Balatonfured, 6-21 June 1959

By Dr Max Ujtelky

It was a particular honour for me, as one of the foreign participants in the Balatonfured tournament, to be asked by the editors of Magyar Sakkelet to prepare this report. In the following I shall briefly describe the tournament and its most noteworthy details.

Most of the participants travelled to Balatonfured on 6 June on a special coach provided by the Hungarian sports authorities. The first round had originally been scheduled for that afternoon, but because one or two foreign players arrived only by a later train, it had to be postponed until the following day. On Saturday only the drawing of lots took place, producing the following starting order: 1. Lajos Portisch, Hungarian grandmaster; 2. Wolfgang Uhlmann, international master; 3. Oleg Neikirch, international master, Bulgaria; 4. Dr Miksa Ujtelky, master, Czechoslovakia; 5. Karoly Honfi, master; 6. Gyula Kluger, international master, Austria; 7. Alfred Beni, international master; 8. Ervin Haag, master; 9. Peter Dely, master; 10. Gyozo Forintos, master; 11. Ratmir Kholmov, international master, Soviet Union; 12. Tibor Florian, international master; 13. Bela Soos, master, Romania; 14. Istvan Bilek, international master.

Thus, eight Hungarian and six foreign competitors, representing seven countries, took part. The field contained eight international masters and six national masters. Since Szabo and Barcza were unable to participate, there was no international grandmaster in the tournament. Kholmov, Uhlmann and Portisch, however, had already shown grandmaster strength in earlier events and were generally regarded as the leading candidates for the first three places. The tournament was stronger than the previous year's competition, even though only one Soviet player was present.

The tournament was officially opened at 4 p.m. on 7 June by Jeno Dalmadi, vice-president of the Hungarian Chess Federation. In his opening address he discussed the preparations for the event, after which international arbiter Laszlo Balogh started the clocks and the competition began.

After the first three rounds it became clear that only three players had collected more than half of the possible points. Neikirch played extremely thoroughly and his first-round game lasted nine hours, although it ended only in a draw. Uhlmann began with two draws and one defeat, but recovered quickly and defeated Neikirch in fine style in the fourth round.

Kholmov began a sequence of four consecutive victories in the fourth round and immediately moved into the lead. The last game of that series, against the rapidly improving Hungarian master candidate Gyula Kluger, was particularly impressive.

The leader suffered his only defeat in the eighth round against Bilek, who until then had drawn all his games. The game clearly demonstrated Bilek's decisive positional superiority.

The eighth round was marked by exceptionally difficult struggles. Only one game was decisive; the others ended in draws after approximately nine hours of play. After this round Kholmov led with 6 points, followed by Soos and Uhlmann with 5.5. Bilek, Kluger and Ujtelky had 4.5, while Portisch had 4 points.

A particular surprise was the collapse of Soos. From his final five games he scored only two draws. Even during his earlier unbeaten run his play had not always been convincing, and his ninth-round game against Beni provided a striking example.

One of the leading encounters of the eleventh round was Kholmov-Portisch. The Hungarian champion, who had started the tournament poorly, chose the Blumenfeld Countergambit. Kholmov calmly met his opponent's threats and, after complications on the eighth rank, obtained a decisive advantage.

In the penultimate round the leader Kholmov met Uhlmann, who was only half a point behind him. The remaining players could no longer seriously challenge for first place. After sharp play the game ended in a draw, leaving Kholmov as the clear favourite for first prize.

The final round produced lively fighting. Portisch's victory over Soos was especially important because it enabled the young Hungarian master to reach sixth place.

Considering the players' performances as a whole, one must conclude that Kholmov deservedly won the tournament. He produced chess of grandmaster standard, marked by the deep strategic understanding characteristic of the Soviet school. He led for almost the entire event and, apart from his defeat against Bilek and one fortunate draw against Soos, maintained a consistently high level.

Uhlmann recovered after a weak start and scored 6.5 points from seven games between rounds four and ten. His play was occasionally less convincing than the winner's. Neikirch gave a rather uneven performance: not always convincing, but capable of exploiting his opponents' more serious mistakes. Both could realistically be regarded as players of grandmaster strength.

Bilek began with a run of seven draws and then defeated Kholmov in excellent style. Immediately afterwards, however, he became somewhat overconfident and lost his form against Honfi. In the final round he climbed to third place, a position fully justified by his overall performance.

Portisch's unsuccessful start and inconsistent play cost him valuable points, but a sequence of six victories restored his standing and increased his rating performance considerably. It appeared, however, that the strain of numerous tournaments in the preceding months had left him tired, and he was unable to display his full strength.

Among the younger Hungarian masters, Soos was the greatest surprise. After eight games he had 6 points and seemed close not only to the international-master norm but even to first place. He then collapsed unexpectedly. Nevertheless, his result was noteworthy and represented his first major international success.

Honfi followed the opposite course. After six rounds he had only 1.5 points, but then scored 5 points from his next six games and finished in a respectable position. Had he defeated the winner in the final round, he would have finished even closer to the leading group.

Kluger's intensive work as a trainer prevented him from achieving a stronger result. Once again he served largely as a reserve player, yet his play showed that he could still hold his own at international level.

Dely's play was very uneven. His results fluctuated considerably, although the experience gained should help his development. Florian seemed to lack ambition and played below the level he had shown in the previous championship. Forintos displayed his refined positional understanding only occasionally. Haag played in an interesting style but often became entangled in natural continuations and complications, while his willingness to sacrifice sometimes carried him too far.

Neikirch's absence from the previous zonal tournament had been keenly felt. He had shown excellent form in the national championship, but in Balatonfured his physical condition did not permit sufficiently careful preparation.

Finally, Beni finished last. He accepted the disappointment with admirable humour, remarking that fortune's wheel always gives the player at the bottom an opportunity to rise again.

The tournament was conducted in a very harmonious and friendly atmosphere. The jury - Dr Gulacsy, Dr Florian and Dr Ujtelky - had to intervene only once, and even then merely to discuss a scheduling question.

The players were accommodated, as in the previous year, at the Aranycsillag Hotel. The rounds were played in the large hall of the SZOT holiday resort, famous for the Anna Balls. The Hungarian press gave the tournament considerable attention, although the chess news service was not always sufficiently accurate.

At 2 p.m. on 21 June the participants left Balatonfured by special coach for Budapest. That evening the prize-giving ceremony was held at the Palace Hotel. Vice-president Dalmadi reviewed the event and praised the standard and sporting conduct of the competitors. Dr Ujtelky thanked the hosts on behalf of the foreign players and spoke about the developing international relations among chess players.

The organisers, especially federation secretary Jozsef Hajtun and office director Jeno Ejury, carried out a great deal of work.

In summary, it was an interesting and well-organised tournament, worthy of the memory of Dr Lajos Asztalos.