Belgrade, Round 3: Larsen bounces back and beats Spassky

by André Schulz
4/2/2020 – The "Match of the Century" between the Soviet Union and the "Rest of the World" in Belgrade is close. After three rounds the USSR narrowly leads 15.5:14.5. In round two Bent Larsen had suffered a devastating defeat against Boris Spassky on board one, but in round three Larsen bounced back and won with Black against the World Champion. Samuel Reshevsky and Lajos Portisch also scored for the "World" but in the Soviet team Mihail Tal was the only one who could win.

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The "Rest of the World" bounces back

The great hall of the Dom Sindikat in Belgrade was again packed to capacity. As if people knew something special was going to happen.

Man of the hour was the Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen. In round two he had suffered a devastating defeat against Spassky but in round three Larsen, who is famous for his optimism and fighting spirit, managed to bounce back. Larsen refused to play it safe and won a tense and complicated battle – though not without help from World Champion.

Bent Larsen (O. Masek)

For a long time the game had been dynamically balanced but then Spassky blundered a piece.

 

37.Kf1? Rh1 38.Ke2 Rxd1 White resigned. This was the first loss Spassky has suffered since he became World Champion by beating Tigran Petrosian in their World Championship match 1969.

On board two Fischer played against Petrosian and they again discussed the Caro-Kann. Fischer tried an old favourite of his, the Two Knights Variation, but without much success.

Fischer-Petrosian

Petrosian had lost the first two games against Fischer but still seems confident.

Fischer again tried to play for a win but Petrosian parried all threats and Fischer finally had to give up his winning attempts.

 

The final position.

With this draw Fischer now leads 2.5-0.5 in his mini-match against Petrosian and has good chances to win the special prize for the best individual result: a new Moskvich car.   

The new Moskvich. But does Fischer have a driving license?

Hort and Polugaevsky were not in a fighting mood and drew after eleven moves. It is a surprising that Polugaevsky agreed to this "grandmaster draw". After all, he is behind in the match. But he was playing with the black pieces and probably did not hope for much against the solid Grandmaster from Czechoslovakia.

The game between Geller and Gligoric also ended in a draw. In the main line of the Spanish the position was soon completely blocked.

 

The final position.

The remaining games were adjourned and Fischer predicted that the third round match would end in a 5-5 tie. In the evening Fischer and Reshevsky, who had been bitter rivals for years, analysed Reshevsky's adjourned game against Smyslov together and seemed to be rather confident.

Reshevsky was a pawn up in a queen endgame and was finally able to convert his advantage to a win. During the game Smyslov had repeatedly made draw offers but Reshevsky steadfastly continued to play for win.

 

41.Qc8+ Kf7 42.Qd7+ Kg8 43.b5 Qc2 44.Qd5+ Kh7 45.Kg2 e4 46.Qd4 Kg8 47.b6 Qb3 48.Qc5 Qb2 49.Qc6 Kf7 50.h4 g6 51.Qc7+ Ke6 52.Qh7 Qf6 53.Qxh6 Qf3+ 54.Kg1 1-0

Tal (O. Masek)

In round two Mihail Tal had lost against Miguel Najdorf but in round three he took revenge.

 

With 38.Rd8 and 39.Qg8 the white decisively entered Black's position.

Taimanov and Uhlmann drew just as Ivkov and Keres. 

But the Hungarian grandmaster Lajos Portisch managed to beat Viktor Kortschnoi in the endgame.

Lajos Portisch (O. Masek)

For a long time Portisch had been worse but he managed to hold and this stubbornness was rewarded.

 

In this position Kortschnoi played 62.Rb5 but after 62...Rxb5 63.cxb5 Nc5 White is lost. The black pawns will queen but Black's knight stops White's b-pawn.

The last remaining game was the encounter between Matulovic and Botvinnik. Matulovic was a pawn down in a queen endgame and had to fight for a draw. Which made some observers wonder why Matulovic had not been already replaced by Olafsson or Darga who are considered to be stronger than the Yugoslavian. Hardly anyone expected that Matulovic would be able to hold this endgame against former World Champion Botvinnik, whose analytical skills are legendary. But somewhere Botvinnik went wrong and after 93 moves the Patriarch of Soviet Chess had to give up his winning attempts and agree to a draw.

 

The game still continued for 30 moves but Botvinnik was unable to make progress.

This round was won by the "Rest of the World"!

With one round to go the Soviet team who had started the match as clear favourite leads only 15.5:14.5. A very narrow margin and reason enough for some Soviet players to become nervous. After all, rumour has it that the players had promised Pavlov, the head of the Soviet Sports Section, a high and convincing victory in the match. For the Soviets the current result is much too close for comfort and things would be even more embarassing for them should the Soviet team lose in round four.

Games

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bg5 c5 5.d5 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 e5 7.Nf3 d6 8.Nd2 h6 9.Bh4 Nbd7 10.e3 Nf8 E31: Nimzo-Indian: Leningrad Variation: 4...h6 5 Bh4 c5 6 d5 d6. 11.Bd3 Ng6 12.Bg3
12...0-0N White is slightly better. Predecessor: 12...Ne7 13.Rb1 0-0 14.0-0 Rb8 15.f4 Bf5 16.Qc2 Bxd3 17.Qxd3 exf4 18.exf4 Kh8 ½-½ (43) Simagin,V-Ivkov,B Sarajevo 1963 13.0-0 Ne7 14.f4 exf4 15.Rxf4 Ng6! 16.Rxf6 Qxf6 17.Ne4!      
Double Attack 17...Qd8! 18.Nxd6 Qg5! 19.Qd2       White has compensation. 19.Ne4!? Qxe3+ 20.Bf2= 19...b6 20.Ne4 Qd8 21.Rf1 f5 22.Nd6 f4! 23.exf4 Qxd6 24.f5 Qd8 25.fxg6 Rxf1+ 26.Kxf1 Qf6+ 27.Qf4 Bd7 28.Ke2 Rf8 29.Qxf6 gxf6=       Endgame KRB-KB 30.Kf3 Re8 31.Bf2 h5 32.h3 Kg7 33.g4 33.Bg3= 33...hxg4+ 34.hxg4 Rh8 35.d6 Rh1 35...Bc6+ 36.Ke3 Be8 36.Bf5= The position is equal. Bc6+ 37.Ke2 Rh3 38.d7 Rh8 Threatens to win with ...Rd8. 39.Bg3 Strongly threatening Bc7. Rd8! 40.Bc7 Rxd7 Accuracy: White = 83%, Black = 93%.
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Spassky,B2670Larsen,B2650½–½1970E31Match URS-World1.1
Fischer,R2720Petrosian,T26501–01970B13Match URS-World1.2
Kortschnoj,V2670Portisch,L2630½–½1970C95Match URS-World1.3
Hort,V2610Polugaevsky,L26401–01970B22Match URS-World1.4
Geller,E2660Gligoric,S25801–01970C93Match URS-World1.5
Reshevsky,S2590Smyslov,V2620½–½1970A07Match URS-World1.6
Taimanov,M2600Uhlmann,W25701–01970D80Match URS-World1.7
Matulovic,M2560Botvinnik,M26400–11970B06Match URS-World1.8
Tal,M2590Najdorf,M2570½–½1970B48Match URS-World1.9
Ivkov,B2570Keres,P2600½–½1970C75Match URS-World1.10
Larsen,B2650Spassky,B26700–11970A01Match URS-World2.1
Petrosian,T2650Fischer,R27200–11970A37Match URS-World2.2
Portisch,L2630Kortschnoj,V2670½–½1970E55Match URS-World2.3
Polugaevsky,L2640Hort,V2610½–½1970A28Match URS-World2.4
Gligoric,S2580Geller,E2660½–½1970E92Match URS-World2.5
Smyslov,V2620Reshevsky,S25901–01970A17Match URS-World2.6
Uhlmann,W2570Taimanov,M26000–11970E17Match URS-World2.7
Botvinnik,M2640Matulovic,M2560½–½1970B36Match URS-World2.8
Najdorf,M2570Tal,M25901–01970D41Match URS-World2.9
Keres,P2600Ivkov,B25701–01970C87Match URS-World2.10
Spassky,B2670Larsen,B26500–11970E12Match URS-World3.1
Fischer,R2720Petrosian,T2650½–½1970B15Match URS-World3.2
Kortschnoj,V2670Portisch,L26300–11970C90Match URS-World3.3
Hort,V2610Polugaevsky,L2640½–½1970A46Match URS-World3.4
Geller,E2660Gligoric,S2580½–½1970C93Match URS-World3.5
Reshevsky,S2590Smyslov,V26201–01970C98Match URS-World3.6
Taimanov,M2600Uhlmann,W2570½–½1970D80Match URS-World3.7
Matulovic,M2560Botvinnik,M2640½–½1970B08Match URS-World3.8
Tal,M2590Najdorf,M25701–01970B80Match URS-World3.9
Ivkov,B2570Keres,P2600½–½1970D34Match URS-World3.10
Larsen,B2650Stein,L26201–01970E68Match URS-World4.1
Petrosian,T2650Fischer,R2720½–½1970D90Match URS-World4.2
Portisch,L2630Kortschnoj,V2670½–½1970A33Match URS-World4.3
Polugaevsky,L2640Hort,V2610½–½1970D53Match URS-World4.4
Gligoric,S2580Geller,E2660½–½1970E92Match URS-World4.5
Smyslov,V2620Olafsson,F25601–01970E05Match URS-World4.6
Uhlmann,W2570Taimanov,M26001–01970A17Match URS-World4.7
Botvinnik,M2640Matulovic,M2560½–½1970A89Match URS-World4.8
Najdorf,M2570Tal,M2590½–½1970E69Match URS-World4.9
Keres,P2600Ivkov,B25701–01970B50Match URS-World4.10

Translation from German: Johannes Fischer

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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