Principled Battles

Every day, hundreds of chess enthusiasts fill Tallinn’s House of Political Education, where the international tournament is being held. The hall is equipped with a public-address system, and several times during the evening spectators gather around the participants to listen to the masters’ comments, compare them with their own assessments and discuss the games that have been played. Programmes, badges and pennants have been issued for the tournament, while bulletins containing the games from the previous round appear regularly. The number of demonstration boards is limited and there are many people wishing to take part in simultaneous exhibitions, so the lucky participants are chosen by lot. A tournament post office is also operating, where collectors can have commemorative envelopes cancelled with a special stamp.

The main events, however, naturally unfold on the stage, at the chessboards. Both players and spectators observe a moment of silence in memory of the uncompromising chess fighter Paul Keres. There are almost no colourless or insubstantial games.

Tal on the Opening Rounds

So far, the third round has proved the most interesting and spectacular. A number of participants demonstrated in practice the soundness of their opening ideas. In this respect, pride of place should go to the game D. Bronstein — W. Uhlmann.

As far as I know, the leading player of the GDR — and he has held that position for more than twenty years — did not become associated with the French Defence by accident. After Mikhail Botvinnik’s retirement, he remained the only grandmaster who stayed faithful to this opening. I am not referring to the harsh defeats Uhlmann sometimes suffers in it; more often, as in most of the games from the most recent Interzonal tournament, the results speak in his favour. A little more than twelve years have passed since the international tournament in Zagreb, where Bronstein and Uhlmann played another fascinating game in this variation. That game ended in a draw.

It was somewhat unexpected for me that Bronstein, who usually begins tournaments quietly, spent only ten minutes on his first seventeen moves this time. Everything had been prepared at home. After move seventeen, Uhlmann thought for half an hour. He clearly understood that all the variations up to move fifteen were also known to Bronstein.

In the Yugoslav Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings, this variation ends with a clear assessment in Black’s favour. The Moscow grandmaster wanted to call that assessment into question. After an interesting struggle, Bronstein won, choosing a plan typical of the variation: after a piece sacrifice, the white king remained in the centre and came under a crushing attack.

A Turning Point in the Tournament

As the first third of the tournament came to an end, Rainer Knaak remained in the lead. After Bronstein’s draw with Uhlmann, he managed to retain a half-point advantage. Soon, however, his situation changed.

In his game with Petrosian, Knaak failed to convert a completely winning position. Uhlmann took advantage of this opportunity, and fortune favoured him in the following rounds. Three consecutive victories and four points from four games moved him into second place.

Gulko played very sharply, but suffered three consecutive defeats from rounds three to five. Interestingly, the opening of his game with the Swedish master was exceptionally successful, but later mistakes completely changed the evaluation of the position. The position appeared favourable for White. Gulko, however, found an excellent tactical opportunity. After an accurate blow, his pieces invaded the opponent’s camp and White was unable to preserve the advantage.

For some time Gulko played almost perfectly. Only inaccuracies later on allowed White to escape, but in the final complicated phase Black seized the initiative again and won.

The leading group began to strengthen its position clearly. All the frontrunners won, so the next day could justifiably be called a day of victories by the leaders with Black.

Our Interviews

Wolfgang Uhlmann, GDR

I have played many times in the Soviet Union, but this is my first visit to Tallinn. I am pleased to become acquainted with the future satellite city of Moscow — the city where the Olympic sailing regatta will be held in 1980.

The international tournament has assembled a strong field and has been excellently organised. It is a great honour to play in an event dedicated to the memory of Paul Keres. The participants understood him and appreciated him for both fine play and good results. As is well known, those two things do not always go together, although at the start I managed to achieve the desired combination.

Dragoljub Velimirović, Yugoslavia

I had only one opportunity to meet Keres over the board. It was during the USSR — Yugoslavia match in 1966. I was fortunate enough to draw that game. I was happy because I had always regarded Keres as one of the greatest chess players in the world.

He left a brilliant mark on chess history. We all learn from Keres’s games. First we encounter his school of attack, and later we also discover his art of positional play.

Wolfgang Unzicker, Federal Republic of Germany

In chess, Paul Keres represented the classical school. With Alekhine he shared the mastery of making an unexpected transition from positional play to attack; with Capablanca, virtuosity in simple positions; and with Rubinstein, depth in endgame strategy. All of this was combined with great creative individuality and excellent technique.

Keres’s only “Achilles heel” was that serious errors occurred in his games more often than in those of other grandmasters. Perhaps this prevented him from becoming world champion, although in terms of talent and practical strength he was worthy of the highest title.

The Rest Day and the Continuing Struggle

On the rest day, the participants were received by I. Kallion, chairman of the city executive committee. They listened to an interesting account of Tallinn’s past, present and future, especially the Olympic city. They also visited the film studio and watched a representative documentary about Estonia.

On the evening of 2 March, the hotel room of the Bulgarian ski jumper became, in effect, the stadium in Minsk, where the European Cup quarter-final between Dynamo Kyiv and Bayern Munich was being played.

The participants’ minds were therefore occupied not only by chess problems, but also by events in other sports.

At previous Tallinn tournaments, there had always been players who managed to complete the entire event without a defeat. This time, although the second half of the tournament had already begun, there were no such players.

Tal recalled that his seventh-round game with Iivo Nei had been adjourned in a formally drawn position. The following evening, Tal obtained a winning position against Velimirović, while Nei also won his adjourned game.

If Romanishin had defeated Uhlmann, he could have posed a real threat to the leader. However, the resumption of play lasted exceptionally long: the opponents played for almost six hours, while suddenly the chances of the Hungarian grandmaster L. Vadasz against Bronstein became almost hopeless. During the adjournment session, Bronstein marched his king from h8 to a6, after which his opponent made a serious error in time trouble.

The Tournament Finish

The closer the finish came, the sharper the struggle became. The leaders, Uhlmann and Tal, did not slow down, while Romanishin was their main pursuer and had gathered considerable momentum.

The Lviv grandmaster scored four consecutive victories, all in convincing style. His game with Tal was particularly interesting. Romanishin chose a rare continuation that Tal initially did not consider especially dangerous. Black obtained an active position, but at the critical moment Romanishin introduced a new idea. Tal reacted energetically and sacrificed material to prevent White from consolidating the advantage. An extremely complicated position arose, in which both players had to find very precise moves. Romanishin conducted the attack accurately. In the final phase, his queen and rooks invaded the opponent’s camp, and Black had to resign.

Bronstein-Uhlmann used a rare setup, avoiding the main variations. Unzicker maintained equality for a long time, but in the middlegame White obtained the initiative.

Bronstein rejected the possibility of a simple draw and continued the struggle. At one point he sacrificed a pawn in return for piece activity. The game was adjourned, but in the resumption White’s advantage proved insufficient. The game ended in a draw. Interestingly, White used one hour and 39 minutes, while Black used two hours and 14 minutes.

The Final Rounds

In the twelfth round, much attention was attracted by international master V. Mikenas, making his tournament debut, who introduced a new idea against L. Vadasz. Uhlmann obtained a space advantage and an active position, but Vadasz replied with a counterblow. After errors by both sides, Black seized the initiative. In the ending, Uhlmann had two pawns for a piece, but Black’s active rooks and knights created sufficient threats. White eventually had to resign.

Gipslis-Gulko. The game, about which much had already been written in connection with Bronstein and Gulko, ended only on the day of adjournments. The struggle lasted a very long time. The game was adjourned after move 96 and resumed on move 103. Gulko observed that, despite everything, the position he had analysed the previous night should be drawn. After several adjourned positions, Bronstein played a short encounter with the West German grandmaster Unzicker. The game had clear theoretical significance.

Romanishin—Kärner. Romanishin had prepared the variation before the national championship. His opponent avoided the main idea, but White obtained the initiative. Kärner nevertheless found interesting counterplay. It appeared that Black was equalising, but at the critical moment Romanishin introduced a powerful tactical blow. The black king’s position was shattered. After a striking combination, White won.

Final Results

After the eleventh round, Mikhail Tal and Wolfgang Uhlmann remained in the lead with 8 points each. Half a point behind were Oleg Romanishin and Boris Gulko, each of whom had won four consecutive games. David Bronstein had 6½ points and one adjourned game.

"64" no.9-11/1977