Candidates' Tournament 1959: Part 3, by James O'Fee

Continued from Part 2:

In the 1959 Candidates' Tournament, each of the 8 Candidate played every other 4 times, twice with White and twice with Black. This produced four cycles of 7 rounds and 28 rounds in all.

The first cycle saw each candidate play each other in 7 rounds of games. The second cycle of play had the same format as the first, but with colours reversed. The format of the Third and Fourth Cycles were exact copies of the First and Second Cycles. In other words, the plan of the second half of the tournament was a repeat of the first half.

First Cycle, Rounds 1-7 (Bled)

Keres and Tal - the pair who would finally compete for the winner's laurel - both lost their opening game (Round 1). Keres uncorked a sacrifical innovation in the Sicilian against Fischer, but the American defended accurately and finally prevailed in a long and hard-fought struggle. On the 53rd move the 16-year-old Fischer delivered checkmate to Keres's King in the middle of the board. The young American had downed one of the world's most feared and experienced attacking players (f).

In Round 1 Smyslov defeated Tal in a beautiful example of his harmonious art. Sustained positional pressure eventually prompted the Latvian into an unsound sacrifice rather than accept an inferior endgame.

In Round 3, Keres himself defeated Tal, refuting the latter's sacrifice of a piece for 3 pawns. The early leader was Petrosian who assembled 3 wins and 3 draws in the first 6 rounds. But in Round 7, Petrosian lost to Gligorić. This was a surprise since the Armenian had established an early advantage and looked well on the way to scoring another win to increase his lead, especially in view of the time trouble in which Gligorić found himself. Uncharacteristically, Petrosian then fell into time trouble and was outplayed in the ensuing. The Yugoslav found himself with a won ending on adjournment which he managed to consummate, although not without some tremulous moments.

Petrosian's stumble allowed the pack to catch up. In this case, that meant Keres and Tal. Despite his two losses in Rounds 1 and 3, the "Wizard of Riga" (as he came to be called) assembled no less than 4 wins in his other games, conceding only one draw [against Petrosian - Petrosian and Tal drew all their 4 games in this tournament]. Tal's four wins were against Gligorić (Round 2), Ólafsson (Round 4), Fischer (Round 6) and Benkö (Round 7). Liepnieks includes all these four victories in his work (g).

Keres, too, suffered another defeat in the first cycle - against Petrosian in Round 4. Keres was scarcely worse on adjourment, but Golombek suggests that fatigue played a part in the subsequent play. Keres played a series of indifferent and lacklustre moves to which Petrosian responded with a beautiful sacrificial coup. Petrosian's final 51st move has found a place in the annals of brilliant play and forced Keres' immediate resignation. On the other hand, the Estonian had himself recorded four wins (Smyslov, Tal, Benkö and Ólafsson) and a draw (Gligorić ) by the end of the 7th round.

By the end of the first cycle, Keres, Petrosian and Tal shared the lead each with 4 1/2 out of 7.

Notes

(f) Game 14 in My 60 Memorable Games, given the heading "Too many cooks" [Keres-Fischer, Sicilian Defense, 0-1, 53 moves]. Included by Andrew Soltis in his Bobby Fischer rediscovered (2003). See Tal's victory Part 4 (Wednesday, July 8. 2009)

(g) The Chess Psychologist World Champion TAL, A. Liepnieks, North American Latvian Chess Association, Chicago, 1961. In his collection of Tal's games, Peter Clarke includes only the victory over Gligorić in Round 2 - Mikhail Tal: Master of Sacrifice, P.H. (Peter) Clarke, Batsford, London, 1991. With an Introduction by Raymond Keene. Being a reprint of the original Bell edition (1961).

To be continued

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