World Chess Championship 1963

At the World Chess Championship 1963 Tigran Petrosian narrowly qualified to challenge Mikhail Botvinnik for the World Chess Championship, and then won the match to become the ninth World Chess Champion. The cycle is particularly remembered for the controversy surrounding the Candidates' Tournament at Curaçao in 1962.

tructure

The world championship cycle was under the jurisdiction of FIDE, the World Chess Federation,which set the structure for the fifth world championship series at the 1959 FIDE Congress in Luxemburg.citation
last=Wade | first=R. G. | author-link=Robert Wade (chess player)
year=1964 | title=The World Chess Championship 1963
publisher=Arco | id=LCCN|645|0|14341 | page=54] The cycle began with the zonal tournaments of 1960. The top finishers in the zonals met at the Interzonal, with the top six players from the Interzonal qualifying for the Candidates' Tournament. They were then joined by Mikhail Tal (loser of the last World Championship match in 1961) and Paul Keres (runner-up at the 1959 Candidates) in the eight player Candidates Tournament in 1962. The winner of the Candidates would qualify to play a World Championship match against Mikhail Botvinnik, the incumbent champion, in 1963.

Zonal tournaments

FIDE now had more than fifty member Federations that were divided into nine zones: 1–Western Europe, 2–Central Europe, 3–Eastern Europe, 4–USSR, 5–USA, 6–Canada, 7–Central America, 8–South America, and 9–Asia.citation
last=Harkness | first=Kenneth | author-link=Kenneth Harkness
year=1967 | title=Official Chess Handbook
publisher=David McKay Company
id=LCCN|66|0|13085 | pages=233–235] Previous championship cycles had used only eight zones.Each zone was allocated from one to four qualifiers based on the relative strengths of its leading players. [Wade, p. 54]

Zone 1 (Western Europe)

The Zonal was held at Madrid, with Jan Hein Donner (Netherlands), Svetozar Gligorić (Yugoslavia), Arturo Pomar (Spain), and Lajos Portisch (Hungary) in a four way tie for first place with 10.5/15.A Madrid playoff qualified Gligoric, Pomar, and Portisch. [Wade, pp. 54–55]

Zone 2 (Central Europe)

The Zonal was allocated to Berg en Dal, Netherlands.Due to Cold War political tension, Wolfgang Uhlmann (East Germany) was refused a visa, causing the players from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Yugoslavia to withdraw.The winners of the diminished tournament were Friðrik Ólafsson (Iceland) first with 7.5/9 and Andreas Dückstein (Austria) and Rudolf Teschner (West Germany) tied for second with 7.The Zonal tournament was replayed in the summer of 1961 at Mariánské Lázně, Czechoslovakia, with Ólafsson, Miroslav Filip (Czechoslovakia), and Uhlmann qualifying.At its 1961 Congress at Sofia, FIDE decided that Dückstein and Teschner would be allowed to play a match for a place in the Interzonal.With the match tied 3–3, Dückstein withdrew giving the final qualifying spot to Teschner.Wade, pp. 55–56]

Zone 3 (Eastern Europe)

The Zonal was held in Budapest, with Gedeon Barcza (Hungary) finishing first with 10.5/15, followed by Mario Bertok (Yugoslavia), István Bilek (Hungary), Aleksandar Matanović (Yugoslavia), and Theo van Scheltinga tied for second at 10.A playoff between the second place finishers at Berg en Dal ended with Bilek 3.5, Bertok and Matanović 3, von Scheltinga 2.5.An artificial tie-break selected Bertok over Matanović, resulting in Barcza, Bilek, and Bartok qualifying for the Interzonal.

Zone 4 (USSR)

Even though FIDE allocated the USSR four qualifying spots, Zone 4 was the hardest zone from which to qualify.An early 1961 USSR Championship was held as the Zonal tournament.
Tigran Petrosian won the championship with 13.5/19, and the remaining qualifiers were Victor Korchnoi with 13 and Efim Geller and Leonid Stein with 12.Notable players who failed to qualify from this zone were former world champion Vassily Smyslov at 11, former world champion challenger David Bronstein at 9, and former Candidates Boris Spassky at 11, Yuri Averbakh at 10.5, Mark Taimanov at 10, and Isaac Boleslavsky at 9.The USSR Federation tried unsuccessfully at the 1961 FIDE Congress to get Smyslov seeded into the Interzonal. [Wade p. 56]

Zone 5 (USA)

The United States Chess Federation designated the 1960 U.S. Championship as the Zonal tournament.Top finishers in the championship were Bobby Fischer with 9/11, William Lombardy with 7, Raymond Weinstein with 6.5, and Arthur Bisguier, Samuel Reshevsky, and James Sherwin with 6.Zone 5 was alloted three players, but the lack of true chess professionals in America aside from Fischer greatly affected the players the U.S. sent to the Interzonal.Lombardy was too busy to play as he was in seminary, and Weinstein was also busy with college studies.Reshevsky declined a spot in the Interzonal, and Sherwin could not get enough time off work to participate.Fischer and Bisguier won the first two spots, and Pal Benko was nominated to fill the final position. [Wade, p. 56–57] [citation
last=Horowitz | first=I. A. | author-link=Al Horowitz
title=The World of Chess: Zoning Difficulties
periodical=Chess Review
volume=30 | issue=2 | date=February 1962 | page=35] [citation
last=Battell | first=Jack Straley
title=Fischer Forges Forward
periodical=Chess Review
volume=30 | issue=4 | date=April 1962 | page=104]

Zone 6 (Canada)

Daniel Yanofsky, a former Canadian champion and British champion was nominated for the one qualifying spot alloted.Wade, p. 57]

Zone 7 (Central America)

Zone 7 comprised Central America along with northern parts of South America.
Miguel Cuéllar (Colombia) qualified from the Caracas Zonal.

Zone 8 (South America)

Top finishers at the São Paulo Zonal were Julio Bolbochán (Argentina) first with 13.5/17, Samuel Schweber (Argentina) second with 13, and Eugênio German (Brazil), Rodrigo Flores (Chile), and Bernardo Wexler tied for third with 11.5.After a playoff for third place, the qualifiers were Bolbochan, Schweber, and German.

Zone 9 (Asia)

Zone 9 included Asia (except USSR) and the Pacific, and was divided into two subzones.The Southeast Asia and Pacific subzone tournament was held in Sydney, with C. J. S. Purdy winning.As the West and Central Asia subzone tournament at Madras had only two players, it was decided in match play.
Manuel Aaron (India) beat Sukien Momo (Mongolia) 3–1.Aaron qualified by beating Purdy 3–0 in the Zonal final match also held at Madras.

Interzonal

The fifth Interzonal was planned for the Netherlands in 1961, but the sponsors could not guarantee that visas could be obtained for all 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, from 26 January to 8 March 1962. [ [http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/6163$iix.htm 1962 Stockholm Interzonal Tournament] , Mark Weeks' Chess Pages] The 23-player single round-robin tournament was won convincingly by 18 year old American Bobby Fischer with 17.5 points out of 22 (13 wins, 9 draws, no losses), a margin of 2.5 points. The next four places were taken by the Soviets Tigran Petrosian and Efim Geller with 15 points, and the Soviet Victor Korchnoi and Miroslav Filip of Czechoslovakia with 14 points.

For the sixth and final qualifying spot there was a three-way tie at 13.5 points. Leonid Stein (USSR), Pal Benko (USA), and Svetozar Gligorić (Yugoslavia) played a double round-robin playoff tournament which was dominated by Stein and Benko. Although Stein won, a rule adopted in 1959 allowed no more than three players from a single Federation to qualify from the Interzonal. Stein could play in the Candidates only if one of the other qualifiers from the USSR (Geller, Petrosian, or Korchnoi) was unable to participate. [citation
last=Horowitz | first=Al | author-link=Israel Albert Horowitz
year=1973 | title=The World Chess Championship, A History
publisher=Macmillan | id=LCCN|72|0|80175 | page=205] With Stein excluded, Benko took the final place in the Candidates Tournament.

Crosstables

Allegations of collusion

What makes this tournament famous and often-discussed is the allegations of Soviet collusion. The three first place-getters, Petrosian, Geller and Keres, drew all twelve of their games against each other.

Soon after the tournament, Fischer publicly alleged that the Soviets had colluded to prevent any non-Soviet - specifically him - from winning. His allegations were twofold: first, that Petrosian, Geller and Keres had pre-arranged to draw all their games; and second, that Korchnoi had been instructed to lose to them.

The first allegation, of the drawing pact, is often assumed to be correct. All of the three players involved have since died, but Yuri Averbakh, who was head of the Soviet team, virtually confirmed it in a 2002 interview, saying it was a way for Petrosian, Keres and Geller to conserve their energy.

The second allegation, of Korchnoi throwing games, is more doubtful. Korchnoi defected from the USSR in 1976, and has never alleged he was forced to throw games. Korchnoi has also written on his surprise at the short draws. So apparently there was a drawing pact among Petrosian, Keres and Geller, which was unknown even to the fellow Soviet Korchnoi. The other point against the second allegation, is that Fischer was so far behind that it was unnecessary for Korchnoi to throw games in order for a Soviet player to win.

There are also allegations that, in the ultimately decisive Benko-Keres game, Petrosian and Geller (who were good friends) conspired against Keres by helping Benko. Benko has written that Petrosian and Geller offered to help analyse the adjourned position, but that he refused the offer. [ [http://www.chessville.com/reviews/PalBenkoMyLifeGamesAndCompositions.htm Pal Benko My Life, Games, and Compositions] , Reviewed by Nagesh Havanur]

Response to allegations

FIDE, the world chess federation, responded to the allegations by changing the format of future Candidates' Tournaments. Beginning in the next (1966) cycle, the round-robin format was replaced by a series of elimination matches (initially best of 10 quarter-finals, best of 10 semi-finals, then a best of 12 final), to eliminate the possibility of collusion which exists in a round-robin tournament.

Botvinnik-Petrosian match

Petrosian lost the first game of the match, but recovered and won fairly comfortably, 12.5–9.5. Petrosian won five games, Botvinnik won two games, and there were fifteen draws. [ [http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/6163$wix.htm 1963 Petrosian - Botvinnik Title Match] , Mark Weeks' Chess Pages]

The championship rules were changed so that, unlike in 1957 and 1960, Botvinnik was not entitled to a rematch. Botvinnik had lost both those championships (to Vassily Smyslov and Mikhail Tal, respectively), but regained his title in the rematches in 1958 and 1961. Although the loser of the World Championship match was entitled to an automatic seed in the next Candidates Tournament, Botvinnik chose not to exercise this right and retired from championship play, although not competitive chess. Except for two brief periods, Botvinnik had been the champion since 1948. Petrosian's championship crown was next at stake in the 1966 World Championship match.

References