Keres Won the Anniversary Tournament

During the Christmas and New Year holidays, the Swedish Chess Federation opened its 1967 anniversary year by organizing an international invitational tournament in Stockholm, with participants from the Nordic countries and the Soviet Union. As expected, Grandmaster Paul Keres emerged as the decisive winner, while Martin Johansson delighted the home crowd by finishing second. Bent Larsen made a sensationally poor start and had to settle for a share of third to fifth place with Eero Böök and Ove Kinnmark. Keres first visited Sweden in connection with the Stockholm Olympiad almost exactly thirty years ago. Since then, he has competed in our country several times, usually with considerable success. This time he showed himself at his very best, being exceptionally well prepared physically, technically and in terms of practical play, and producing a number of fine games. In the second round Keres, playing White, defeated Larsen in an exciting encounter. He then won five more games in succession, with his combinationally elegant victories over Ståhlberg and Martin Johansson being particularly noteworthy. After such a run, none of his rivals could threaten him. Martin Johansson also began well, with three victories, including a highly entertaining game in which he sacrificed a piece against Larsen and created a pair of passed pawns. He later defeated Ståhlberg, again in sacrificial style, but lost to Keres and Litsberger.

There was much speculation about the reasons for Bent Larsen’s disappointing tournament. He himself accepted the setbacks with a calm smile, especially as he had deliberately embarked on various opening experiments, such as answering Keres’s 1.e4 with 1...Nc6. Toward the end of the tournament, however, he also had opportunities to show his strength. Böök provided a striking contrast to Larsen through his many draws—seven in all—together with only one defeat, against Keres, and one victory, over Johannessen. Experience and steadiness were decisive in his case. Ove Kinnmark’s result in such distinguished company must be regarded as another major success for the young player from Gothenburg. Bengt Hörberg and Kristian Sköld, the latter having replaced the absent Alexander Kotov at the last moment, could not, in view of their relatively limited experience, be considered failures either. Gideon Ståhlberg, who began with a surprise victory over Larsen in the first round, weakened considerably toward the end of the tournament when his stamina proved insufficient. Litsberger’s most difficult opponent was the clock, and perhaps the same may be said of the Norwegian Svein Johannessen, who had naturally been expected to finish in the upper half of the table.

The final standings were: Keres 8 points; Martin Johansson 5½; Böök, Kinnmark and Larsen 4½ each; Hörberg and Sköld 4 each; Litsberger and Ståhlberg 3½ each; Johannessen 3. The tournament was held in the Strindberg Hall at Norra Bantorget and attracted considerable public interest. At the closing ceremony, prizes in cash and kind worth 3,400 kronor were distributed, while Folke Rogard, Sixten Nilsson and John Byström also contributed valuable special prizes. Federation chairman Nils Kellgren announced that plans were being made to hold a similar tournament, perhaps as early as the following year. At the same time as the main event, eight of the country’s younger masters played a separate tournament, with the following result: 1. Lars Hedlund 5½; 2. Sven-Göran Malmgren 5; 3–5. Bo Bengtsson, Gunnar Dalin and Reedik End 4 each; 6. Nils Thörnblom 2½; 7–8. Clas-Göran Fackle and Kjell Wedin 1½ each.

Lars Bäckström