USSR vs. Rest of the World, 1970: Lajos Portisch comments

by Johannes Fischer
4/14/2020 – The "Match of the Century", USSR vs "The Rest of the World", was played in Belgrade, 1970, fifty years ago. But it still provokes discussions. Lajos Portisch comments on the controversy surrounding his draw against Viktor Kortschnoi in their fourth and last game. | Photo: Dagobert Kohlmeyer

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A controversial draw

The match was played on ten boards and the ten players on each board played four games against each other. Before the match the USSR had been the clear favourite but in the end they won the prestigious encounter with the narrowest possible margin, 20.5-19.5.

The Hungarian Grandmaster Lajos Portisch played for the "World" team and won his four-game-match against Viktor Kortschnoi 2.5-1.5. In the fourth game Portisch was an exchange up but agreed to a repetition of moves and a draw to secure victory in his mini-match against Kortschnoi.

In the commentary section of the ChessBase website Portisch reacted to rumours that he had agreed to a draw to avoid a defeat of the Soviet team in the match.

A few comments on my draw against Kortschnoi in our fourth game. When Fischer was later angry with me ... he used to say that I had agreed to the repetition because János Kádár [General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, presiding over the country from 1956 until his retirement in 1988, Ed.] had called me. This is obviously nonsense. A telephone call while the game is still in progress!?

Well, Prof. Dr. Max Euwe was the captain [of our team] but he very rarely gave a direct answer when a real problem occured! Before I made my last move that forced the repetition and the draw I went to Euwe to ask what I should do as many games were still in progress. His answer was "You can decide what to do."

It is true that I was an exchange up but the position was complicated and Black had some attacking chances. We both did not have too much time left and the danger of coming into time pressure was real. Kortschnoi had always been better than me in time-pressure [and I agreed to the draw]. After all, we have never worked like a real team! Just remember the ongoing controversery about the board-order, fees etc. In the Hungarian Olympic team I always accepted such challenges, but here the individual result was more important to me than the outcome of the match! (This is a slightly edited version of the comment by Portisch. Some typing and grammatical errors were corrected. They had crept in because Portisch, as he later said, had been "angry" when writing his comment. Ed.)

Finally, here's the controversial game.

 
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1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e6 6.g3 Qb6 7.Nb3 Ne5 8.e4 Bb4 9.Qe2 0-0 10.f4 Nc6 11.e5 Ne8 12.Bd2 f6 13.c5 Qd8 14.a3 Bxc3 15.Bxc3 fxe5 16.Bxe5 b6 17.Bg2 Nxe5? Black is under pressure and with this objectively dubious exchange sacrifice he strives for counterplay. After e. g. 17...Bb7 18.Rc1 White has a slight but comfortable advantage. 18.Bxa8 Nf7 19.Bg2 bxc5 20.Nxc5 Qb6 21.Qf2 Qb5! Stopping White from castling. 22.Bf1 White steers for a repetition and a draw. Modern engines evaluate the position as clearly better for White. They recommend 22.Qd4 but in the position that arises after e.g. d6 23.Ne4 e5 24.fxe5 Nxe5 humans might feel more concerned about the safety of White's king than an engine. 22...Qc6 23.Bg2 Qb5 24.Bf1 Qc6 25.Bg2 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Portisch,L2630Kortschnoj,V2670½–½1970A33Match/Team URS-World 20,5-19,54.3

Curiously, in the discussions about game four of the match, Portisch's victory with Black in round three is often overlooked. This game was everything but peaceful and in a long and complicated fight Portisch showed a number of interesting defensive and counterattacking ideas.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.h3 Na5 9.Nc3 0-0 10.d3 Re8 11.Bg5 c6 12.Ne2 h6 13.Bd2 Nxb3 14.axb3 c5 15.Ng3 Bf8 16.c4 b4 17.Nh2 Nh7 18.Ng4 Ra7 19.f4 exf4 20.Bxf4 Nf6 21.Nh2 Nd7 22.Qd2 Ne5 23.Rf1 Kh7 24.Rf2 g6 25.Raf1 Bg7 26.Kh1 Ree7 27.Be3 Qh8 28.Rf4 Kg8 29.Rh4 h5 30.Bg5 Reb7 31.Rhf4 Nc6 32.Bf6 Qh6 33.Bxg7 Kxg7 34.Nf3 Kh8 35.h4 Bg4 36.Ng5 Qg7 37.Rf6 Rd7 38.Qf2 Kg8 39.Qf4 Ne5 40.Qd2 Nc6 41.R1f2 Rac7 42.Kg1 a5 43.Nf1 Bf5 44.R6xf5 gxf5 45.exf5 Ne5 46.Ne3 Rc8 47.f6 Qh6 48.Nf5 Qg6 49.Ne7+ Rxe7 50.fxe7 Re8 51.Ne4 Ng4 52.Rf3 Rxe7 53.Qf4 Re6 54.Rf1 Ne5 55.Nxd6 Nxd3 56.Qxf7+ Qxf7 57.Nxf7 Nxb2 58.Nd8 Rb6 59.Rf5 Nd3 60.Rd5 Nc1 61.Rxc5 Nxb3 62.Rb5 Rxb5 63.cxb5 Nc5 0–1
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  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
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  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Kortschnoj,V2670Portisch,L26300–11970C90Match/Team URS-World 20,5-19,53.3

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Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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