The Tournament Opening

Another international tournament of the USSR Central Chess Club opened on 21 July in the fine new club of the sanatorium named after the 20th Party Congress in Kislovodsk.

Unfortunately, it proved impossible to attract strong foreign grandmasters, who had already agreed to play in other international events. As for the Soviet players, however, the tournament, as always, had a star-studded field.

The opening ceremony took place in a solemn, festive atmosphere. Young Pioneers presented the participants with excellent bouquets of splendid local flowers. World Champion Tigran Petrosian sent a greeting telegram to the tournament.

The Tournament Debut

As often happens, the tournament began with sensations. On the very first day, former World Champion Tal was forced to resign against the Moldavian master Lutikov, who, after also winning in the second round, became the sole leader of the tournament.

In the second round, the little-known Fuchs and Hamann made the experienced grandmasters Stein and Geller work hard before they safely reached the haven of a draw.

Only in the third round did everything return to normal. Stein defeated Lutikov. Kholmov, playing Black, launched a swift attack against Matulović.

In the fourth round, the spectators’ attention was again drawn to Lutikov’s game, but this time the injured party turned out to be the Moldavian champion himself.

In the sixth round there was a “change of leader.” Stein literally “fell apart” in his game with Kholmov. Already on move 23 he had to resign.

On the rest day

After the sixth round the tournament took a break. In the morning there was a walking trip to Krasnoye Solnyshko, to the Small and Big Saddle; then a proper excursion around the Lermontov sites of Kislovodsk, to the “Castle of Treachery and Love,” to the “Ring Mountain”...

Only Tal did not take part in the outings. He was forced to remain at the hotel, since the doctors’ permission for him to take part in the tournament, unfortunately, did not guarantee him against attacks of his old illness. But there was no question of his withdrawing from the tournament. The illness, in Tal’s opinion, was passing, and the best medicine was chess.

A fight at the finish

The finish was approaching, and every point was becoming more valuable. But obtaining them was also becoming more difficult.

The spectators awaited one of the tournament’s central encounters with particular interest...

In the tenth round, at the centre of the stage, and also at the centre of attention not only of the spectators but of the participants as well, was the game between the tournament leaders Stein and Geller.

This victory practically secured first place in the tournament for Geller. Interestingly, none of the participants or arbiters could recall a case of Stein losing two games in succession; yet this happened in the 9th and 10th rounds.

After the adjournment on the rest day, the previously postponed game Tal–Taimanov was played. In it Tal again looked as he had before his illness. After Black’s 14th move, no fewer than three white pieces were simultaneously under attack on the board.

The final round was played on 8 August.

Ten minutes after the start of play, Lutikov and Kholmov agreed to a draw, deciding to guarantee themselves a share of third and fourth places without risk.

The same result, though considerably later, was recorded by the arbiters in the game Geller–Matulović.

In the remaining games, however, the fighting spirit had not cooled despite the fact that the tournament was ending.

The longest game was Fuchs–Tal. Curiously, two years earlier, here in Kislovodsk, the final round of the sixth international tournament of the Central Chess Club had also been played, and Tal and Fuchs had also met there; at that time the Riga player needed to win the game in order to take first prize. This time a victory for the ailing former World Champion would only have given him a share of fifth prize with his opponent Fuchs, but Tal nevertheless very much wanted to win.

However, although Tal was on the rise after his brilliant victory over Taimanov, first, Fuchs turned out not to be the same as before, and second, illness again “seized” Tal in the middle of the game... After twenty moves Fuchs won a pawn, but in a perfectly free position the German master nevertheless preferred not to take risks and forced a draw by threefold repetition.

On 9 August, in the club of the sanatorium named after the 20th Party Congress, the ceremonial closing of the tournament took place.

Opening the evening, Comrade Sudovtsov, a member of the bureau of the city party committee, spoke about the value of the competition that had been held, and about how it would be good to consolidate it and make the holding of international tournaments in Kislovodsk a tradition.

The chief arbiter of the tournament, International Arbiter B. P. Naglis, announced the results of the competition and, amid loud applause from the hall, presented the prizes to the winners.

The winners of the tournament, Efim Petrovich Geller and Mark Evgenievich Taimanov, greeted those assembled on behalf of the participants. The Leningrad grandmaster stressed that Kislovodsk could and should be included among the world’s “chess” cities, such as Hastings in England and Beverwijk in the Netherlands.

S. Tanin,
Republican-category arbiter