Shared Victory

For many years the Varna international tournament had been organized at Sport Palace or the nearby International House of Journalists, relatively far from the city. The resort setting and the small audience sometimes gave the event the character of an isolated competition.

For the fourteenth edition the tournament was moved into the centre of Varna itself. The local youth and sports committee took the event under its patronage, and the positive effect was immediately noticeable. The city provided excellent conditions for play and recreation, surrounded the participants with public attention and made them feel the warmth of its hospitality.

Three grandmasters, six international masters and five national masters from nine strong chess countries formed an interesting and highly qualified field. A special attraction was the participation of world-title candidate Nana Alexandria, who had come on the advice of her trainer, grandmaster Gurgenidze, to use the tournament as part of her preparation for the forthcoming match with world champion Nona Gaprindashvili.

The three-level structure of the field - national masters, international masters and grandmasters - created overlapping ambitions. The grandmaster norm was 9.5 points and the international-master norm 7.5, demanding a high percentage score and encouraging full-blooded play in almost every round.

Grandmaster Nikola Padevsky was the only player to complete the tournament without a defeat. His victory was made still more convincing by wins over his two direct rivals, Vukic and Gurgenidze. The Bulgarian Chess Federation formally praised his excellent performance. Padevsky had always possessed strong sporting qualities and a special ability to win important, decisive games; his final-round victory over Szymczak was another example.

The final result was a shared triumph at the top, with Padevsky's performance standing out for its consistency and for the way he handled the decisive moments of the event.

Andrey Malchev