Our Delegate

Three-player match-tournament

Leningrad, 1969

The match-tournament in Leningrad is approaching its end. The Soviet representative for the forthcoming World Junior Championship has been determined.

Long before the qualifying competition began, its format was discussed heatedly. In the past it had often happened that tournaments of this kind failed to provide a sufficiently convincing indication of who was the strongest young chess player in the country. And sending someone to the World Junior Championship without complete confidence that he was indeed the most worthy candidate did not seem sensible. Tukmakov or Kuzmin? Tomson or Khodoss? Zakharov or Matulović?

Taking into account the experience gained, the USSR Chess Federation this time tried to choose a tournament system that would give the clearest possible answer to the main question: “Who is our number one junior chess player?”

It was decided that the qualifying competition should include young players who had achieved high results both in junior events and in adult competitions, including those in which many were fighting for the right to obtain the title of master.

These criteria were fully met by Anatoly Karpov, Mikhail Steinberg and Rafik Vaganyan. Everyone remembered Steinberg’s successful performance in the mass Swiss tournament in Dresden. Particularly pleasant and unexpected was the fact that the young chess player won the prize “For the best finish.” This success was by no means accidental. In the Spartak Championship he finished second, behind only Grandmaster Suetin.

Anatoly Karpov was the 1969 World Junior Champion. At the USSR Team Championship in Riga he scored an excellent result. Rafik Vaganyan was third at the national championship of the Trud sports society. These chess players had already established themselves in international junior competitions. Each of them had also played in the unofficial European junior championship: Steinberg finished first in 1967, Karpov first in 1968, and Vaganyan shared first–third place in 1969.

Besides these three fifteen-year-old players who had already finished school, the reigning Soviet Junior Champion, seventeen-year-old Belyavsky, was also invited to take part in the tournament. The match-tournament of four players was supposed to be played over four cycles.

However, shortly before departure for Leningrad, Belyavsky unexpectedly received permission from the leaders of the Lviv Physical Culture Committee to compete in Kiev.

What happened? It is hard to believe that a young chess player voluntarily refused the chance to test himself against stronger and more experienced opponents. Of course, Belyavsky is not to blame. He simply proved useful to the Lviv regional team in the Ukrainian Schoolchildren’s Spartakiad.

After Belyavsky withdrew, the tournament regulations had to be changed. The three remaining players were now to play six games against each opponent.

Karpov immediately surged ahead. In the first cycle he won both games; in the second he made two draws, and in the third he again scored two victories. Thus, after the first half of the competition, the winner had effectively already been determined.

Masters Kirillov and Krutikh(in) — the authors of correspondence about the tournament — wrote that the primary reason for Karpov’s success was that he was able to adapt more quickly than the others to such an unusual competition. It seems to me that the greater experience Karpov had accumulated before the tournament cannot be explained by any particularly exceptional psychological or sporting qualities, but simply by the fact that in today’s generation he plays better than his rivals.

Although the match-tournament was held at a high level, it nevertheless had one shortcoming. Since all the places had already been decided when the final games were played, the character and intensity of the struggle inevitably decreased. The tournament once again confirmed that the chess public may expect a great deal from each of these young chess players.

I will not write about Karpov’s recent performances — he has already been praised enough. I also like this exceptionally gifted chess player very much: serious, intelligent, with a sense of humour. But we should not put unnecessary pressure on him with excessive expectations. In August in Stockholm, Anatoly Karpov will represent the Soviet Union at the World Junior Championship. His task is a very honourable one, but it is also extraordinarily difficult. There is still enough time before the competition to devote himself seriously to preparation.

Success to you, our delegate!

A. Bykhovsky, Master