What the demonstration board shows — and what it does not show

It had been nearly ten years since such a major tournament had been seen in Budapest. For fifteen rounds, on eight enormous demonstration boards, spectators could follow step by step one of the greatest chess events of the year. Those who did not visit the Vasas headquarters during those days may regret having missed it. The excitement and true beauty of tournament struggle can really be experienced only on the spot: praising a player when, in our opinion, he is playing well, and scolding him when, instead of the combination which “even a patzer would have seen,” he chooses some completely incomprehensible move.

Our article was written while the excitement of the tournament was still fresh, and so we have tried above all to record the dramatic moments, fine combinations and oversights which the demonstration boards could not show. We think this will be more interesting for readers — especially for those who could not be present at the Vasas headquarters — than a verbal description of the tournament. The results, standings and tables can be read from the crosstables, so we would like to say only a few words about those who were successful this time.

The superiority of the winner, Grandmaster Korchnoi, became impressive in the second half of the tournament. He scored at such a pace that after the twelfth round there could no longer be any doubt about his victory. He is a true fighting chess player. He may be compared with Lasker.

Filip has made impressive progress in recent years. Only very few players have managed to complete such a strong tournament undefeated.

Bronstein is the opposite of Korchnoi. Recently he has been more interested in the artistic side of chess. Some of his games recalled the winner of the 1950 Budapest Candidates Tournament.

Dely was the surprise of the tournament and, for the Hungarian public, the hero of the event. He finally realized that, with his sharp style and combinational ability, he had no reason to strive for the cautious play he had shown in recent Hungarian championships. He comfortably achieved the score required for the International Master title, and his grandmaster norm will deservedly attract attention throughout the chess world, especially since he forced no fewer than four grandmaster opponents — Korchnoi, Bisguier, Uhlmann and Donner — to resign.

Simagin, a multiple Moscow champion, had already defeated many grandmasters during his long career, had finished ahead of others in tournament tables, and as a trainer had helped more than one player to victory. Now, at last, he too has become an International Grandmaster. His modest and likeable personality is so appreciated by his colleagues that, although they were his opponents, they were almost cheering for him to achieve the grandmaster norm.

After an excellent start, Portisch collapsed and failed to win a game between rounds six and eleven. In the final three rounds, however, he pulled himself together again; and although he fell short of the result his supporters had hoped for after the fifth round, after winning the title he achieved his first grandmaster norm.

Taimanov generally played freshly and inventively, but this time he did not create as many problems for his opponents in any game as he usually does. Several times he got into time trouble, and this took its revenge, for example, against Bisguier and Filip.

Uhlmann also began the tournament very well. In the ninth round he was still level with Korchnoi, but after that he scored only two points from six games. During the tournament he was often troubled by rheumatic pains, so his exhaustion is understandable.

These were the prize-winners. Two other players, however, fell only slightly short of joining them. Grandmaster Barcza himself complained that in another tournament a score of fifty percent plus one would certainly have placed him among the prize-winners. This probably would not have caused him any great problem here either, had he not failed precisely in the area where he is usually strongest: the endgame. His fatal oversight against Donner could have set many players back for several rounds.

In the middle of the tournament, Bilek showed pleasant, enterprising play and, with his sacrifices, deservedly won the sympathy of the spectators at that stage. If, in the critical round against Korchnoi, he had managed to carry his sacrificial combination through successfully, he too would probably have achieved the grandmaster norm. It is a pity that such misfortune — unlike in the cases of Barcza and Dely — completely broke his fighting spirit.

Until the eighth round there was hardly any difference in points between five or six players. Korchnoi was in the lead throughout, but from the sixth to the eighth round he still had to share first place — first with Portisch, then with Uhlmann. At that point the Soviet grandmaster’s exceptional class and fighting ability became clear: a streak of five wins, which no one else could match, and he was already leading by a point and a half over Dr. Filip in second place.

Korchnoi’s style is not especially spectacular at first sight, but for the spectators it is nevertheless highly rewarding: he knows nothing of salon draws. Even when he has only a slight advantage, he is not satisfied with a draw — even if his opponent offers one — provided he sees even a small chance to complicate the position, and senses even a little that his opponent has had enough of the game. In this tournament Korchnoi needed only twelve rounds to “become a grandmaster again.” By then he had already exceeded the required grandmaster norm.

GM László Szabó