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Leningrad Interzonal (1973) In the preceding FIDE cycles there had been only one Interzonal, such as the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal (1970). The year of 1973 marked the debut of two Interzonals to allow the aspirants for the world title to advance. As was the case with the Petropolis Interzonal (1973), the Leningrad Interzonal was held as an 18-player round robin with the top three players qualifying for the Candidates matches. Korchnoi (+11 =5 -1) and Karpov (+10 =7 -0) tied for first place with 13.5/17. Third was Byrne with 12.5, and just missing out with 11 was Smejkal, whose chances of qualification ended with his loss to Karpov from a favourable position in the penultimate round. Leningrad, Soviet Union (Russia), 2-27 June 1973 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pts =1 Korchnoi * ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 0 1 1 1 13½ =1 Karpov ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 13½ 3 Byrne 0 ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 12½ 4 Smejkal ½ 0 ½ * 0 0 ½ ½ 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 =5 Huebner 0 ½ ½ 1 * 0 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 10 =5 Larsen 0 ½ 0 1 1 * 1 0 0 ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 10 7 Kuzmin ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 * 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 9½ =8 Tal 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 0 * 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 0 0 1 0 1 8½ =8 Gligoric ½ 0 ½ 0 0 1 1 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1 8½ =8 Taimanov 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 8½ =11 Quinteros 0 0 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ * 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 7½ =11 Radulov 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 * 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 7½ =13 Uhlmann ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 7 =13 Torre 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 1 1 7 15 Rukavina 1 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 1 ½ 6½ 16 Tukmakov 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 1 * ½ 1 6 17 Estevez Morales 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ * 1 4½ 18 Cuellar Gacharna 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 * 1½ Arbiter: Alexander Kotov, assisted by Walter Kühnle-Woods and others. (1) Korchnoi, Karpov and Byrne were joined by Henrique Mecking, Lajos Portisch and Lev Polugaevsky from the Petropolis Interzonal for play against Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (who qualified as losing finalist in 1971) and Boris Spassky (who qualified as ex-World Champion in 1972) in the next year's Candidates matches: Spassky - Byrne Candidates Quarterfinal (1974) Petrosian - Portisch Candidates Quarterfinal (1974) Karpov - Polugaevsky Candidates Quarterfinal (1974) Korchnoi - Mecking Candidates Quarterfinal (1974) (1) World Championship Interzonals. Leningrad-Petropolis 1973 by Robert Wade, Leslie Stephen Fraser Blackstock and Alexander Kotov (Batsford, London 1974). Original collection: Game Collection: Interzonals 1973: Leningrad, by User: capybara.  page 1 of 7; games 1-25 of 153  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. G Estevez Morales vs Karpov 0-1 55 1973 Leningrad Interzonal D58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst 2. Tukmakov vs Korchnoi 0-1 38 1973 Leningrad Interzonal E04 Catalan, Open, 5.Nf3 3. I Radulov vs Quinteros 1-0 48 1973 Leningrad Interzonal B43 Sicilian, Kan, 5.Nc3 4. Huebner vs Taimanov   ½-½ 21 1973 Leningrad Interzonal A00 Uncommon Opening 5. Smejkal vs Tal   ½-½ 32 1973 Leningrad Interzonal E62 King's Indian, Fianchetto 6. M Cuellar Gacharna vs Uhlmann 0-1 26 1973 Leningrad Interzonal A22 English 7. Gligoric vs R Byrne   ½-½ 20 1973 Leningrad Interzonal E61 King's Indian 8. J Rukavina vs Larsen 0-1 28 1973 Leningrad Interzonal A10 English 9. E Torre vs G Kuzmin ½-½ 57 1973 Leningrad Interzonal B08 Pirc, Classical 10. Karpov vs Huebner ½-½ 41 1973 Leningrad Interzonal B42 Sicilian, Kan 11. Korchnoi vs M Cuellar Gacharna 1-0 33 1973 Leningrad Interzonal D58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst 12. Quinteros vs Smejkal 1-0 40 1973 Leningrad Interzonal A04 Reti Opening 13. Taimanov vs Tukmakov   ½-½ 25 1973 Leningrad Interzonal A34 English, Symmetrical 14. Tal vs E Torre 0-1 67 1973 Leningrad Interzonal A15 English 15. Uhlmann vs Gligoric ½-½ 61 1973 Leningrad Interzonal E73 King's Indian 16. R Byrne vs J Rukavina 1-0 33 1973 Leningrad Interzonal C95 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Breyer 17. G Kuzmin vs G Estevez Morales 1-0 51 1973 Leningrad Interzonal E59 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line 18. Larsen vs I Radulov 1-0 26 1973 Leningrad Interzonal A15 English 19. Tukmakov vs Karpov 0-1 33 1973 Leningrad Interzonal C95 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Breyer 20. Korchnoi vs Taimanov 1-0 52 1973 Leningrad Interzonal A22 English 21. E Torre vs Quinteros ½-½ 24 1973 Leningrad Interzonal B92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation 22. G Estevez Morales vs Tal 1-0 37 1973 Leningrad Interzonal B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen 23. M Cuellar Gacharna vs Gligoric 0-1 70 1973 Leningrad Interzonal E68 King's Indian, Fianchetto, Classical Variation, 8.e4 24. Huebner vs G Kuzmin   ½-½ 24 1973 Leningrad Interzonal C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed 25. I Radulov vs R Byrne 0-1 29 1973 Leningrad Interzonal C07 French, Tarrasch  page 1 of 7; games 1-25 of 153    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 4 OF 4 ·  Later Kibitzing> Apr-08-15    SimonWebbsTiger: @<Conrad> on the basis of Elo in 1974, e.g.: Karpov 2705 Korchnoi 2665 Spassky 2650 You'll remember Karpov and Korchnoi met in the Candidates final which later became the de facto world chp. match because Fischer didn't turn up in '75. Feb-25-17    ughaibu: It amazes me that Euwe, as FIDE president, didn't understand that nobody's (and no federation's) request to play in a particular interzonal could be granted. Take the top two rated players and toss a coin to decide which plays where. Take the next two top rated and toss a coin, etc. How could Euwe still be so unprofessional? And why has this been the story with FIDE presidents even up till today? Nov-29-18    perfidious: <ozmikey: This is just a hunch, but I'm guessing that at least one of the players whose "personal wishes" were taken into account was Henrique Mecking..> Could well be. <...(Mecking) was a big hero in Brazil and would have had the benefit of massive home support in Petropolis;> Very definitely. <....I very much doubt whether he would have qualified from the Leningrad tournament.> That event was tremendously strong, and it is an open question whether he would have made it. Nov-30-18    Howard: The Leningrad interzonal was definitely tougher than its Brazilian counterpart. Karpov, incidentally, lived in Leningrad at the time. Both Karpov and Mecking were considered to be relatively unseasoned at the time...but they both qualified for the Candidates ! Mar-08-19    RookFile: Strange tournament for Tal. In the first half he was awful, putting up a huge negative score. In the second half, he was the Tal of old and brought his overall result to 50 percent. Jan-27-21    Eggman: This site makes it easier to discern certain never-before-noticed facts about these events, f'rinstance: Smejkal started off the tournament with 1/4 (two draws, two losses), before reeling off 7 wins in a row! Going into his classic penultimate round encounter with Karpov, Smejkal had scored 8.5 from his previous 10 games. He didn't manage to qualify for the candidates (finishing 4th - a top-3 placement was needed), but what a tournament! Leningrad Interzonal (1973)/Jan Smejkal Jan-27-21    perfidious: <Tabanus....Don't know why I like (Larsen) and Korchnoi too, the irascibles.> I also admired their fighting spirit, but don't know as I'd wish to spend time with them away from the board, though an old friend met Larsen on one of his visits to Canada, in 1970, and found him a perfectly congenial fellow. Jan-27-21    Fusilli: <an old friend met Larsen on one of his visits to Canada, in 1970, and found him a perfectly congenial fellow.> My thoughts exactly... I was not aware of Larsen being considered irascible. In Buenos Aires he was very much liked and was always friendly. But maybe the fact that he did great playing there had something to do with it. See Buenos Aires (Clarin) (1979) and Buenos Aires (Clarin) (1980). Apr-07-25    FSR: It wasn't as though Larsen never got a shot at getting to the world championship. He tied for first at the Amsterdam Interzonal (1964), but lost to Tal in the Candidates' semifinals. He won the Sousse Interzonal (1967), but lost to Spassky in the semifinals. He tied for second at the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal (1970), but was swept 6-0 by Fischer. He won the Biel Interzonal (1976), but lost by three points to Portisch in the quarterfinals. In short, he made it to the Candidates in four out of five cycles, but faltered in matches against the top players. He never made it to the Candidates' final, let alone a world championship. I don't think we can blame Euwe for Larsen not becoming world champion. Apr-07-25    FSR: I also met Larsen, and spoke to him for five minutes or so. A very nice man, even complimenting me on my play in F Rhine vs D Sprenkle, 1981, which he had voted the most theoretically important game in Chess Informant Volume 32. Not the least bit irascible. Our meeting took place during the closing ceremony of the New York International Open (1984), where he'd only scored 4/9, including a last-round loss to an IM, so could have been forgiven if he'd been in a bad mood. Apr-07-25    perfidious: <FSR>, how many of the spectators in that photo can you identify? Apr-07-25    stone free or die: What photo? Apr-08-25    FSR: Yeah, what photo? Apr-08-25    perfidious: https://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/C... Apr-08-25    Olavi: <perfidious> On page 31? Lein is closest, Zapata behind him I think. There's Wilder on the right. Hjartarson at the top. The one next to Wilder looks familiar... And isn't it Cuchi in the middle. Apr-08-25    perfidious: <Olavi>, I believe that is Zapata; the player next to Wilder is Jim Rizzitano. It is indeed Jose Cuchi. Benko is at the extreme right. Apr-08-25    stone free or die: Seems a bit of a shame not to have a player page for <Jose Cuchi>. I know he was firmly committed to his amateur status but can't we find at least one game of his? . Apr-09-25    stone free or die: Does this page suggest Cuchi was a player on a NJ team? <1980 Heraldica Imports Roman Dzindzichashvili, Jose Cuchi, Jose Saenz, Ignatio Yepes> https://njscf.org/u-s-amateur-team-... Apr-09-25    Olavi: <stone free or die> Cuchi is/was a jeweller, so. Apr-09-25    stone free or die: Yes, <Olavi>, his company was <Heraldica>. His nephew took it over after his father retired in 2017: https://southernjewelrynews.com/fea... Apr-09-25    stone free or die: (I've said it before about other chess figures - that <CG> should have a page for them if only for their significant contributions - but <CG> insists on only having player pages with games. We eventually did get a game or two for Hazeltine, so I'm hopeful for Jose.) Apr-09-25    perfidious: I played in/attended the NY Opens from 1984-89 and Cuchi was usually about. There were no airs about him; he seemed a nice man. Apr-10-25    stone free or die: <perf> From what I've seen in my searches, there appears to be a uniquely universal agreement in that opinion. A class act. [Follow-ups maybe on the Bistro?] Apr-10-25    Petrosianic: If Larsen had missed it by that much, he might have a gripe. But considering that he finished +3, and needed +8 just to tie for a qualifying spot, he really wasn't even close. Even if he had been close, it's hard to see how he had a right to play at Petropolis. But just for grins, let's suppose Larsen had qualified here, instead of Byrne. If the pairings had been the same, he'd have faced Spassky, Karpov and Korchnoi in the Candidates. Larsen never in his life won a semifinal match. What are the chances of him getting past all three of those players? Heck, FIDE might have been quicker to grant the Unlimited Match in that case. There'd be little danger of a Fischer-Larsen match dragging on interminably. Apr-10-25    Olavi: <stone free or die> Lubomir Ftacnic interviews Cuchi about the New York Open in New in Chess 5/1987. About his person there's the mention about Heraldica and "Cuchi started playing in the tournaments of famous East Coast organizer Bill Goichberg. Luckily rather soon his ambitions as a player transformed into a strong feeling of challenge: I could have organizer this better!" Perhaps there are games to be found... Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 4) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 4 OF 4 ·  Later Kibitzing> NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion. Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. 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