Bobby Fischer triumphs at the "Tournament of Peace"

by Klaus Besenthal
4/26/2020 – After long seventeen rounds, the second edition of the "Tournament of Peace" in Zagreb finished with a clear winner, American grandmaster Bobby Fischer. The standings table sees Fischer no fewer than two full points ahead of a four-player chasing pack, formed by Vlastimil Hort, Svetozar Gligoric, Vasily Smyslov and Viktor Korchnoi.

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2nd Tournament of Peace (Rovinj/Zagreb)

Fischer finished with 13 out of 17 points. Throughout the event, he was unexpectedly defeated by Yugoslavian grandmaster Vlatko Kovacevic — otherwise his lead over the chasing group would have been even larger than just two points. Vlastimil Hort quite rightly made it into this second-placed group: the Czechoslovakian grandmaster was the only player to get through the tournament undefeated! Ex-world champion Vasily Smyslov, Viktor Korchnoi and Svetozar Gligoric shared second place with Hort. Half a point back, Tigran Petrosian, the other former world champion in the field, finished sixth.

Last round games

Soviet grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi, who recently lost to Boris Spassky in the final of the Candidates Tournament, made it to second place with a win against Bruno Parma:

 

Viktor Korchnoi

Viktor Korchnoi

Borislav Ivkov was the first player to win a FIDE Junior World Championship in 1951. He is now 36 and is one of the strongest players in Yugoslavia, which he impressively demonstrated yesterday against his compatriot Mijo Udovcic.

 

Bobby Fischer's compatriot 21-year-old Walter Browne is in the process of establishing himself among the world's best players, which is demonstrated by the fact that FIDE recently awarded him the title of grandmaster. At the Tournament of Peace, however, Browne did not make it into the top half of the table. Even his easy win yesterday against Risto Nicevski could not change that.

 

Svetozar Gligoric played tournament games against people like Tartakower and Bogoljubow in his youth — at 47, the long-standing Yugoslavian pioneer can almost be considered to be a legend. He once again underlined his outstanding status in the chess world yesterday when, thanks to a fine victory over Romanian champion Theodor Ghitescu, he was able to work his way up to shared second place in the standings table.

 

Svetozar Gligoric, Bobby Fischer

Svetozar Gligoric and Bobby Fischer

Wolfgang Uhlmann from Dresden also ended the tournament with a win — his game against Bojan Kurajica lasted an incredible 112 moves.

 

Results of Round 17

Korchnoi 1-0 Parma
Udovcic 0-1 Ivkov
Bertok ½-½ Minic
Kovacevic ½-½ Smyslov
Nicevski 0-1 Browne
Uhlmann 1-0 Kurajica
Petrosian ½-½ Fischer
Marovic ½-½ Hort
Gligoric 1-0 Ghitescu

Final standings

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   ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 13.0 / 17
2 Viktor Lvovich Kortschnoj ½   ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½ 0 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 11.0 / 17
3 Vassily V Smyslov ½ ½   0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 11.0 / 17
4 Svetozar Gligoric 0 ½ 1   ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 11.0 / 17
5 Vlastimil Hort ½ ½ ½ ½   ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 11.0 / 17
6 Tigran V Petrosian ½ ½ ½ 0 ½   ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 10.5 / 17
7 Borislav Ivkov ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½   ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 9.0 / 17
8 Dragoljub Minic 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½   ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 9.0 / 17
9 Vlatko Kovacevic 1 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½   1 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 8.5 / 17
10 Wolfgang Uhlmann 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0   ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 0 8.5 / 17
11 Mario Bertok 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½   ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 8.5 / 17
12 Walter Shawn Browne ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 ½   ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 7.5 / 17
13 Bojan Kurajica 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½   ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 6.5 / 17
14 Bruno Parma 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½   ½ ½ ½ ½ 6.5 / 17
15 Theodor Ghitescu 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½   ½ 0 ½ 6.5 / 17
16 Drazen Marovic 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½   0 ½ 6.0 / 17
17 Mijo Udovcic 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1   1 5.5 / 17
18 Risto Nicevski 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0   3.5 / 17

Master Class Vol.1: Bobby Fischer

No other World Champion was more infamous both inside and outside the chess world than Bobby Fischer. On this DVD, a team of experts shows you the winning techniques and strategies employed by the 11th World Champion.

Grandmaster Dorian Rogozenco delves into Fischer’s openings, and retraces the development of his repertoire. What variations did Fischer play, and what sources did he use to arm himself against the best Soviet players? Mihail Marin explains Fischer’s particular style and his special strategic talent in annotated games against Spassky, Taimanov and other greats. Karsten Müller is not just a leading international endgame expert, but also a true Fischer connoisseur.

Games

 

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Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.

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