Interzonal Chess Tournament, Palma de Mallorca 1970
Interzonal Chess Tournament, Palma de Mallorca 1970
Interzonal Chess Tournament, Palma de Mallorca 1970
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Interzonal Chess Tournament, Palma de Mallorca 1970

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Author: Wade, Robert Graham (1921- ) and L S Blackstock (editors)

Year: 1970

Publisher: The Chess Player

Place: Nottingham

Description:

234 pages with diagrams, tables and plates. Octavo (8 1/4" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's gray pictorial wrappers. (Lusis:1565) First edition.

The 1970 Interzonal was held in Palma de Mallorca from November 9-December 12 1970, and was the last Interzonal held as a one-section round robin. With the tournament swelling to 24 players and further expansion on the way, future changes were inevitable. The following players vied for six slots in the candidates matches to be held in 1971: William G Addison, Miroslav Filip, Robert James Fischer, Efim Geller, Svetozar Gligoric, Vlastimil Hort, Robert Huebner, Borislav Ivkov, Eleazar Jimenez Zerquera, Bent Larsen, Milan Matulovic, Henrique Mecking, Dragoljub Minic, Renato Naranja, Oscar Panno, Lev Polugaevsky, Lajos Portisch, Samuel Reshevsky, Jorge Alberto Rubinetti, Vasily Smyslov, Duncan Suttles, Mark Taimanov, Wolfgang Uhlmann and Tudev Ujtumen. At the quarter pole following round 6, Fischer had 5.5 points and a 1.5 point lead on Geller, Gligoric, Larson, Panno, and Ujtumen. But then came a bad stretch: he managed to draw lost positions in round 7 and 8, but Larsen didn't let him off the hook in round 9. By now the lead had vanished, as Geller joined Fischer at the top with 6.5. That led to the critical round 12 encounter between the leaders, Geller holding a half-point lead and playing the White pieces. Any normal grandmaster, when Geller offered an early draw, would have accepted to get an easy half-point closer to qualification. Fischer, hungry for a win after five rounds without one, refused. Geller played inaccurately and lost a pawn, reaching a difficult rook ending. Eventually, a hallucination and a final mistake sealed his fate, and Fischer took the lead. The rest was a matter of technique: Fischer won two more in a row, took a couple of draws for a breather, then started his famous streak with full points in his last seven games. There was plenty of action for the other qualifying spots, though. When Fischer began his streak in round 17, he had 11.5 points to Geller's 11.0 while Uhlmann had 10.5, and Taimanov 10.0. Trailing were Gligoric, H�bner, Larsen, and Polugaevsky with 9.5, plus Mecking and Panno with 9.0. Geller played solidly the rest of the way, making sure of qualifying without trouble. Uhlmann and Taimanov both faded a bit (and played Fischer along the way), while Larsen and H�bner went on winning streaks and Smyslov came out of nowhere back into contention. In the last round Uhlmann had white against an outsider in Naranja, and got his point without too much trouble. Taimanov had the theoretically tougher game, but won relatively easily; the kibitzing for Taimanov vs Matulovic, 1970 discusses the rumors that Matulovic's pocketbook was on steroids. That still left the reserve spot, with Portisch and Smyslov winning their games while Gligoric and Polugaevsky drew and Panno was scheduled to play Black against Fischer. But Panno refused to play. The games of the last round were scheduled for 4:00 PM Saturday, but Fischer and Reshevsky were allowed to start at 7:00 PM for religious reasons. Panno felt this was particularly unfair in the last round, because some players might have an advantage from knowing the results of earlier games. The only unfinished business was a playoff match betweeen Portisch and Smyslov for the reserve spot played in Portoroz in 1971. This was drawn, and Portisch was awarded the consolation prize due to better tiebreaks from the tournament.

Condition:

Corners bumped, spine sunned, cover creased, some edge wear else a very good copy

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