Rovinj/Zagreb, Round 12: Fischer wins and wins

by André Schulz
4/21/2020 – After 11 rounds the Tournament of Peace in Rovinj/Zagreb moved from Rovinj to Zagreb but tournament leader Bobby Fischer continues to win. In round 12 he defeated Mijo Udovcic and with 10.0/12 (+9, =2, -1) he is now two points ahead of Svetozar Gligoric and Viktor Kortschnoi.

ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024 ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024

It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.

More...

Tournament of Peace, Round 12: Fischer increases his lead

The 2. Tournament of Peace left the pretty resort town of Rovinj and moved to the Croatian capital Zagreb where the last six rounds of the tournament will be played. Tournament leader Bobby Fischer survived the move without any problem and won again. His victim in the 12th round of the tournament was Mijo Udovcic. The Croatian is 50 years old and the oldest player in the field, closely followed by former World Champion Vassily Smyslov with 49 years of age.

Udovcic works as a judge in Zagreb but although he is an amateur he became a grandmaster in 1962 – the first Croatian grandmaster ever. At Chess Olympiads and European Team Championships he has played several times in the national team of Yugoslavia.

Udovcic had Black and after Fischer's "Best-by-Test" favourite 1.e4 decided to go for the Yugoslav Defence 1.e4 d6. Fischer reacted aggressively and quickly pushed his kingside pawns ahead.

But after the opening Udovcic seemed to be okay, at least on first sight.

 

Black attacks the pawn on b2 and White's king seems to be a bit vulnerable. However, after 13.Bxf6 Qxf6 14.Nd5 White had a strong outpost on d5 that shielded him from too much trouble.

A lew moves later Udovcic tried a tactical trick.

 

How did Fischer react? Prosaically! He played 17.Ne3 and the game followed the course of many other games by Fischer – the American reached a better endgame and won without much trouble.

 

White played 26.Nxe5 and on his route Ne5-d3-c5-e6 he grabbed some more pawns.

Viktor Kortschnoi had White against Vlatko Kovacevic and won an exciting King's Indian. White left his king in the center and attacked on the queenside, Black countered on the kingside.

 

Here Black tried the strange 20...Qd7 (After 20...Rf7 Black is OK.) and lost an exchange after 21.Nb6.

Vassily Smyslov won a fine positional game against Walter Browne.

 

52.g5 was decisive.

A little chat: Mrs. Petrosian, Mrs. Kortschnoi and Mrs. Smyslov

The Yugoslavian duel between Borislav Ivkov and Risto Nicevski ended in Ivkov's favour. Dragoljub Minic won against Drazen Marovic.

Games from Round 1 to 12

 

Standings after round 12

Rk. Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pts.
1 Robert James Fischer     1     ½ 0 ½ 1   1   1 1 1 1 1 1 10.0 / 12
2 Viktor Lvovich Kortschnoj       ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½   0 1 ½ 1   ½   1 8.0 / 12
3 Svetozar Gligoric 0     1 ½ 1 ½   ½ ½   ½   ½   1 1 1 8.0 / 12
4 Tigran V Petrosian   ½ 0       1 ½ ½ ½ ½   ½   1 ½ 1 1 7.5 / 12
5 Vlastimil Hort   ½ ½     ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½   ½ ½ ½   1   7.5 / 12
6 Vassily V Smyslov ½ ½ 0   ½     1   ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½   ½   7.0 / 12
7 Vlatko Kovacevic 1 0 ½ 0 0       1 1   0   ½   ½ 1 ½ 6.0 / 12
8 Borislav Ivkov ½ 0   ½ 0 0       ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1     1 6.0 / 12
9 Wolfgang Uhlmann 0 ½ ½ ½ ½   0     ½   1     ½ 1 1 0 6.0 / 12
10 Mario Bertok     ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½     ½ ½ ½   ½   1 6.0 / 12
11 Dragoljub Minic 0 1   ½ ½ ½   ½       ½ ½ ½ ½ 0   1 6.0 / 12
12 Walter Shawn Browne   0 ½     0 1 0 0 ½ ½   ½   ½ 1 1   5.5 / 12
13 Theodor Ghitescu 0 ½   ½ ½ ½   ½   ½ ½ ½   ½ ½   0   5.0 / 12
14 Bojan Kurajica 0 0 ½   ½ 0 ½ ½   ½ ½   ½   ½   ½   4.5 / 12
15 Bruno Parma 0     0 ½ ½   0 ½   ½ ½ ½ ½   ½   ½ 4.5 / 12
16 Drazen Marovic 0 ½ 0 ½     ½   0 ½ 1 0     ½   0 ½ 4.0 / 12
17 Mijo Udovcic 0   0 0 0 ½ 0   0     0 1 ½   1   1 4.0 / 12
18 Risto Nicevski 0 0 0 0     ½ 0 1 0 0       ½ ½ 0   2.5 / 12

Translation from German: Johannes Fischer

Links


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

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register