The International Tournament in Varna - A Minor Performance by the Bulgarians

The Varna international tournament had always attracted considerable interest among Bulgarian chess followers, who naturally wanted to see how the country's leading players would perform. Yet only two Bulgarians had previously occupied the very top of the table: Milko Bobotsov in 1957 and Nikola Padevsky in 1960. The saying that "even the walls help at home" had not been confirmed. In recent years too many Bulgarian participants had played pale, overly peaceful chess and thereby removed themselves from the fight for the prizes.

In the latest tournament this tendency reached an extreme. The field was very strong: five grandmasters, eight international masters and only three national masters. Bulgaria was represented by Bobotsov, Tringov, Padevsky, Kolarov, Minev, Spiridonov and Popov. The visiting contingent was equally distinguished. Krogius and Hort were regarded as the principal favourites, while Ciocaltea, Minic and Liebert were already familiar from many successful international appearances. There was also special curiosity about the young Soviet master Peshkovsky after his excellent result in the USSR Championship.

The Bulgarian masters started uncertainly. Padevsky suffered an unexpected defeat by Kolarov and never fully recovered from the psychological effect of the poor start. Tringov, without obvious ambitions for a high placing, tried mainly to keep around fifty per cent but eventually fell below it. Of the Bulgarian grandmasters, only Bobotsov fought consistently hard, although he too failed to achieve anything exceptional. National champion Spiridonov experimented freely and consequently finished near the bottom, but his board was often the scene of the most complicated and exciting positions.

The battle for first place developed as expected between Krogius and Hort. The Soviet grandmaster gained a half-point advantage in the second half and retained it to the end. Both leaders played with a strong sense of responsibility and with great activity, and their position at the head of the table was fully deserved.

Peshkovsky confirmed that his high placing in the Soviet Championship had been no accident. He played most of his games with impressive ease, achieved the required result for an international-master norm, finished third without losing a game and took his first major step toward the chess elite.

After the tournament Krogius said that he was pleased with the result and especially enjoyed the struggle with Hort, whom he described as one of the strongest and most ambitious players in the field. He also thanked the organizers and the staff of Sport Palace for the attention shown to all the guests.