Golden Sands

The twentieth edition of the tournament organized by the Bulgarian Chess Federation was hosted by the Transtroy trade-union holiday centre, which had already welcomed chess events on several occasions.

The outstanding player was the young Yugoslav international master Djuric, one of his country's promising talents. Among the Bulgarian participants the greatest satisfaction came from Silvio Danailov, bronze medallist at the recent European Junior Championship, who achieved his first international-master norm.

Semko Semkov also earned great respect for both his play and his sporting qualities. He became the tournament's tireless worker. For six consecutive days he had to resume an adjourned game against Djuric, finally saving it after eighteen hours of play and 152 moves.

Another extraordinary feat came during an adjournment day that lasted for him from nine in the morning until midnight. Semkov defeated Silvio Danailov and Peicho Peev and also drew a 108-move game against Franzen.

The tournament was therefore memorable not only for Djuric's overall victory and Danailov's title norm, but also for the exceptional endurance demanded by the old adjournment system and displayed most dramatically by Semkov.