Vlastimil Hort: Bent Larsen

by Vlastimil Hort
2/28/2018 – Bent Larsen was born 83 years ago, on March 4, 1935, in Tilsted, a small village in Denmark. He never had a trainer but became one of the best players in the world. "If in hell, then first class," was his motto. Vlastimil Hort knew him well. | Photo: Harry Pot/ Nationaal Archief NL

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"If in hell, then first class"

Bent Larsen (1935 – 2010) and a strong round-robin tournament

Moscow, 1962 - The festive opening ceremony and the drawing of lots took place in the Central Chess Club. Even though the non-Soviet players drew small numbers (which gave them one more game with White) they finished at the lower part of the table. I was by far the youngest player in this prestigious tournament. A talkative Dane was also there. We both had the same goal, namely to crib something from the Russian elite players. During our conversation I noticed that my knowledge of English was as bad as my knowledge of the English: 1.c4. The tournament table is remarkable and noteworthy.

Rg. Name Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Pts.
1 Yuri L Averbakh
 
  1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 10.0 / 15
2 Evgeni Vasiukov
 
0   ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 9.5 / 15
3 David Ionovich Bronstein
 
½ ½   ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 9.0 / 15
4 Andor Lilienthal
 
½ 1 ½   ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 9.0 / 15
5 Leonid Alexandrovic Shamkovich
 
½ 0 1 ½   0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 9.0 / 15
6 Gedeon Barcza
 
½ 0 ½ ½ 1   1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 9.0 / 15
7 Vlastimil Hort
 
½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0   ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 7.5 / 15
8 Bent Larsen
 
0 0 1 0 0 ½ ½   1 0 1 0 1 1 1 ½ 7.5 / 15
9 Anatoly A Bykhovsky
 
½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0   1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 7.5 / 15
10 Felix N Ignatiev
 
½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 0   ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 7.5 / 15
11 Vladimir Pavlovich Simagin
 
½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½   ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 7.5 / 15
12 Nikola Bochev Padevsky
 
0 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½   ½ 0 1 1 7.0 / 15
13 Mikhail Jr Yudovich
 
½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1 ½ ½   ½ ½ 1 6.5 / 15
14 Peter Dely
 
0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 0 0 1 1 ½   ½ 0 5.5 / 15
15 Lev Solomonovich Aronin
 
½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½   1 5.0 / 15
16 R Veid
 
0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 1 0   3.0 / 15

Moscow 1962

Bent Larsen and Vlastimil Hort, Moscow 1962

Bent Larsen and Vlastimil Hort, Moscow 1962 | Photo: Vlastimil Hort

At this time Bent still studied but was also working part-time for Danish Broadcasting. There he was an all-rounder in matters of culture and history. When the chess goddess Caissa made him burn all bridges to the civilian world of work is hard to say. The great individualist and self-taught man could achieve much more and more tangible things in chess.

Hard-working, his typewriter was rattling till late at night. All his comments, chess works, ideas or inspirations bear the imprint of his originality. Chess theory was enriched by his exceptional creativity. Because of him, the games of the past masters enjoyed a reincarnation. Larsen's opening 1.b3, the Open Variation in the Spanish — where did the Dane get the energy to sit on so many chairs? An eternal, invincible optimist. With a slight advantage he was already winning, in worse positions, a draw was always still in reach. It was feast or famine wherever he appeared.

Dear Bent, since our last encounter, 1962 in Moscow, a lot has happened in world politics. In our games, the two of us have always fought down to the last pawn, like the two little bears on the famous postcard. Calm and optimism have never been mine, thus I desperately try to emulate your philosophy of life. You might well have been a professor at the Charles University in Prague. The lecture hall would have been filled to capacity.

Your recommendations?

1. If you have to go to hell after all, then only first class.

2. Everyone should believe in Karl Marx until completing the thirtieth year of life, but who then still keeps his marxist convictions is a fool.

3. These small Czechs like small checks.

Yes, the last wisdom was alluding to and criticising my peacefulness in positions which he believed I should have played to the bitter end.

Dear Bent, I assure you that I took your recommendations very much to heart. When I travel, then often first class, politically, my position is à la droite, and as a small Czech I like the big checks with lots of zeros at the end best.

Palma de Mallorca 1969

In a strong tournament in Palma de Mallorca 1969 Larsen lost his first three games. "That does not matter," the eternal optimist said to me. "I feel fine and I will win the tournament anyway." I was speechless.

Rg. Title Name Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pts.
1 GM Bent Larsen
 
  ½ 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 12.0
2 GM Tigran V Petrosian
 
½   ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1   ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 11.0
3 GM Viktor Lvovich Kortschnoj
 
0 ½   1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 10.5
4 GM Vlastimil Hort
 
1 0 0   ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 10.5
5 GM Boris Vasilievich Spassky
 
1 ½ ½ ½   ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 10.0
6 GM Jesus Diez del Corral
 
0 0 0 0 ½   ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 9.5
7 GM Henrique Mecking
 
1 0 0 ½ ½ ½   0 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 9.0
8 GM Oscar Panno
 
0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1   ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 9.0
9 GM Miguel Najdorf
 
0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½   ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 8.5
10 GM Bruno Parma
 
½   ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½   ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 8.0
11 GM Wolfgang Unzicker
 
0 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½   ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 8.0
12 GM Laszlo Szabo
 
½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½   ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 0 8.0
13 GM Arturo Pomar Salamanca
 
½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½   ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 7.5
14 GM Jonathan Penrose
 
0 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 1 0 ½ ½ 0 ½   1 ½ ½ ½ 6.5
15 GM Milko Georgiev Bobotsov
 
0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0   ½ 1 0 6.5
16 GM Mato Damjanovic
 
0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½   ½ ½ 6.5
17 IM Roman Toran Albero
 
0 0 1 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½   ½ 6.0
18 IM Antonio Angel Medina Garcia
 
0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½   5.0

San Antonio 1972

San Antonio 1972. Church's Fried Chicken Tournament. During the opening ceremony, the participants sit together at a big table. "The first prize is too high," Petrosian complains. We, the other players, agreed because we were also in favour of a milder scaling of the prize-fund. But the organisers did not change anything. Why? Bent Larsen was the only one who was against a different prize-fund. He came to San Antonio to bring the big first prize home. Does chess have something of Russian Roulette?

Rg. Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Pts.
1 Anatoly Karpov   ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 10.5 / 15
2 Tigran V Petrosian ½   ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 10.5 / 15
3 Lajos Portisch 1 ½   0 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 10.5 / 15
4 Svetozar Gligoric 0 0 1   ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 10.0 / 15
5 Paul Keres ½ ½ 0 ½   1 ½ 1 1 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 9.5 / 15
6 Vlastimil Hort ½ ½ 0 ½ 0   ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 9.0 / 15
7 Duncan Suttles 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½   ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 9.0 / 15
8 Henrique Mecking ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½   1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 8.5 / 15
9 Bent Larsen ½ 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0   1 1 0 1 1 1 1 8.5 / 15
10 Donald Byrne 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0   1 0 ½ 1 1 1 7.0 / 15
11 Larry Melvyn Evans ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 0   ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 6.5 / 15
12 Walter Shawn Browne 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 1 ½   1 0 0 1 6.5 / 15
13 Julio P Kaplan ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 0   1 ½ 0 5.0 / 15
14 Mario Campos Lopez 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 0   1 ½ 3.5 / 15
15 Anthony Fred Saidy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 ½ 0   1 3.5 / 15
16 Kenneth Ray Smith 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 0   2.0 / 15

Anatoly Karpov and Bent Larsen in round 3 of Church’s Fried Chicken International Chess Tournament, November 21, 1972. | Photo: San Antonio Express-News Collection, MS 360: E-0026-127-30

A small Cessna with four people on board, flying from Gatwick to Eindhoven where the organisers of the Tilburg tournament were already waiting for us. Larsen was in a very good mood because he had just won the BBC TV Tournament in Brighton. He beat me in the fifth blitz game of the finals, and he was a well-known and popular commentator for TV. But back then transmission technology was still in its infancy. Therefore, a "catman", dressed in black from top to toe, had to manually move the pieces on the demonstration board. This forced the commentators to pay fiendishly fierce attention to the synchronisation.

On the airplane, Bent just talked and talked without break, just as he had done in the TV studio of Brighton. He sat in front, next to the pilot, while I used the whole stock of vomit bags in the back. It was stuffy in the Cessna, up and down, thunderstorm. Thank God we were on solid ground again after landing. "These small Czechs don't like small Cessnas", Bent joked afterwards. I had to laugh but secretly decided to try to win our next game in Tilburg at all costs.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 0-0 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 c5 7.Qc2 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.e3 Nxd4 10.exd4 b6 11.Be2 Bb7 12.0-0 Be7 13.Rad1 Rc8 14.Qa4 a6 15.d5 exd5 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Nxd5 Bxb2 18.Bg4 Rc5 19.Bxd7 Be5 20.Bh3 b5 21.Qb4 Bd6 22.Ne3 Qc7 23.g3 Bf3 24.Rd4 bxc4 25.Nxc4 Rb8 26.Qd2 Rxc4 27.Rxd6 Rc2 28.Qf4 Rxa2 29.Rc1 Qb7 30.Rd7 Qb2 31.Qxf7+ Kh8 32.Rf1 Be2 33.Re1
33...Bh5 34.Qf4 Ra1 35.Qxb8+ Qxb8 36.Rxa1 Qe5 37.Rc1 Bf3 38.Bf1 Time
1–0
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Larsen,B2590Hort,V25951–01980E21Interpolis-0411

Here's what I think about the game after many years and with a certain amount of distance: Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy is famous. If Hamlet had been a chess player, he might have said "to be two or not to be two". Because in chess the pawn b2 is ususally poisoned. In our game 33…Ra1 would have been "to be" and winning for me. Unfortunately, with my move 33… Bh5 I opted for "not to be".

Belgrade 1970

USSR against the Rest of the World. Bent Larsen played on board one which Fischer, to everyone's surprise, had agreed to concede to him. Both Fischer and Larsen won on their boards (Larsen 2½ / 4, Fischer 3.0 / 4). Though the second round game Larsen 0-1 Spassky is quite famous and was published in chess magazines everywhere and entered chess history as an all-time classic, I think that Larsen still showed outstanding chess in Belgrade.

In the third round game, Larsen levelled the score by winning with Black against Spassky. Spassky must have sensed that Larsen was in top form. Therefore, he did not mind at all to let bench-warmer Leonid Stein play the last game with Black. Was Spassky afraid of a humiliation? At any rate, Larsen played superbly and in the game the Soviet substitute did not see any light at the end of the tunnel.

Drawing of Larsen

"Bent Larsen" | Drawing by Otakar Masek

 
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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 11.Bd3 Ng6 12.Bg3 0-0 13.0-0 Ne7 14.f4 exf4 15.Rxf4 Ng6 16.Rxf6 Qxf6 17.Ne4 Qd8 18.Nxd6 Qg5 19.Qd2 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 30.Kf3 Re8 31.Bf2 h5 32.h3 Kg7 33.g4 hxg4+ 34.hxg4 Rh8 35.d6 Rh1 36.Bf5 Bc6+ 37.Ke2 Rh3 38.d7 Rh8 39.Bg3 Rd8 40.Bc7 Rxd7 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Spassky,B-Larsen,B-½–½1970E31Match/Team URS-World 20,5-19,51.1

Drawing of Spassky

"Boris Spassky", | Drawing by Otakar Masek

 
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1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nf3 e4 5.Nd4 Bc5 6.Nxc6 dxc6 7.e3 Bf5 8.Qc2 Qe7 9.Be2 0-0-0 10.f4 Ng4 11.g3 h5 12.h3 h4 13.hxg4 hxg3 14.Rg1 Rh1 15.Rxh1 g2 16.Rf1 Qh4+ 17.Kd1 gxf1Q+ 0–1
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Larsen,B-Spassky,B-0–11970A01Match/Team URS-World 20,5-19,52.1

My Secret Weapon: 1.b3

Meanwhile, 1.b3 has also found its way into the practice of today's world elite, and now finally a modern top ten player has taken on the subject for ChessBase: none other than Grandmaster Wesley So!


 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 0-0 7.Bd3 c5 8.0-0 Nc6 9.d5 Nb4 10.d6 Bxd6 11.Bxh7+ Kxh7 12.Qxd6 Bxf3 13.gxf3 Ne8 14.Qe7 Qxe7 15.Bxe7 Rg8 16.Rfd1 Nc6 17.Rxd7 Ne5 18.Rb7 Nxc4 19.Ne4 Na5 20.Rd7 Nc6 21.f4 Rc8 22.Rc1 a5 23.a3 Kg6 24.Kg2 Rh8 25.Kf3 Rxh2 26.Ng5 e5 27.Rg1 exf4 28.Bd6 Nxd6 29.Rxd6+ f6 30.Ne6+ Kf5 31.Nxf4 Ne5+ 32.Ke2 Re8 33.Rxb6 Nc4 34.Rb3 g5 35.Nd5 Re5 36.Rd1 g4 37.Kf1 Rh1+ 38.Ke2 Rxd1 0–1
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Spassky,B-Larsen,B-0–11970E12Match/Team URS-World 20,5-19,53.1

Leonid Stein drawing

"Leonid Stein" | Drawing by Otakar Masek

 
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.c4 0-0 5.0-0 d6 6.d4 Nbd7 7.Nc3 e5 8.e4 exd4 9.Nxd4 Re8 10.Re1 Ng4 11.f3 Nge5 12.b3 Nc5 13.Be3 f5 14.Qd2 fxe4 15.Bg5 Qd7 16.Nxe4 Nxe4 17.Rxe4 Nc6 18.Nxc6 Rxe4 19.fxe4 Qxc6 20.e5 Qc5+ 21.Kh1 Be6 22.Bxb7 Rf8 23.Be3 Qxe5 24.Re1 Qc3 25.Kg2 Qxd2+ 26.Bxd2 Bd4 27.Bf4 Kf7 28.Bh6 Rb8 29.Bc6 Bf6 30.Be3 a6 31.Bd2 Rb6 32.Bf3 Rb8 33.Ba5 Bd8 34.Rf1 Kg8 35.Bc6 Bf7 36.g4 Be7 37.Kg3 Rd8 38.Rd1 Bf6 39.h4 Be5+ 40.Kg2 Rc8 41.g5 Kg7 42.Bd7 Rd8 43.Bg4 d5 44.Bf3 h6 45.gxh6+ Kxh6 46.Bd2+ Kg7 47.Bg5 Rd6 48.Bxd5 Bxd5+ 49.Rxd5 Rxd5 50.cxd5 Kf7 51.Kf3 Ke8 52.Bf4 Bf6 53.Bxc7 Bxh4 54.b4 Kd7 55.Bb6 Bf6 56.Bc5 Bb2 57.a4 Ba3 58.a5 Bb2 59.Kf4 Bf6 60.Ke4 Bc3 61.b5 axb5 62.a6 Kc8 63.d6 Kb8 64.Kd5 Bf6 65.Kc6 g5 66.Kxb5 g4 67.Kc4 Ka8 68.Kd3 Be5 69.d7 Bc7 70.Ke4 g3 71.Kf3 Bd8 72.Kxg3 Ba5 73.Kg4 Bd8 74.Kf5 Ba5 75.Ke6 Bc7 76.Kf7 Ba5 77.Ke8 Bc7 78.Be7 Ba5 79.Bd8 Bd2 80.Bb6 Bg5 81.Bc5 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Larsen,B-Stein,L-1–01970E68Match/Team URS-World 20,5-19,54.1

Solid and safe against the Indian openings: Play the Fianchetto

The King''s Indian and Grunfeld are notoriously tricky and theoretical openings. The Fianchetto variation avoids the main lines which Black players enjoy, and goes for a small but safe edge. GM Nick Pert played the Fianchetto variation for over 20 years, and at the time of recording was unbeaten with White since November 2011!


I am also impressed by a rather unknown game by Larsen (Jelen-Larsen), played in the tournament Ljubljana/Portoroz 1972. Sometimes I dream of the cheekiness of Black's king. Then, the well-known melody of the Radetzky March, which the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra always gives as an encore to New Year, comes to my mind.

 
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1.Nf3 b6 2.g3 Bb7 3.Bg2 c5 4.c4 g6 5.0-0 Bg7 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Bxg2 8.Kxg2 Nc6 9.Nc2 Rc8 10.Ne3 Nf6 11.Nc3 0-0 12.Rb1 e6 13.b3 d5 14.cxd5 Nb4 15.Ba3 a5 16.Qd2 Ng4 17.Ncd1 Nxe3+ 18.Nxe3 Bc3 19.Qd1 Re8 20.Bxb4 axb4 21.Qd3 Rc5 22.dxe6 Qa8+ 23.Kg1 Rxe6 24.Rbd1 Qxa2 25.Qd8+ Kg7 26.Nd5 Qxb3 27.Ne7 Qc4 28.Qg8+ Kf6 29.Qh8+ Kg5 30.Qf8 Rxe2 31.Ng8 h5 32.Nh6 Bd2 33.Nxf7+ Kg4 34.Rxd2 Rxd2 35.f3+ Kh3 36.Qc8+ Qg4 37.Ng5+ Rxg5 38.fxg4 Rg2+ 39.Kh1 Rc5 40.Qd8 Rxh2+ 41.Kg1 g5 42.Rb1 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Jelen,I2370Larsen,B26150–11977A30Vidmar Memorial-0411
Rg. Title Name Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pkt.
1 GM Bent Larsen
 
  ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 9.5 / 13
2 GM Vlastimil Hort
 
½   ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 9.0 / 13
3 GM Vladimir A Savon
 
½ ½   ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 8.5 / 13
4 GM Bruno Parma
 
½ ½ ½   ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 7.5 / 13
5 GM Vitaly Tseshkovsky
 
0 ½ 1 ½   ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 7.5 / 13
6 GM Gennadi Sosonko
 
½ 0 0 ½ ½   ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 7.0 / 13
7 GM Bojan Kurajica
 
1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½   0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 7.0 / 13
8 GM Svetozar Gligoric
 
0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1   1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 5.5 / 13
9 GM Albin Planinc
 
0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0   ½ 0 1 1 1 5.5 / 13
10 GM Enver Bukic
 
½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½   ½ ½ 0 1 5.5 / 13
11 GM Gyula Sax
 
0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½   1 0 ½ 5.0 / 13
12 IM Iztok Jelen
 
0 0 ½ ½ 1 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0   1 1 5.0 / 13
13 IM Janez Barle
 
0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 0 1 1 0   ½ 5.0 / 13
14 GM Gudmundur Sigurjonsson
 
0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½   3.5 / 13

He was never one for grandmaster draws! His chess calling card is impressive! In the 60s Bent Larsen is, without a doubt, the best player from the West. Even the Soviet Chess Power was afraid of the wild Viking. He qualifies no less than four times for the Candidates. He wins a whole number of super-tournaments. In January 1971 he reaches an Elo-rating of 2660, which is a clear indicator of today's Elo-inflation.

His way — or flight — from Denmark via the Canary Islands (Las Palmas) to Argentina can be compared to the fate of the famous French actor Gérard Depardieu. Neither of them wanted to pay the unjustifiably high taxes in their home countries. Larsen chose the West, Depardieu the East. I only hope he invested his savings well in his new home. By the way, the Argentine steaks are of the highest quality. Not to mention the Argentine tango, Milonga.

Today's FIDE does nothing, really nothing at all, against the huge inflation of Elo-ratings and Grandmaster titles. There are many grandmasters who have not even won one single tournament of medium strength and only once in their life made weak norms. Maybe the FIDE will one day introduce what is reasonable: the super-grandmaster title.

"Even post mortem, you, dear Bent,  will, of course, sit in the front row!"

Translation from German: Johannes Fischer

Update March 1st:  Our regular contributor Prof. Nagesh Havanur checked contemporary reports and found out Lajos Portisch has a point. In an email to ChessBase he writes: Do check p.66 of Chess Life & Review, February 1973. Under S.B. score Portisch finished with 76.75, Petrosian with 72.75 and Karpov with 70.25 points. No official tie-breaking was done and all the three received equal prizes. The initial tournament table on p.8 in the January issue shows the winners in the alphabetical order. That's what we find in the article by Hort.

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Vlastimil Hort was born January 12, 1944, in Kladno, Czechoslovakia. In the 1970s he was one of the world's best players and a World Championship candidate. In 1979 he moved to West Germany where he still lives. Hort is an excellent blindfold player, a prolific author and a popular chess commentator.

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