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Exactly one year later the rematch between the new World Champion, Vasily Smyslov, and former World Champion, Mikhail Botvinnik, was played.
1958 World Championship: Vasily Vasiliyevich Smyslov vs. Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik  Players Vasily Vasiliyevich Smyslov the reigning champion. Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik the challenger. Match conditions:
The Match  Download games This time Botvinnik came better prepared to win the title back. Smyslov later said his health suffered during the return match, as he came down with pneumonia, but he also acknowledged that Botvinnik had prepared very thoroughly. There was a curiosity in game 15 where Botvinnik had a good position after 55 moves, and only had to make two moves in three minutes before the adjournment. He stared at the board and became so absorbed in trying to figure out the win of a piece and which pawn to push that he was quite surprised when arbiter informed him that he had lost on time. Impact on the future At that time Smyslov had the distinction of being the World champion with the shortest reign (377 days), a distinction that was soon passed on to Mihail Tal. Although over the course of the three World Championship matches (1954, 1957, 1958), Smyslov had won 18 games to Botvinnik's 17 (with 34 draws), he was champion only for a year. Smyslov never managed to qualify for another World championship again but continued to play in World Championship qualifying events. In 1983 (aged 62) he came as far as into the Candidates final, where he lost to an opponent who was 1/3 of his age - Garry Kasparov. In 1991 he won the inaugural Senior World Chess Championship. He is the oldest living former World Champion. This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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Chessmaster Moderator |
Allow me to interrupt this fascinating history lesson for a moment...
In case some have wondered why many of these players don't have titles (or ELO ratings): The official title of Grandmaster was created by FIDE in 1950. Twenty-seven players were awarded the title, based on their participation in the 1950 Candidates Tournament (See here for details). Before that time, 'Grandmaster' was a term informally used when referring to world-class players. The Elo rating sytem (created by Arpad Elo) wasn't adopted by FIDE until 1970, although the USCF had been using since 1960. Here's some more information on Arpad Elo here... Back to the lesson!  This message has been edited. Last edited by: KHollister,  |
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There were minor changes compared to the previous cycle:
Interzonal tournament After qualifying through the zonal tournament Pal Benko (from Hungary) defected during the World Student Team Championship in Reykjavik, Iceland. Hungarian and Soviet officials (Hungary was a satellite state of USSR) demanded that "the traitor" is not allowed to play in the interzonal since he qualified through "their" zone. FIDE didn't budge and allowed Benko to cash in the qualifying ticket he has earned. Since Benko didn't yet receive the US citizenship, he was legally stateless (hence no flag). Tournament was played from August 5th to September 12th, 1958 in Portoroz, Yugoslavia (Slovenia).  Download games First six players qualified for the Candidates tournament (among them was a certain 15 year old boy called Bobby) Candidates tournament Six Interzonal qualifiers (Tal, Gligoric, Petrosian, Benko, Olafsson and Fischer) were joined by Smyslov and Keres from the previous cycle. Tournament was played from September 6th to October 31st, 1959 in Yugoslavia. First two cycles were played in Bled (Slovenia), the third in Zagreb (Croatia) and the fourth in Belgrade (Serbia).  Download games In his first attempt Mihail Tal qualified for the World Championship match against Botvinnik. 1960 World Championship: Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik vs. Mihail Nekhemievich Tal  Players Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik the reigning champion. During his reign Botvinnik played in very few tournaments. His only individual tournaments were basicaly the Soviet championships (which he won 6 times). He mainly played in team tournaments like Chess Olympiads and European Team championships and of course World Championship matches. And like all Soviet players, he played in internal "training camps". At the time of the match, Botvinnik was almost 49 years old. Mihail Nekhemievich Tal the challenger. Tal's first major succes came in 1957 when he became the youngest player to win the Soviet championship. He had not played enough international tournaments to qualify for the GM title, but FIDE awarded him the title anyway (because he won the Soviet championship). Next year he repeated his feat and won the Soviet championship again. In 1958 he was selected for the Chess Olympiad team. Tal's first major international tournament win was the above mentioned Interzonal tournament in Portoroz. Match conditions:
The Match  Download games Botvinnik was no match for Tal's youthful lively energetic play. At the age of 23 Mikhail Tal became the 8th World Champion - the youngest person to do so (this record was broken 25 years later). Impact on the future Again Botvinnik excercised his right to a rematch. This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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Almost exactly one year later the rematch was played.
1961 World Championship: Mihail Nekhemievich Tal vs. Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik  Players Mihail Nekhemievich Tal the reigning champion. Before the match Tal fell ill (he suffered chronic kidney problems throughout his whole life) and was advised to postpone the match by his doctors in Riga (Latvia). Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik the challenger. When Tal requested to postpone the match, Botvinnik didn't want to do it. He was only willing to postpone the match if Tal would be certified as unfit by the doctors in Moscow. Instead of letting himself checked by doctors in Moscow, Tal decided to play. Match conditions:
The Match  Download games This time Tal was no match for Botvinnik. Commentators agreed that Tal's play was weaker in the rematch, probably due to his health, but also that Botvinnik's play was better than in the 1960 match, largely due to thorough preparation (which was unmatched in those times). Botvinnik completely changed his style in the rematch, avoiding the tactical complications in which Tal excelled and aiming for closed positions and endgames, where Tal's technique was not outstanding. Tal was a World Champion for only 370 days (7 days less than Smyslov). At the time of the match Botvinnik was almost 50 years old making him the second oldest player to win a World Championship match (Steinitz was 56 when he won his last World Championship match in 1892). Impact on the future Tal's chronic kidney problems and his unhealthy lifestyle prevented him to fully live up to his potential. Although he never qualified for another World championship match again he remained an elite player for decades. He won the Soviet championship 6 times (shares the record with Botvinnik) and many other tournaments. One of his later major wins is his shared (with Karpov) 1st place in 1979 Montreal tournament (nick-named "Tournament of Stars") which featured basically all the best players of that time. Tal was also a terrific blitz player and was able to hold his own against players like Karpov and Kasparov right until his death. Mihail Tal died of a kidney failure in Moscow hospital on June 28th, 1992. This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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There was some dissatisfaction with the World Championship cycle.
Many argued that the reigning champion has too many privileges. Besides overcoming the 12-12 tie clause, the challenger basically has to win in two consecutive matches before he really dethrones the old Champion. The other complaint was that there are too many players from the same country - Soviet Union - that are taking part in Candidates tournament (1953 Candidates featured an all time record of 9 players from the USSR). As a response FIDE made the following changes for the next cycle:
Interzonal tournament The Interzonal tournament was planned to be held in The Netherlands in 1961, but the entry visas could not be obtained for all the participants. Subsequently efforts were made to play in Moscow, and then Madrid, but these arrangements also fell through. Finally the Interzonal was played in Stockholm under the direct sponsorship of FIDE in the second year of the cycle (normally the interzonals are played in the first year of the cycle). Tournament was played from January 26th to March 8th, 1962 in Stockholm, Sweden.  Download games This time players who tied for the last 6th qualifying spot had to play tie-breaks (in previous cycles all tied players advanced to the next stage).  Download games (the last game between Benko and Gligoric wasn't played as everything was already decided) Leonid Stein won the tie-breaks, however the new rule (maximum 3 players from the same country) prevented him to qualify for the Candidates. The question that immediatelly pop's up is: Why did Stein even play the tie-breaks if he couldn't qualify? Stein could play in the Candidates but only if one of the other qualifiers from the USSR (Geller, Petrosian or Korchnoi) was unable to participate. Since nobody withdrew the final qualifying spot went to Pal Benko. Candidates tournament Six interzonal qualifiers (Fischer, Geller, Petrosian, Korchnoi, Filip, Benko) were joined by Tal and Keres from the previous cycle. Tournament was played from May 2nd to June 26th, 1962 in Curacao, The Netherlands Antilles.  Download games During the tournament Mihail Tal became ill and had to withdrew from the tournament before the last 4th cycle of games. Tigran Petrosian won half a point ahead of Keres and Geller, to earn a right to play with Botvinnik. What makes this tournament so famous is that soon after the end Fischer accused the Soviet players of collusion to prevent any non-Soviet (specially him) from winning. Fischer claimed that: While his first allegation turned out to be correct (Petrosian, Geller and Keres did spontaneously form a drawing pact) the other one was just Fischers imagination. Korchnoi never (even after he defected in 1976) alleged that he was ordered to throw any games. Also what speaks against this is that there was never any real threat that Fischer or any other non-Soviet could win this tournament, so it was unnecessary for anybody to throw games in order for a Soviet to win. Besides Fischer's allegation there is also an interesting story concearning the game between Benko and Keres in the second last round. Going into that round Petrosian and Keres were tied on 16.5 points. Petrosian has drawn against Fischer before the adjournement, but the game between Benko and Keres was adjourned and scheduled to resume in the next playing session. Petrosian and Geller (who were good friends) went to Benko's hotel room and offered him help to analyse the adjourned position to beat their own countryman Keres. Benko refused the offer and added that with correct play the game will probably end in a draw. When the game resumed Keres made a mistake and ended up losing the game. In last round Petrosian made a quick draw against Filip, and Keres was unable to defeat Fischer. So Petrosian ended up winning by half a point. To prevent such things in the future, FIDE changed the system in the next cycle. By the end of 1962 a 'best of 8' match for the 2nd place between Paul Keres and Efim Geller was played in Moscow, Soviet Union (Russia).  Download games This was 4th consecutive time that Paul Keres ended up (shared) second in Candidates tournament. He is generally considered as the greatest player who never got a chance to play a World championship match. In case you are wondering why this match was played - the winner got automatically seeded into the next Candidates. Also there were rumors that Botvinnik might retire as a World champion rather than defend his title again in 1963. Had this happened, Petrosian would have played a championship match against the 2nd place finisher. 1963 World Championship: Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik vs. Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian  Players Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik the reigning champion. After winning the title back in 1961 Botvinnik made some hints that he could retire from championship play. At the time of match Botvinnik was almost 52 years old. Only Steinitz (60) and Lasker (53) played a World championship match at an older age. Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian the challenger. While being Armenian, Petrosian was born in Tbilisi (Georgia) and spent most of his childhood there. His first sucess was a shared 1st place in 1945 Soviet Junior championship and a clear win (with 14/15) in 1946 Soviet Junior championship. He then moved to Moscow where he began to show steady progress. By 1952 he became a GM and qualified for his first Candidates in 1953. His results in Candidates tournament gradually improved - in 1953 Candidates he finished 5th, in 1956 he finished shared 3rd, in 1959 clear 3rd, and in 1962 he won. In 1959 he won his first Soviet championship, a feat he repeated in 1961, 1969 and 1975. Petrosian was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else. In his prime he was almost impossible to defeat. Petrosian is the only player in history to go through the Interzonal and the Candidates process undefeated on the way to the world championship match. Match conditions:
The Match  Download games Petrosian lost the first game of the match, but recovered and won fairly comfortably to become the 9th World Champion. Petrosians patient, defensive style frustrated Botvinnik, who only needed to make one risky move for Petrosian to punish him. Impact on the future As there was no re-match clause anymore, Botvinnik didn't have a chance to regain the title immediately (like in previous two cycles). He was seeded directly into the next Candidates, but he didn't excercise this right and retired from championship play. He continued to play competitive chess for 7 more years before finaly retireing in 1970. After his playing career Botvinnik devoted himself to computer chess and founded his own chess school within the Soviet coaching system. Most famous graduates of Botvinnik's chess school are Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik, who all went to become the World Champions. Botvinnik's trademark (which he also thought in his school) was very thoroughly analysing of a relatively narrow repertoire of openings; annotating one's own games, those of past great players and those of competitors; publishing one's annotatations so that others can point out any errors; studying strong opponents to discover their strengths and weaknesses; ruthless objectivity about one's own strengths and weaknesses. He considered himself as a "universal player" (all-rounder), in contrast to all-out tactical calculators like Mihail Tal or purely positional players like Tigran Petrosian. Although Botvinnik peaked during the World War 2 and became champion quite late (at 37) he held the title for (accumulated) 13 years, more than any of his succesors (Kasparov's reign is debatable as he was undisputed champion only until 1993). Botvinnik was the first champion who had to play all his challengers. Mikhail Botvinnik died of cancer on May 5th, 1995 in Moscow, Russia. This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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Following the debates (sparked by Fischer's accusations) that the current system of chosing the challenger allows players from one nation to play as a team, FIDE decided to radically change the system. Candidates Tournament was abolished and replaced with a series of elimination matches - known as Candidates matches. All Candidates matches were 'best of 10 games', except for the final which was 'best of 12 games'.
Despite getting what he wanted, Fischer refused to participate in this cycle. Interzonal tournament Tournament was played from May 19th to June 24th, 1964 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.  Download games As in previous cycle, first 6 finishers were to qualify for the Candidates stage, but because of the "maximum 3 players from the same country" rule Stein (again!) and Bronstein were ineligible. With Stein and Bronstein out of the way, Ivkov qualified for the Candidates, while Portisch and Reshevsky tied for the final spot.  Download games Portisch won the 'best of 4' playoff match to clinch the last qualifying spot. Candidates matches Six interzonal qualifiers (Smyslov, La.rsen, Spassky, Tal, Ivkov, Portisch) were supposed to be joined by Paul Keres (2nd in last candidates) and Botvinnik (former World champion). Since Botvinnik retired from championship play his spot went to 3rd placed from the last Candidates - Efim Geller. [I couldn't find anywhere if/how the players were seeded before the draw. So if anybody knows...]  Download games Boris Spassky became the first winner under the new system. 3rd place match was a 'best of 8 games'. When it was tied the play should continue until first decisive game. Bent Lar.sen won the first "overtime game" to clich the 3rd place and to be directly seeded into the next Interzonal. 1966 World Championship: Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian vs. Boris Vasilievich Spassky [PICTURE NEEDED!!!] Players Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian the reigning Champion. After winning the title Petrosian went on to share 1st place (with Keres) in 1963 Piatigorsky Cup - one of the strongest international tournaments at that time (besides Interzonals and Candidates). Petrosian participated in 10 chess Olympiads between 1958 and 1978, winning 16 medals (team+individual). His overall score in Chess Olympiads is 79.8% (third highest ever). From 139 games he lost only 1. Boris Vasilievich Spassky the challenger. Spassky was the most impressive Soviet chess prodigy since Mikhail Botvinnik. In 1947 (aged 10) he defeated the reigning Soviet and future World champion Mikhail Botvinnik in a simultaneous exhibition. Spassky went on to set many records within the Soviet Union (and worldwide) in the category 'youngest ever'. In his first Soviet championship (aged 18) he finished shared 3rd, thus qualifying for the 1955 Interzonal tournament. He finished shared 7th, just enough to qualify for the 1956 Candidates where he finished shared 3rd. At 1956 Soviet championship Spassky tied for first, but ended up losing the playoff's. After that he had some mediocre results and failed to qualify for the next two World Championship cycles. In 1960 Spassky won (together with Fischer) the tournament in Mar del Plata. After failing to qualify for the Interzonal second time in a row, Spassky decided upon a switch in trainers, from the volatile attacker Alexander Tolush to the calmer strategist Igor Bondarevsky. This proved the key to his resurgence. Soon after the trainer switch he won his first Soviet championship in 1961. He also finished tied for first in 1963 Soviet championship, but like in 1956 ended up losing on tie-breaks. Then, in the 1964 Soviet Zonal at Moscow Spassky won to qualify for the Interzonal tournament. There he finished equal 1st. With new trainer, Spassky's style broadened and deepened, with poor results mostly banished, yet his fighting spirit was even enhanced. He added psychology and surprise to his quiver, and this proved enough to send him to the top. He had the unique ability to change and adapt his style, depending on who his opponent is. In 1965 Candidates he beat Paul Keres with careful strategy, he defeated Efim Geller with mating attacks, then against Tal he often managed to steer play into quieter positions, either avoiding Tal's tactical strength, or enticing him to sacrifice too much. Match conditions:
The Match  Download games After a tough battle Petrosian's defensive skills proved to be too much for Spassky. This was the first time since 1934 that a reigning Champion won a World championship match (Botvinnik's first two title defences ended in a tie). Impact on the future First two from the Candidates matches (Spassky, Tal) were seeded into the next Candidates, while the third placed (L@rsen) was seeded into the next Interzonal. This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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There were no changes for this cycle.
Interzonal tournament Two Argentinians, Oscar Panno and Julio Bolbochan, were eligible but did not play. While Panno cancelled, Balbochan fell ill en route. Tournament was played from October 15th to November 15th, 1967 in Sousse, Tunisia.  Download games Fischer started with 8.5 out of 10 games. Having been a member of the Worldwide Church of God the organizers honored the sabbath, but on expense of Fischer's rest days, which led to a scheduling dispute. Organizers (in my opinion) logically counted the sabbath as a rest day (every player had a certain number of rest days), while Fischer demanded that it should not be counted as such - he wanted sabbath and rest days. Organizers (together with FIDE) didn't comply to Fischer's demands so he first forfeited two games in protest and then withdrew from the tournament. Since he did not complete half his schedule, his games were annuled and are not counted. Reshevsky, Hort and Stein tied for the final 6th qualifying spot and had to play tie-breaks.  Download games When the playoff was drawn, Reshevsky advanced due to having a better Sonnenborn-Berger tiebreak score (in the main tournament). It's interesting to see how things changed over the years. At the beginning all tied players advanced into the next stage. Later, tied players had to play tie-breaks until the decision. Now a somewhat artifical tie-break method was used (when tie-break games ended tied). But this is not the end. We will see a spin of roulette decide who progresses and who not  Candidates matches Interzonal qualifiers (Lar.sen, Korchnoi, Geller, Gligoric, Portisch, Reshevsky) were joined by Spassky and Tal from the previous cycle. Apart from the final, all candidates matches (including 3rd place match) were 'best of 10 games'. The final was 'best of 12 games'.  Download games It was Spassky again who emerged victorious meaning that we saw a reprise of the 1966 match. 3rd place match was won by Lar.sen again. 1969 World Championship: Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian vs. Boris Vasilievich Spassky  Players Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian the reigning Champion. Besides playing in 10 Chess Olympiads (losing only 1 game from 139, and winning 16 medals) Petrosian also participated in all (8) European team championships that were held in his life-time. He won 8 team and 4 individual gold medals, and lost none of the 52 games he played. Petrosian is generally considered as the hardest player to beat in the history of chess. Boris Vasilievich Spassky the challenger. After narrowly losing the 1966 World Championship match, Spassky won the 2nd Piatigorsky Cup. In 1967 he won Corus chess tournament in Beverwijk (before it was moved to Wijk aan Zee) and tournament in Sochi. Match conditions:
The Match  Download games This time Spassky won to became 10th World champion. Spassky's flexibility of style was the key to his victory over Petrosian. Impact on the future Petrosian continued to play in Candidates matches basically until his death. He participated in a record 10 straight World Championship cycles (from 1952-54 cycle to 1979-81 cycle) either as a candidate or as a World champion. He is the only person to go through the Interzonal and Candidates stages undefeated (1961-1963 cycle). Petrosian died at relativly early age (55) of stomach cancer on August 13th, 1984 in Moscow. Something interesting: First three World champions (Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca) died in New York, all three deceased Soviet World champions (Botvinnik, Tal, Petrosian) died in Moscow. From remaining three deceased World champions Alekhine died in Estoril, Euwe died in Amsterdam, and Fischer in Reykjavik. Petrosian and Korchnoi (2nd in the Candidates matches) were seeded into the next Candidates. Bent Lar.sen (3rd in the Candidates) was seeded into the next Interzonal. This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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There were no changes of rules for this cycle.
Fischer controversies Bobby Fischer refused to participate in 1969 US championship (which also served as a zonal tournament) because he felt that 11 rounds were not enough to produce a 'true' winner. He wanted to have at least 22 rounds. This was against the wishes of all other players (very few of them were professionals and could afford to play such a long tournament). The officials did try to get some kind of compromise, and Fischer might have suceeded had he not been as stuborn as always by demanding all or nothing. GM Isaac Kashdan wrote this about the matter:
If enlarging the tournament would assure Fischer's participation I might say go ahead with it... But what if the schedule were rearranged, quite a task at short notice, and Fischer then went to New York just in time to play, and then objected to the lights, or the size of the playing area, or the hum of the spectators, or the director's manner or some other point, major or minor. As it happens, Fischer is now in California. He was asked to come to New York, at the expense of USCF, to check out the playing conditions. This alone would indicate that USCF officials are very anxious to have Fischer in the tournament. Fischer refused to discuss any other matters until his request for 22 rounds was accepted. I have had some personal experience with Fischer. I supervised him as Captain of the U.S.A. team at the Chess Olympics in Leipzig, East Germany, in 1960, and as Director of The Piatagorsky Cup Tournament in Santa Monica, 1966. On both occasions there were no problems that came to public attention, but there were some incidents that may have added to the gray hair I have. Not that I have given up on Fischer. I would gladly assume a similar task if I thought it would help. I am only pointing out that making a concession to Fischer does not guarantee success of a venture. I am well aware of the tremendous advantage to American chess if the world championship could be brought here. It would be worth a great deal of effort and money on the part of the chess community, and it would be worth some sacrifices on the part of other grandmasters. But the goal is also worth a great deal to Fischer, and he must also show some accommodation. 1969 US championship went bye without Fischer, thus eliminating him from another World Championship cycle. First three (1.Reshevsky, 2.Addison, 3.Benko) qualified for the Interzonal tournament. Benko makes way for Fischer This is what you probably read elsewhere - Benko gave up his Interzonal spot to Fischer. That's not untrue, but things are much more complicated than that. When one of the qualified players passes, his spot automatically goes to the next player in line - in this case the 4th placed from the 1969 US championship. If he also refuses, his spot goes to 5th placed etc. So Benko couldn't just 'give' his spot to Fischer. USCF, together with the new FIDE president Max Euwe, bent quite some rules to allow Fischer's entry into the Interzonal. Fischer had to promise to Benko that he won't withdraw from the Interzonal and from the Candidates. Interzonal tournament Tournament was played from November 9th to December 13th, 1970 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.  Download games The biggest surprise of the tournament was an unknown 22 year old Robert Huebner who shared 2nd place. Huebner was not a GM and became IM only a year prior to the tournament. The last round Fischer-Panno was unplayed due to a scheduling dispute. Panno had originally intended to forfeit the game, but eventually showed up and resigned it without making a move. First six qualified for the Candidates matches. Candidates matches Interzonal qualifiers (Fischer, Lar.sen, Geller, Huebner, Taimanov, Uhlmann) were joined by Petrosian (previous Champion) and Korchnoi (runner-up in the last Candidates). I'm just speculating, but it looks like the participants were divided into two groups based on their ratings (FIDE introduced ELO rating system in 1970). A player from the 1st pot (high rated players) was then paired against a player from the 2nd pot (lower rated players). Or so it seems.  Download games Fischer went berzerk (this time in a positive way), dominating his opponents like noone else before or since. He annihilated his first two opponents (Taimanov and Lar.sen) by 6-0 scores, before winning 5 out of 9 games against Petrosian, generaly considered as the best defensive player of all time (Petrosian normally needed 2 whole cycles to lose that many games). Fischer had a winning streak that lasted 20 consecutive games (last 7 round from the Interzonal, 6 games against Taimanov, 6 against Lar.sen, and 1st game against Petrosian). But this is not the record. The record of 25 consecutive wins is held (and will probably stay that way) by first World champion Wilhelm (William) Steinitz. Constituting part of Steintz's streak is his 7-0 win in 1876 match against Blackburne, so he beats Fischer in that department too. Huebner withdrew from his quarter-final match against Petrosian after his complaint about the playing conditions (excessive noise in the playing area) was dismissed by the Appeals Committee. They claimed that conditions were the same throughout the whole match but Huebner only complained after he had lost the game. 1972 World Championship: Boris Vasilievich Spassky vs. Robert James Fischer  Players Boris Vasilievich Spassky the reigning Champion. After winning the title, Spassky won several tournaments: 1969 San Juan, 1970 Leiden, 1970 Amsterdam, 1971 Vancouver. Before the match, Spassky had a positive score against Fischer: 3 wins, 2 draws, 0 loses. Spassky and Fischer first met in 1960 Mar del Plata tournament (where they shared 1st place) and were friends ever since. Robert James Fischer the challenger. Like Spassky in USSR, Fischer set many "youngest ever" records in USA. In 1956 (aged only 13) he won the US Junior championship, a feat he repeated a year later. In 1957 he also won the US Open championship. Based on those results he was invited to 1958 US champioship, which he won. This win earned him a spot for the 1958 Interzonal tournament. There he surprised the chess world by finishing shared 5th. This made Fischer the youngest person ever to qualify for the Candidates, a record which stood until 2005 when it was broken by Magnus Carlsen (although the cycles are not comparable). It also earned him the title of Grandmaster, at 15 years and 6 months (a record that stood for 32 years until it was broken by Judit Polgar). In 1959 he sucessfuly defended his US title, but then had some mediocre results in international tournaments. In 1960 Fischer tied first with Spassky in Mar del Plata tournament. In the subsequent Buenos Aires tournament Fischer had the worst result of his career, finishing only 13th. In 1961 he was scheduled to play a 16 game match against Reshevsky. After 11 games and a tie score, the match ended prematurely due to a scheduling dispute between Fischer and match organizer. Aftter that he finished 2nd (behind Tal) in 1961 Bled tournament. By winning the US championship again (Fischer won all 8 US championships he entered) Fischer qualified for the 1962 Interzonal which he won. After finishing 4th in 1962 Candidates, he accused Soviets of cheating. After being unable to agree on amount of playing fee, Fischer turned down invitation to 1963 Piatigorsky Cup and played a series of minor tournaments instead. At the beginning of 1964 he won the US championship with a perfect score. Although FIDE changed the Candidates format, Fischer refused to participate, thus eliminating himslef from the cycle. He also turned down the invitation to play in the Chess Olympiad. In 1965 Fischer wanted to play in Capablanca memorial tournament in Havana, Cuba. Since Americans were not allowed (by the State Department) to travel to Cuba at that time, Fischer played by telegraph. He ended up finishing 2nd, behind Smyslov. In 1966 Piatigorsky Cup he also finished 2nd, behind Spassky. He participated in the 1967 Interzonal, but withdrew over scheduling dispute. After that he semi-retired. He reamerged for the USSR vs. Rest of the World match in 1970. After that in Herceg Novi blitz tournament he won by a huge margin over a world-class field. He added two more tournament wins in 1970 Rovinj/Zagreb tournament and Buenos Aires. He won the 1970 Interzonal convincingly, and added a superb performance in Candidates matches. Will there be a match? The opening ceremony in Reykjavik was scheduled for July 1st 1972, but on that day Bobby Fischer was not in Iceland. Fischer, who had not signed any document confirming his participation, was demanding an increase in the 125.000 USD prize fund. He demanded 30% of the gate receipts for both himself and Spassky. The organizers could not agree to this, since they had earmarked that anticipated income for expenses connected with the staging of the match. Suddenly, a British chess promoter and financier, James Slater, came forward with a 125,000 USD donation to the prize fund, making a total prize fund of 250.000 USD. But even this record purse did not bring Fischer to Reykjavik. For whatever reason, it took hours of persuasion by William Lombardy (Fischer's second), his attorney Paul Marshall, and a phone call from Henry Kissinger, to get him to go through with the match. Fischer arrived in Reykjavik on July 4th. He apologized to Spassky, to Max Euwe (FIDE president), and to the organizers for having missed the opening ceremonies. Match conditions:
The Match  Download games Fischer lost the first game, after making a big blunder in a drawn position. After the game Fischer demanded that the television cameras should be removed and that first 7 rows of spectators should be emptyed. Chester Fox, an American businessman who had procured filming rights, responded that the cameras were necessary to finance the match. When his demands were not fully met he refused to show up for game 2 (it was always all or nothing for Fischer). His clock was started by Chief Arbiter at the sheduled time. Seeing that the whole match (and subsequently his investment) is in danger, Fox quickly accepted that the cameras be removed for at least that game. Fischer then agreed to play provided that his clock was reset to zero. As this is against the rules Chief Arbiter refused, so Fischer left the clock to run down. After an hour passed the game was awarded to Spassky. Many thought that the match was over and that Fischer will forfeit and leave Iceland. This would have probably happened, had Spassky (against orders from Soviet officials) not agreed to play the 3rd game in the back-room, away from cameras and spectators. Pal Benko later called this a psychological blunder by Spassky. To make things even worse, Spassky ended up losing the game. The players then returned to the playing hall for the fourth game, where there were no television cameras. The game ended in a draw. In following games Fischer not only equalised, but quickly took the lead. There were no doubts that he was now in command of the match. However the off-board activities continued. For the eighth game Fischer accepted the presence of television cameras on the condition that they be kept at least 45 meters from the chess board. He also demanded that Fox's camera team is replaced. Not wanting to jeopardize his investment, Fox sold the rights to the American television company ABC for 100.000 USD. For the 9th game Spassky took a time out, trying to recover. The players' behavior in 9th game, provided for much entertainment, with Fischer rocking back and forth in his chair and Spassky imitating him, which one spectator described as "two dead men dancing". The game itself was less interesting ending in a short draw. William Lombardy (Fischer's second) later remarked that he could not understand how Spassky could endure Fischer's behavior for even a single game. Realizing that their genial star was being beaten, the Soviet authorities ordered Spassky to get back to Moscow and claim the match by default. Spassky refused to comply. One of the most interesting games was the 13th game which swung one way, then another, and was finally adjourned with Fischer having an edge in a sharp position but no clear win. The Soviet team's analysis convinced them that the position was clearly drawn. Fischer supposingly stayed up until 8 am the following morning (clearly an exageration) analyzing it. He hadn't found a win either. However, he managed to set traps for Spassky, who fell into them and lost. Spassky's seconds were stunned, and Spassky himself refused to leave the board for a long time after the game was over, unable to believe the result. Next 7 games were all drawn. Fischer, with a three point lead, was content to inch towards the title, and Spassky seemed resigned to his fate. The off-the-board antics continued to be as interesting as they ever were. Before 15th game Fox filed a lawsuit for 1.750.000 USD in a New York court for damages from Fischer. Fischer's lawyers responded that the challenger had no contractual obligation with Fox. After 16th game Fischer complained again about noise from the spectators. The first three rows of seats were cleared for the next game. After 17th game the Soviets claimed that Fischer was using some sort of electronic and chemical devices to 'control' Spassky. During the night Icelandic police swept the playing hall for electronic devices (they found two dead flies in the lighting system  ).The final 21st game was adjourned with a big advantage for Fischer. Next day Spassky resigned the game by telephone. At first Fischer refused to accept the legality of this, but he ultimately accepted, and became the 11th World Champion. Impact on the future The win propelled Bobby Fischer to stardom, and made chess popular as never before. After losing to Fischer, Spassky showed some reluctance to totally devote himself to chess. He relied on his natural talent for the game, and sometimes would rather play a game of tennis than work hard at the board. Nevertheless, he remained a top player until mid 1980's. In 1974 Candidates he lost to a future World Champion Anatoly Karpov, and in 1977 he came all the way to the Candidates final, where he lost to Viktor Korchnoi. He won many elite tournaments like 1978 Bugojno (shared with Karpov), 1980 Baden/Vienna (shared with Beliavsky), 1982 Hamburg and 1983 Linares. Spassky became a French citizen in 1978, and later competed for France in the Chess Olympiads. In 1992, Bobby Fischer re-emerged to arrange a rematch of the 1972 World Championship. Fischer claimed it to be a World Championship match, but noone took it seriously. Spassky lost the match with a score of +5 -10 =15. This match was essentially Spassky's last major challenge. Spassky continues to play in occasional events. This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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Even before he became World champion, Fischer advocated the idea that the matches should be played until one of the opponents reaches a certain number of wins, rather than to have a fixed length matches. He also considered a Champions advantage as unfair and promised that he will abolish the Champion's advantage, if he becomes a World champion.
Fischer argued that in fixed length matches, with a draw counting as ½ of a point, there's no guarantee of seeing any number of wins in the match. It's even theoretically possible to score the full 12 points (and retain the World Title) without winning a single game, by registering 24 straight draws. He claimed that only a 'wins requirement' prevents players to play for a draw, since it is impossible to win a match that way. Unfortunately, it was that same fear of draws that led others to shy away from unlimited matches, for fear that a match might drag on interminably before producing a result (1984/85 World Championship match confirmed those fears). Using his influence as a World champion, Fischer convinced FIDE to change the conditions for the next cycle. There were following changes to the cycle:
Interzonal tournaments Tournament was played from June 3rd to June 28th, 1973 in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Soviet Union (Russia).  Download games Bent Lar.sen protested strongly against being placed in this Interzonal, believing that it was far stronger than the Petropolis Interzonal. The average rating of both tournaments was virtually equal, but in Lar.sen's opinion, the Leningrad Interzonal contained more "stars", making it a tougher tournament. According to FIDE President, Max Euwe, Lar.sen waited too long to make his protest, until after it was too late to change the schedules, so nothing could be done. Lar.sen started excellently, with 5.5 out of the first 6 games but collapsed at the end, losing 4 of the last 6 games and failed to qualify. Going into this tournament, Tal had been undefeated for an all-time record of 84 straight games. His recurring health problems chose the wrong time to return, and he failed to do more than break even here. Korchnoi, Karpov and Byrne advanced to the Candidates matches. Tournament was played from July 23rd to August 17th, 1973 in Petropolis, Brazil.  Download games Geller, Polugaevsky and Portisch had to play-off for two qualifying tickets. Play-off was held from September 5th to September 22nd, 1973 in Portoroz, Yugoslavia (Slovenia).  Download games Mecking, Portisch and Polugaevsky qualified for the Candidates. Candidates matches Six Interzonal qualifiers were joined by previous Champion Spassky, and the last Candidates finalist Petrosian. Quarter-finals were 'first to 3 wins', with maximum 16 games. Semi-finals were 'first to 4 wins' with maximum 20 games.  Download games Korchnoi and Petrosian were not on friendly terms, and it was even rumored that the two resorted to kicking each other under the table during this match, however Korchnoi denies this. According to him, Petrosian just kicked his legs nervously and shook the table. Although the match was supposed to go to the first player to win four games, Petrosian resigned the match after just five games, with Korchnoi enjoying a lead of 3-1, with one draw. He then attempted, through political means, to have the result of the match reversed. Candidates final was played from September 16th to November 23rd, 1974 in Moscow, Soviet Union (Russia). The final was a 'first to 5 wins' with maximum 24 games.  Download games Since none of the players managed to score 5 wins they played all 24 scheduled games, which was a length of the previous World Championship matches. Ironically, as it later turned out, this was de facto a World Championship match. In 21st game an amusing incident occurred. During this game, Korchnoi got up from the board, walked over to the arbiter and asked whether he could legally castle king-side in the current position, in which a bishop was attacking his rook on h1. The arbiter, Salo Flohr, informed him that he could. Korchnoi did so, and Karpov soon resigned. The new kid on the block, Anatoly Karpov, qualified to face Fischer in 1975. The Big match that never was Upon becoming World Champion, Fischer refused to play again under the 'Best of 24 games' format that had been in place since 1951. He demanded a return to the unlimited duration match format last used in 1937, in which a certain number of wins must be scored in order to win the match, no matter how long it took. Specifically, he demanded to play under the format used in the 1886 Steinitz-Zukertort match in which 10 wins were required to win the match, draws not counting, no limit to the possible number of games, and with the match being abandoned as drawn if the score reached 9-9. To win the match, therefore, required a minimum margin of victory of 2 points (10-8 or better). The main difference between Fischer's rules and the 1886 rules were that in 1886 neither player was regarded as defending champion, therefore a drawn match result would have meant that neither player was World Champion. Under Fischer's rules, the challenger would be required to win by 2 points to win the title, while the champion needed only to break even to retain it. At first FIDE decided that the 1975 World Championship match will be to 6 wins, draws not counting, with no limit on the possible number of games, and no provision for a drawn match. Fischer didn't want to hear anything about it, and demanded a 'first to 10 wins' with a 9-9 draw clause. On June 26th, 1974 FIDE agreed for a 'first to 10 wins' match, but due to fears that a match might drag on forever, imposed a maximum of 36 games, with Fischer keeping the title in case of 18-18 tie. Stuborn as always, Fischer didn't want to negotiate about anything (he wanted that all his conditions are met) and resigned his title on June 27th, 1974. Despite the writen resignation, activities surrounding the World Championship match continued. On September 11th, 1974 several FIDE delegates express a willingness to compromise on the unlimited 10 wins match, but not the flat 9-9 tie clause. FIDE president Max Euwe proposed a compromise solution that in event of 9-9 tie, a 10 game overtime should be played, with Fischer retaining the title in event of 5-5 tie. This way Fischer could have both, the unlimited match, and the Champion's advantage. However, Fischer refused to hear anything about it, because though FIDE had indicated to agree to the 10 wins format, they did not agree to the tie clause. Although Fischer had denounced tie clauses while still the challenger, and promised to abolish them once becoming champion, he refused to play the 1975 match unless FIDE agreed to a clause that allowed the match to be abandoned as drawn, with the Champion retaining the title, if the score reached 9-9. There was much debate over the tie clause. The Champion's advantage was semi-traditional (although the same could have been said of the Best of 24 format at that point). Most of the previous 26 World Championship matches had had some form of Champion's advantage, though as many as 6 of them may not have. The problem though, was that Fischer's tie clause required the Challenger to win by 2 points (10-8 minimum) to win the title, rather than one point, as in the old system. Rather than abolishing the champion's advantage, as he promised, Fischer had tried to increase it. The tie clause was widely perceived as unfair and the majority of Grandmasters were against it. Robert Byrne described it as "absolutely stark naked cheating", Bent Lar.sen called it "the first unethical thing Fischer has done." 2-point tie clauses had only been used in the Imperial Championship days, when the champion could name any conditions he wished, fair or otherwise, against a challenger. And even in those days it was never used in the form that Fischer demanded. Fischer made contradicting statements about the tie clause. He had called the tie clause unimportant and unlikely to be invoked, yet refused to play without it, despite having gotten the pure Wins format, which was supposed to be the important thing. In a phone conversation with Ed Edmondson Fischer expressed agreement with all of Edmondson's points (about unfairness of the tie clause), but nevertheless refused to back down. However he told Edmondson that if he is allowed the 2-point tie clause this once, that he would seek to abolish all Champion's advantage in future matches. Fischer never made any attempt to explain why the unlimited format and a 9-9 tie clause is a good idea. His attitude was essentially "Give me, or I'm not playing", refusing to compromise about anything. On January 1st, 1975 FIDE opened the bids for the match. There were three: Mexico City, Milan and Manila. Fischer preferred Manila, and Karpov preferred Milan. On February 17th, 1975 FIDE President Euwe selects Manila as the site of the match. On March 3rd, 1975 Paul Klein of Ecuador (Fischer's choice) is named Chief Arbiter of the match. The Assistant Arbiter's are to be Dr. Wilfried Dorazil of Austria, and Dr. Enrico Paoli of Italy (the only man who appeared on both player's lists of candidates for Assistant Arbiter). Soviet Federation protested that Fischer's choice for Chief Arbiter was accepted rather than Dorazil, Lothar Schmid, or Alberic O'Kelly (Karpov's three choices), and also objects to Manila being chosen as the match site, on the technicality that Ed Edmondson (a FIDE Bureau Member), had notified Euwe of the choice rather than Fischer directly. From March 18th to March 20th, 1975 an extraordinary FIDE General Assembly was held to try to save the match. By a vote of 37-33 FIDE accepts all Fischer's demands except the 9-9 clause (the tie clause was rejected by votes of 35-32). April 1st, 1975 the deadline for both players to confirm their availability passes, with no word from Fischer. On April 3rd, 1975 FIDE named Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov as the new World Champion. Impact on the future Despite Fischer's abrogation of principle, the pure wins unlimited match format was used without him in the next three World Championship matches (though with a requirement of 6 wins, rather than 10). The 1978 match seemed to confirm the fears about the system, lasting 32 games and becoming (at that time) the second longest World Championship match ever. The 1981 match was a blowout, and was concluded in a very reasonable amount of time. But in the 1984/5 event, all the nightmare scenarios came true. The match lasted almost 1.5 times longer than ANY previous match, and was abandoned without result after 48 games. The unlimited match format had actually encouraged more passive play, rather than discouraged it. A certain number of of wins were required, yes, but with no time limit in which to achieve them, there was nothing to prevent the person trailing in the match from biding his time and waiting for the opponent to make the first mistake. At least in the old system, time was always running out for one player or the other, giving at least some incentive to try to score wins quickly. After the 1984/5 debacle, win requirements were put on the back shelf and have never been used again. Though the percentage of draws in post World War II World Championship matches was a very reasonable 55% up through Fischer's 1972 victory, it has risen to 70% in matches played since that time. In the 2000 and 2004 matches, a mere two victories were scored by the person who walked out of the match with the title (at the rate of draws seen in the 2004 match, it would have taken 70 games for both players to get 10 wins, under Fischer's conditions). After becoming World Champion in 1972 Fischer didn't play a single competitive game. It's hard to make comments about someone as unpredictable as Fischer, but many claim that Fischer demanded an unlimited first to 10 wins match, to use the first games to get into the playing rythym again (after 3 years of inactivity). With fixed length match (or first to 6 wins) he wouldn't have time to catch up on Karpov, should he build a comfortable lead in first games. It's even harder to comment the 9-9 clause, since Fischer gave contradicting statements about it and never explained why it should be good for. Since at the end FIDE accepted all Fischers demands (lets not forget that they chose his preffered venue and arbiter too) except the one thing that just couldn't be accepted, many see it as the way to bail out of the match. Karpov later visited Fischer and tried to arrange a match with him, but it never materialised. Fischer disapeared from the chess world for 20 years, only from time to time coming to spotlight with his controversial statements. Then, in 1992, he reemerged and challenged Boris Spassky to a re-match. He insisted that it is a World Championship match, since in 1974 he only resigned the "FIDE title", but remained the "true" champion. Since both Fischer and Spassky were only shadows of their former selfs, nobody took the championship seriously, but nevertheless the match gathered much attention. The match was played under 'Fischer conditions', with Fischer winning by 10-5 wins (with 15 draws). After that he again disapeared from the chess world. Since the match took place in Yugoslavia (Serbia) that was then under the United Nations embargo, Fischer became wanted by the US State Department. He also "forgot" to pay taxes, so he was wanted by IRS too. Making anti-American and anti-Jewish statements didn't help him much either. He spent his next 13 years as a refugee in different countries all over the world until 2004 when he was arrested in Japan for using an invalid passport (his passport was revoked in 2003). Seeking ways to evade deportation to the United States, Fischer wrote a letter to the government of Iceland in early January 2005 and asked for Icelandic citizenship. Sympathetic to Fischer's plight, but reluctant to grant him the full benefits of citizenship, Icelandic authorities granted him an alien's passport. When this proved insufficient for the Japanese authorities, the Icelandic parliament agreed unanimously to grant Fischer full citizenship in late March 2005 for humanitarian reasons, as they felt he was being unjustly treated by the US and Japanese governments. Fischer arrived to Iceland on March 23rd, 2005 and spent his last years there. Fischer died of kidney failure on January 17th, 2008 in his apartment in Reykjavik. Fischer is definatelly the most famous and known chess player of all time. His 1972 "Match of the century" win against "the great red enemy" first proppeled him to stardom and the subsequent controversies transformed him into somekind of a half-god with mythical abilities (just the other day I've seen some of the Rybka forum users claiming that the 1972 Fischer could easely win a match against Rybka 3  ). His early retirement on the peak of his career sprung many rumors and myths about him (like that he didn't have any coaches and seconds, that he never read any books, his invincibility was greatly exaggerated, etc.). Many consider him as the greatest chess player of all time, but in my opinion this is exaggerated. Fact is that his performances until 1970 were by no means legendary. He was without a doubt a top class player, but only one of many. From 1970 to 1972 his performance was really impressive, even legendary, and then he simply stopped playing. In my opinion this is too short of a period to proclaim somebody as 'the greatest ever'. There is also a way he quited. It's one thing to say "OK, I have had enough. I quit." but instead he made ridicolous demands, and after all reasonable (and many unreasonable) demands were met, he still refused to play. Not exactly a characteristic of the greatest player ever, at least in my opinion. After thoroughly defeating the old guard of players, Fischer failed to accept the next new challenge in front of him - Anatoly Karpov. We can debate endlessly whether Karpov could defeat Fischer or not, but the fact is that Karpov was a whole new brand of professional chess players (thus somewhat a mystery to Fischer) and he certainly wouldn't be willing to endure and accept Fischer's caprices like Spassky did in 1972.Later in his autobiography, Karpov expressed profound regret that the match did not take place, and claimed that he would be a better player if he had a chance to play with Fischer. This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib, |
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