Author: Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club signed by Boris Vasilievich Spassky
Year: 1965
Publisher: Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club
Place: Hastings and St Leonards
Description:
unpaginated with tables and advertisements. Octavo (8" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's stapled wrapper's. Signed by Spassky. First edition.
This program allowed the holder to be admitted to the event as a spectator. The forty-first Hastings and St. Leonards International Chess Congress, which when three days old was to become the first event of the ninth-centenary year of the famous Battle of Hastings, was opened by Sir Alan Herbert on the afternoon of Wednesday, December 29th, 1965. More than two hundred competitors had entered for the various sections, which this time included a special Challengers Tournament run on the Swiss System.
The Premier itself boasted five international grandmasters, one of them the official challenger for the World Championship. Spassky's convincing victories over Keres, Geller, and Tal have made him the most successful player of the last year, and many experts are already predicting that he will beat the Champion. That is for the future to tell; at Hastings he certainly started as clear a favourite as any in recent times. The Soviet second string, the Moscow grandmaster Vasiukov, was more of an unknown quantity. He has a number of international successes to his credit but has never quite reached the top flight in his own country. Just before coming to England he scored a modest 8 out of 19 in the U.S.S.R. Championship yet was only a point behind Korchnoi.
Spassky s most dangerous rivals for first place were expected to be Gligoric and Uhlmann, both previous winners of the Premier. The Yugoslav grandmaster was known to be in good form, having recently shared the top prizes at Copenhagen and also regained his national championship; while the East German is now justly recognized as one of the most formidable tournament players outside the Soviet Union.
The foreign contingent was completed by the youthful Gheorghiu and Pfleger, who were high among the prizes last year, and Nicolai, winner of the Challengers Tournament. As for the home players, Peter Lee, our young Champion, and Norman Littlewood were again in the lists; while lastly, there was William Hartston, at eighteen, the second youngest Briton ever to play in the Premier Tournament. Thanks to their performances in the past year, all three deserved their places. However, none is very experienced at the international level, and considering the strength of the opposition, their chances would surely have been improved by the presence of a seasoned British master such as, for example, Kottnauer. Lee is not yet ready to assume the responsibilities of leadership. The two winners thoroughly deserved their success.
Apart from the excellence of his chess, Spassky impressed by his composure at all times. The terrific series of qualifying events which he has gone through in the last couple of years seems to have tempered his nerves like steel. This result will have maintained his confidence at a peak for the match with Petrosian. Uhlmann more than lived up to his fine reputation. He finished with a burst of five straight wins and played most powerfully to do so. Vasiukov performed well despite being overshadowed by his countryman. Most national teams would be pleased to have him as top board, but in the U.S.S.R. he has to fight to get into the first ten.
Condition:
Signed on front wrapper. Edge wear with bumped corners. Some crosstables partial filled with scores else very good.