International Masters Tournament in Varna

On the occasion of the opening of twelve newly built seaside hotels at the Varna holiday resort, the Bulgarian travel agency Balkanturist organized an international masters tournament from 1 to 17 July, with seven foreign and five Bulgarian masters. Hungary was represented by International Master Gyula Kluger, accompanied by the author of this report as his second.

The external conditions were extremely favourable. The hotel in which we stayed, and in which the tournament was played, was separated from the seashore by a strip of land only about thirty metres wide. A constant breeze made even the occasional heat of 45-50 degrees bearable.

The field was very evenly matched. The five international masters found the other players, with perhaps the sole exception of Balchikliev, fully equal opponents. First place went to the young Bulgarian master Milko Bobotsov, who was also helped by a little good fortune. After winning his first five games he was already content to draw, but his opponents' attempts to force matters enabled him to win two more of the remaining six games. Thus he finished undefeated and two full points ahead of the field. He is a player of considerable theoretical knowledge and quick perception, and has been one of Bulgaria's leading players for years. He had won the Bulgarian Championship in 1951; in Varna he achieved the greatest success of his career so far.

Among the two players who scored seven points, the Sonneborn-Berger system gave second place to Kluger. He played well and, apart from the last two rounds, hardly ever got into time trouble. After losing in the second round because of excessively risky play, he became more cautious, which explains his relatively large number of draws. Before the penultimate round he still had a chance of catching Bobotsov, but his attempts to force a win against the leader came to nothing. In the last round against Muehlberg he again tried everything to win, but once more had to settle for a draw. Kluger's result therefore met expectations, although with a little more luck it could have been even better.

Robatsch recovered splendidly from a weak start; after three rounds he had only half a point, but scored four points from his last four games. He played in a very sharp attacking style. Sokolov was reliable and strong, and might have achieved an even better result had he accepted Balchikliev's draw offer; his endgame play appeared somewhat weaker than the other phases of his game.

Of the three players tied for fifth to seventh, Lehmann faded after a good start, while Muehlberg worked his way up in the final rounds, in part because some opponents pressed too hard. Romanian champion Troianescu never really found his form, played somewhat passively and had little luck. Milev had good prospects for a high placing for a long time, but a pawn blunder against Muehlberg in the penultimate round pushed him back. Rejfir did not show his usual form. Ivanov and Gerenski, both talented young Bulgarian players, proved serious opponents in their first international tournament. The field was simply too strong for Balchikliev.

The most dramatic day of the event was the adjournment session before the last round, when only Balchikliev-Sokolov remained unfinished. The ending, involving two rivals for prizes, put the nerves of the watching masters under almost as much strain as those of the players themselves. After the game finally ended, the kibitzing masters seemed more exhausted than after their own hardest games.

The successful organization and smooth running of the tournament were largely due to Zahari Stanchev, secretary of the Bulgarian Chess Federation. At the closing banquet everyone agreed that the combination of a chess tournament with a holiday on the Black Sea was something they would remember with pleasure.

Endre Gasztonyi