5th International Tournament in Varna

An interesting feature of the Varna tournaments was that every winner had either already been a grandmaster or was on the way to becoming one: Bobotsov in 1957, Padevsky (together with Krogius) in 1960, Vasiukov in 1964 and Kavalek in 1965, when he achieved the required result for the grandmaster title.

The fifth international tournament, held in September, maintained that "grandmaster tradition". This time the winner was Soviet grandmaster Vladimir Simagin, well known for his original opening ideas and analyses. It was his first visit to Bulgaria and, as he said, fulfilled a long-standing wish.

The field was highly respectable: half the players held international titles and the other half were leading national masters. As the only grandmaster, Simagin naturally commanded respect, and he strengthened it through confident, powerful and substantial play. Curiously, he did not employ any of the opening systems that bore his name. "They were effective when they were still unknown. Here I relied mainly on my greater experience," he explained modestly. His victory over Polish champion Kostro was a particularly good illustration of his superiority and of his tactical and strategic mastery.

Atanas Kolarov, runner-up in the previous year's Varna tournament, again finished second. As usual he began quietly with a series of peaceful draws, then accelerated in the second half and finished brilliantly, scoring five points from his last six games.

Hungarian international master Janos Flesch tied Kolarov on points but had an inferior Sonneborn-Berger score. He began with two straight wins and impressed with his sporting qualities and tactical skill, especially in the defence of difficult positions. Until the last round he shared the lead with Simagin, but his defeat by Kolarov in the final round cost him first place.

Lyuben Popov and Ivan Radulov finished on the same score by very different routes. Popov remained undefeated and achieved an international-master norm for the third time. Radulov began with great momentum, scoring several attractive wins in his aggressive style, but a seventh-round defeat against Khasin halted his challenge for first place. He then sensibly concentrated on securing the seven points required for an international-master norm.

Perhaps the most colourful figure was Soviet international master Abram Khasin, a veteran of the Battle of Stalingrad who had been seriously wounded there. Despite arriving in Varna with a cold and not feeling in good health, he fought every game for a win and showed the character of an outstanding tournament fighter.

Andrey Malchev