. 42.cxb5 Bxd5 43.Rxd5 Qc3 Decisive. 44.Re5 Qxg3+ 45.Kg1 Rc3 46.Qe1 Bc5+ 0–1
Wolfgang Unzicker also won. He demolished Milko Bobotsov.
34.Bd7 Bxa5 35.Bxc6 bxc6 Black has to ruin his structure. After 35...Qxc6 White has 36.Qa3 with a double-attack. 36.Ne2 Qf2 37.Nc1 Rd8 37...Rf6 38.Nd3 Qe2 39.Rg1 38.Nd3 Qg3 Black is chasing a dream. White's kingside is safe. 39.Qb7 Rf8 40.Qxa6 Bd8 41.Qxc6 Bg5 42.Rf1 Rd8 43.Qg6 Rc8 44.Ra1 1–0
Laszlo Szabo's attempt to turn his Sicilian into a Dragen failed completely as Heikki Westerinen convincingly demonstrated.
11.f4 With the ugly threat e5. 11...Ng4 12.Qe2 e5 13.Ne6 Bxe6 14.Bxe6 h5 A better try was 14...fxe6 15.Qxg4 Qf6 16.Rxd6 Qxf4+ 17.Qxf4 exf4 18.Rxe6+ Kf7 19.Rb6 Bxc3 20.bxc3 Rae8 21.Rxb7+ Re7 and Black can still fight for a draw. 15.Bxg4 hxg4 16.f5 Qg5+ 17.Kb1 gxf5 18.exf5 Qxf5
19.Ne4 0–0 20.Rhf1 Qh5 21.Ng3 Qg5 22.Nf5 Rad8 23.Rd3 1-0 A drastic defeat.
| Board | Name | Result | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heikki MJ Westerinen | 1 - 0 | Laszlo Szabo |
| 2 | Borislav Ivkov | 1 - 0 | Hans Guenter Kestler |
| 3 | Wolfgang Unzicker | 1 - 0 | Milko Georgiev Bobotsov |
| 4 | Jan Hein Donner | ½ - ½ | Lothar Schmid |
| 5 | Paul Keres | ½ - ½ | Tigran V Petrosian |
| 6 | Klaus Klundt | ½ - ½ | Andreas Dueckstein |
| 7 | Roman Toran Albero | 0 - 1 | Helmut Pfleger |
| 8 | Rudolf Teschner | 1 - 0 | Juergen Teufel |
| Rg. | Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Pts. |
| 1 | Paul Keres | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5.5 / 7 | |||||||||
| 2 | Borislav Ivkov | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5.5 / 7 | |||||||||
| 3 | Tigran V Petrosian | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5.0 / 7 | |||||||||
| 4 | Wolfgang Unzicker | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 4.5 / 7 | |||||||||
| 5 | Lothar Schmid | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.0 / 7 | |||||||||
| 6 | Helmut Pfleger | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.0 / 7 | |||||||||
| 7 | Heikki MJ Westerinen | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 4.0 / 7 | |||||||||
| 8 | Jan Hein Donner | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 4.0 / 7 | |||||||||
| 9 | Laszlo Szabo | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3.5 / 7 | |||||||||
| 10 | Milko Georgiev Bobotsov | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 3.5 / 7 | |||||||||
| 11 | Rudolf Teschner | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 3.5 / 7 | |||||||||
| 12 | Hans Guenter Kestler | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 2.0 / 7 | |||||||||
| 13 | Klaus Klundt | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 2.0 / 7 | |||||||||
| 14 | Juergen Teufel | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 2.0 / 7 | |||||||||
| 15 | Roman Toran Albero | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1.5 / 7 | |||||||||
| 16 | Andreas Dueckstein | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1.5 / 7 |
