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Moscow (1967) Three years after the zonal tournament won by Boris Spassky, another elite international tournament was held in the Soviet capital of Moscow in 1967. Dubbed the 50th Jubilee tournament, eighteen grandmasters were invited to participate in the round robin event. Many of the best grandmasters from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe participated, including the world champion Tigran Petrosian and former world champions Vasily Smyslov and Mikhail Tal. This strong international gathering was won by three-time Soviet champion Leonid Stein with 11/17. Moscow, Soviet Union (Russia), 21 May - 16 June 1967 (1) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pts 1 Stein * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 11 =2 Smyslov ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 10 =2 Bobotsov ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 10 =2 Gipslis ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 10 =2 Tal ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 10 =6 Portisch 0 0 ½ ½ 1 * ½ 1 0 ½ 1 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 9½ =6 Bronstein ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 9½ =6 Spassky ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 9½ =9 Geller ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 * 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 8½ =9 Najdorf ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 * ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 8½ =9 Keres 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 8½ =9 Petrosian ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ * 1 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 8½ 13 Gheorghiu 1 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 8 14 Gligoric 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ 7½ =15 Pachman ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 6 =15 Filip 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ 0 6 =15 Bilek 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 6 =15 Uhlmann 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ * 6 (1) Chess Life 1967, p. 223. Original Collection : Game Collection: Moscow 1967 by User: suenteus po 147.  page 1 of 7; games 1-25 of 153  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. I Bilek vs Bronstein   ½-½ 26 1967 Moscow A06 Reti Opening 2. Gheorghiu vs Geller 1-0 37 1967 Moscow B76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack 3. Gipslis vs Uhlmann 1-0 42 1967 Moscow C07 French, Tarrasch 4. Najdorf vs Keres   ½-½ 20 1967 Moscow E19 Queen's Indian, Old Main line, 9.Qxc3 5. Spassky vs Pachman 1-0 30 1967 Moscow D44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 6. Bobotsov vs Petrosian ½-½ 20 1967 Moscow D42 Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch, 7.Bd3 7. Portisch vs Gligoric   ½-½ 30 1967 Moscow E75 King's Indian, Averbakh, Main line 8. Smyslov vs Filip ½-½ 90 1967 Moscow A14 English 9. Stein vs Tal   ½-½ 24 1967 Moscow C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed 10. Stein vs I Bilek 1-0 47 1967 Moscow B27 Sicilian 11. Bronstein vs Gipslis   ½-½ 18 1967 Moscow A02 Bird's Opening 12. Geller vs Spassky 1-0 41 1967 Moscow D31 Queen's Gambit Declined 13. Keres vs Portisch 0-1 90 1967 Moscow C93 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Smyslov Defense 14. Pachman vs Najdorf 0-1 41 1967 Moscow E55 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Gligoric System, Bronstein Variation 15. Petrosian vs Gheorghiu 1-0 41 1967 Moscow A29 English, Four Knights, Kingside Fianchetto 16. Gligoric vs Smyslov   ½-½ 22 1967 Moscow E54 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Gligoric System 17. Tal vs Filip 1-0 27 1967 Moscow B17 Caro-Kann, Steinitz Variation 18. Uhlmann vs Bobotsov 0-1 42 1967 Moscow E75 King's Indian, Averbakh, Main line 19. I Bilek vs Tal 0-1 30 1967 Moscow A07 King's Indian Attack 20. Bobotsov vs Bronstein   ½-½ 22 1967 Moscow A90 Dutch 21. Najdorf vs Geller 1-0 68 1967 Moscow E92 King's Indian 22. Gipslis vs Stein ½-½ 39 1967 Moscow B76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack 23. Smyslov vs Keres   ½-½ 21 1967 Moscow E02 Catalan, Open, 5.Qa4 24. Portisch vs Pachman 1-0 40 1967 Moscow A05 Reti Opening 25. Spassky vs Petrosian ½-½ 23 1967 Moscow B36 Sicilian, Accelerated Fianchetto  page 1 of 7; games 1-25 of 153    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Nov-30-12    Benzol: Didn't Fischer want to be invited to this tournament? May-02-14    Gottschalk: <Benzol> Because Fischer was supercapitalist and this event celebrated 50 years of the bolshevik revolution. May-02-14    Benzol: Yes I suppose it might not have gone down so well if Fischer had won this event but that would have been a tall order given the field. May-03-14    perfidious: Fischer would have had fun converting all his roubles into USD afterwards. May-03-14    Peter Nemenyi: Fischer paid an indirect compliment to the strength of this tournament when he said, after his famous victory over Stein at Sousse 1967, "I beat Stein here and Stein was the winner of the Moscow tournament. I've proved I'm the best" (quoted in Soltis). Looking at the crosstable, though, it's apparent that the Soviet grandmasters played for draws against each other and let the question of who best thrashed the foreigners decide the event. Stein played six decisive games out of nine against the guests, one out of eight against his fellow Soviets. Four other Soviets only had one decisive game against their compatriots, and two had none. Apr-06-15    Howard: As far as Fischer's absence, only players from the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc countries, were invited. Western players, in other words, could not take part. It should also be noted, by the way, that Petrosian only scored 50%. Considering that he was world champion at the time, he surely should have done better. Apr-06-15    perfidious: <It should also be noted, by the way, that Petrosian only scored 50%. Considering that he was world champion at the time, he surely should have done better.> Such a lacklustre result was hardly unique to reigning titleholders during the period from Botvinnik to Spassky inclusive; it was only when Karpov and Kasparov ascended to the throne that we witnessed dominance by a champion as was the case, eg, during Alekhine's purple patch of 1930-34. Apr-06-15    A.T PhoneHome: Perhaps Soviets wanted to draw an ideal picture of Bolshevism, excuse me for the lame pun. Anyways, as you guys can see from the standings, Portisch was the other one with six wins here. He didn't seem to be in such a drawing mood. As for Leonid Stein, he was just incredible. He won three USSR Championships; in 1963, 1965 and 1966. That amounts to something! Regarding Soviets drawing against each other, I don't think it meant so much. One could say that Soviets bet awful lot on themselves. For example, Milko Bobotsov, Bulgarian player had 3 wins and 14 draws. He was only 1 point behind Stein; Soviets couldn't afford to lose more than they did here. This woulda-coulda-shoulda talk is to illustrate that Soviets weren't doing themselves any favours with their common draws. Oct-24-16    RookFile: Fischer at this tournament would have thought that Stein's 6 wins were cute. I see Fischer putting up something like 10 wins and 2 losses with his style of play. Nov-10-17    Stonehenge: Photo from the fourth round: https://img.gazeta.ru/files3/389/10... Nov-10-17    ZonszeinP: Stein! What a player! Feb-02-18    zanzibar: Soltis, <Soviet Chess: 1917-1992> p276 <The Soviets held their own showcase event in Moscow, May 21-June 18, 1967, dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. No Westerners were invited — except for Najdorf of Argentina, a Russian-speaking former Pole. The attempt by Benko, a Hungarian defector, was naturally rejected —as well as a rumored effort by Fischer> Can anyone definitely confirm the Fisher rumor? (see Benzol's comment) Feb-02-18    Retireborn: <z> There's a mildly relevant discussion here:- https://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopi... <SallySimpson> can probably track down the issue of CHESS Sutton Coldfield referred to, but it's probably just speculation anyway. Feb-02-18    zanzibar: Ah, yes, took a quick look, thanks. Soltis also implied that Najdorf's ability to speak Russian also contributed to him giving an invite. Nov-28-19    Scuvy: More than any other player, Lajos Portisch took the role usually played by Korchnoi and imparted a definite character to the tourney. He came to play and had more decisive games than anyone else. His beautiful endgame versus Keres was proof of this, and maintained his fighting attitude even though he was defeated in a crushing miniature by Geller. Nov-28-19    keypusher: < Stonehenge: Photo from the fourth round: https://img.gazeta.ru/files3/389/10... Nice picture! Taken during the fourth round. Uhlmann has launched a kamikaze attack on Spassky, Pachman is on his way to beating Smyslov, the World Champion will win against Najdorf, Bronstein and Gheorghiu have barely gotten started, and unfortunately the demonstration board for Geller-Portisch is not visible. In profile, Petrosian resembles Mr. Punch. Mar-31-20    ewan14: Gligoric said most of the Soviet players were not that bothered ( just so long as a Soviet won ) Jun-27-20    Fusilli: perfidious: <It should also be noted, by the way, that Petrosian only scored 50%. Considering that he was world champion at the time, he surely should have done better. Such a lacklustre result was hardly unique to reigning titleholders during the period from Botvinnik to Spassky inclusive; it was only when Karpov and Kasparov ascended to the throne that we witnessed dominance by a champion as was the case, eg, during Alekhine's purple patch of 1930-34.> I didn't realize that. Growing up under Karpov's scorched earth tournament record as WC, I just assumed the WC would have always done that... That's why no one took the FIDE world champion seriously during Kasparov's reign after all, right? NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. 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