The Youthful Drive Was Missing

The Transtroy holiday centre, situated between Varna and Golden Sands close to the seashore and away from the main tourist noise, provided excellent conditions for chess. It again hosted Bulgaria's oldest seaside international tournament, known at different times as the Varna tournament and as Golden Sands.

The field was dominated numerically by young players, so it was natural to expect a particularly energetic struggle for self-expression. Among the Bulgarian participants the main hopes were placed in the youngest national players, including Krum Georgiev, Grigorov and the previous year's Varna winner Dimitar Donchev.

Those expectations were not fulfilled. The best prepared and most ambitious players proved to be Hesse of the GDR and Kozlov of the USSR. Hesse played with great purpose and scored heavily. Although he lost two games, including one against a direct rival, he still finished first by a full point.

Kozlov preferred a more secure approach and also remained consistently near the top. Krum Georgiev and Grigorov, by contrast, appeared primarily concerned with not damaging their ratings. They played peacefully and without much risk, completed the tournament without major disasters, but showed little evidence of the hoped-for growth.

Inkiov also performed below expectations. The greatest disappointments were Donchev and Peev, who never found the strength or form to escape from the lower part of the table.

The tournament therefore produced a paradox: a young field, but not the youthful energy and ambition that had been anticipated. The visitors who approached the event with the clearest competitive purpose deservedly dominated the standings.

Metodi Tsvetkov