San Antonio (1972) In 1972, while the world's gaze was fixed on Iceland, a company in America had plans to generate publicity for itself through the chess world. Church's Fried Chicken, a restaurant chain in the United States, organized an international tournament to be held in San Antonio, Texas. European and Soviet grandmasters were pitted against grandmasters and masters from the Americas in a round robin format. The sixteen participants were (in order of ELO): Tigran Petrosian (2645), Lajos Portisch (2640), Anatoli Karpov (2630), Bent Larsen (2625), Vlastimil Hort (2600), Paul Keres (2600), Svetozar Gligoric (2575), Henrique Mecking (2570), Larry Evans (2545), Walter Shawn Browne (2530), Donald Byrne (2470), Julio Kaplan (2470), Duncan Suttles (2470), Dr. Anthony Saidy (2425), Ken Smith (2395), and Mario Campos Lopez (2200). The tournament ended with a trifecta finish, with the top three seeds sharing first place. The finals standings and crosstable are as follows: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 01 Portisch * ½ 1 0 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 10.5 02 Petrosian ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 10.5 03 Karpov 0 ½ * 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 10.5 04 Gligoric 1 0 0 * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 10.0 05 Keres 0 ½ ½ ½ * 1 ½ 1 1 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 9.5 06 Hort 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 9.0 07 Suttles ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 9.0 08 Mecking ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ * 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 8.5 09 Larsen 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 0 * 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 8.5 10 Byrne ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 * 1 0 ½ 1 1 1 7.0 11 Evans ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 * ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 6.5 12 Browne ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 1 ½ * 1 0 0 1 6.5 13 Kaplan 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 * 1 ½ 0 5.0 14 Campos Lopez ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 * 1 ½ 3.5 15 Saidy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 * 1 3.5 16 Smith 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 0 * 2.0 Original collection: Game Collection: San Antonio 1972 User: suenteus po 147  page 1 of 5; games 1-25 of 120  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. D Byrne vs Petrosian   ½-½ 22 1972 San Antonio A07 King's Indian Attack 2. Keres vs Hort   1-0 60 1972 San Antonio E14 Queen's Indian 3. Larsen vs K Smith   1-0 24 1972 San Antonio D11 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 4. Suttles vs Gligoric   0-1 48 1972 San Antonio E81 King's Indian, Samisch 5. M C Lopez vs Portisch   ½-½ 33 1972 San Antonio B42 Sicilian, Kan 6. Mecking vs Kaplan 1-0 31 1972 San Antonio B44 Sicilian 7. Browne vs Larry Evans   ½-½ 25 1972 San Antonio A43 Old Benoni 8. Saidy vs Karpov 0-1 52 1972 San Antonio A07 King's Indian Attack 9. Keres vs Mecking 1-0 28 1972 San Antonio A56 Benoni Defense 10. K Smith vs M C Lopez ½-½ 64 1972 San Antonio C02 French, Advance 11. Kaplan vs Saidy   ½-½ 69 1972 San Antonio B92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation 12. Gligoric vs D Byrne   1-0 39 1972 San Antonio D91 Grunfeld, 5.Bg5 13. Hort vs Petrosian   ½-½ 13 1972 San Antonio B52 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack 14. Portisch vs Suttles   ½-½ 40 1972 San Antonio B08 Pirc, Classical 15. Larry Evans vs Larsen 0-1 43 1972 San Antonio A14 English 16. Karpov vs Browne 1-0 59 1972 San Antonio A30 English, Symmetrical 17. Petrosian vs Gligoric 1-0 35 1972 San Antonio E81 King's Indian, Samisch 18. Saidy vs Keres 0-1 55 1972 San Antonio D02 Queen's Pawn Game 19. D Byrne vs Portisch   ½-½ 32 1972 San Antonio A22 English 20. M C Lopez vs Larry Evans   ½-½ 41 1972 San Antonio B96 Sicilian, Najdorf 21. Larsen vs Karpov   ½-½ 33 1972 San Antonio E17 Queen's Indian 22. Suttles vs K Smith 1-0 49 1972 San Antonio A07 King's Indian Attack 23. Mecking vs Hort   0-1 87 1972 San Antonio B68 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack, 7...a6 Defense, 9...Be7 24. Browne vs Kaplan   1-0 24 1972 San Antonio B54 Sicilian 25. Mecking vs Saidy   ½-½ 41 1972 San Antonio B90 Sicilian, Najdorf  page 1 of 5; games 1-25 of 120    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)     Jan-26-13    Phony Benoni: The 1962 US Open was held in San Antonio. Buried down in 121st place in the crosstable: Game Collection: US Open 1962, San Antonio is <G W Church>. In 1962 George W. Church Jr. was the head of Church's Fried Chicken, which sponsored the 1972 Grandmaster Tournament. Could somebody with the tournament book check and see if it mentions whether he was the "G W Church" who played at San Antonio 1962? Jan-28-13    FSR: <Phony Benoni> Seems quite likely, but the tournament book by RHM Press doesn't appear to answer the question. On the unnumbered page right before 1, there's a picture of George W. (Bill) Church, Jr. Pages 1 and 2 extol the virtues of Church's Fried Chicken, Inc. ("GRANDMASTERS OF GOOD FOOD"). We learn, <inter alia>, that: <George W. Church, Sr., founded Church's Fried Chicken as a post-retirement project in 1952 in downtown San Antonio. Chess had not grown to its present stature throughout America and neither had the food service industry.> <At the time of his death in 1956, four Church's stores were open. Other members of the family continued Mr. Church's vision, and by 1962, the chain had grown to eight San Antonio stores.> <In 1962, George W. (Bill) Church, Jr., Church's current President and Chairman of the Board, assumed chief operating responsibility for the family's business.> Given the centrality of San Antonio to Church's (as of 1962, all of its stores were there), it's a fair surmise that G W Church and George W. (Bill) Church, Jr. are the same guy. But there's doesn't seem to be any discussion of his, or any other Church's, involvement in chess beyond the company's sponsorship of the tournament. Page 2 of the book also mentions a "vision" of the company: "the growth of Church's Fried Chicken's International Chess Tournament through the years to come." Well, <that> didn't happen. Maybe they chickened out. Jan-28-13    Phony Benoni: <FSR> Thanks for checking. Had a vague memory of some information being in the book. Jan-28-13    EdZelli: Mecking lost to Pertosian but the cross-table shows a draw. 08 Mecking 8.5/15 0 ½ Jan-28-13    me to play: <Page 2 of the book also mentions a "vision" of the company: "the growth of Church's Fried Chicken's International Chess Tournament through the years to come." Well, <that> didn't happen. Maybe they chickened out.> They did , if I recall correctly, go on to sponsor a Grand Prix type circuit for US tournaments through the 1980's. Jan-28-13    Phony Benoni: <EdZelli> Thanks. Looks like there's an extra result in there for Mecking. I'll straighten it out tonight. NOTE: You need to pick a username and password to post a reply. Getting your account takes less than a minute, totally anonymous, and 100% free--plus, it entitles you to features otherwise unavailable. Pick your username now and join the chessgames community! If you already have an account, you should login now. Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. 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