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Buenos Aires (1970) Second International Tournament of the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Buenos Aires, Argentina, 19 July - 15 August 1970 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 Fischer * 1 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15.0 2 Tukmakov 0 * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 11.5 3 Panno 0 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 11.0 4 Gheorghiu 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 10.5 5 Najdorf ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 0 1 10.5 6 Reshevsky ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 10.5 7 Smyslov ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 9.0 8 Mecking ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 8.5 9 Quinteros 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 8.5 10 Damjanovic 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 8.0 11 O'Kelly 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 8.0 12 Bisguier 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 * 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 7.5 13 Szabo 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 1 ½ ½ 0 * ½ 1 ½ 1 1 7.5 14 Garcia 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 1 1 0 1 7.0 15 Rubinetti 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 0 0 * ½ ½ 1 6.5 16 Rossetto 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * 0 ½ 5.5 17 Schweber 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 ½ 1 * 0 5.5 18 Agdamus 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 * 2.5 The score table does not show the preliminary difficulties. Some had to do with Fischer, undoubtedly the player most in demand today for major chess tournaments. Discussions between tournament officials and Fischer went on along with the other preparations. Before full agreement could be reached and the plane tickets actually transmitted to Fischer, the time had come for play to begin. Fischer was not there, and the first round started without him. Fischer actually arrived several hours before the third round, and that too was postponed for him. The result was a number of schedule changes, more days off for the other players, and an extension of the tournament by several days. This caused problems for some of the other players, who had commitments to meet. With good will on all sides, everything was somehow resolved. Once he started, it was clear that Fischer would dominate the tournament. Winning his first two games already put him in first place, since no other player had done as well. Actually Fischer ran off a fantastic streak of six wins before being held to a draw by the veteran Najdorf. Then came five more wins in a row, and Fischer's score after 12 rounds was 11.5-0.5! After a draw with Mecking and another win, Fischer had 13-1 after completing 14 rounds, and was already certain of first prize, with three rounds to go! Only then did he relax somewhat, drawing with Reshevsky and Smyslov. In the final round Fischer again went all out, scoring his 13th win of the tournament. No one else had won more than seven games. The 3.5 point margin over the field clearly established Fischer in a super class, for this event at least. In second place was 24-year-old Tukmakov, a brilliant success for the new Russian star who had come to Buenos Aires without a title. He achieved the grandmaster norm, the only player besides Fischer to do so. However, since FIDE permits only one advance at a time, he will be awarded the title of international master. Tukmakov started badly by losing to Fischer in the opening round. That proved to be his only loss, however, and his pace was steady throughout. Panno was third with 11 points. He lost to both players ahead of him, but otherwise won seven games and drew eight. Tied for fourth were oldtimers Najdorf and Reshevsky and former world junior champion Gheorghiu. Each achieved his score in a different fashion. Najdorf was aggressive, He forced the issue and frequently had bad games, from which he did not always emerge. As it happens, his two losses were against fellow Argentinians, Quinteros and Schweber. Reshevsky realized that he could not engage in a hard struggle each round, and was generally ready for a short draw. He was one of only three players who emerged undefeated. Fischer and Smyslov were the others. Gheorghiu also played steadily. He lost only to Fischer, but drew too many games for a higher standing. Smyslov had perhaps the most curious score of all for a grandmaster and former world champion. He beat Szabo and drew all his other 16 games. A number of the draws were real battles, notably against Fischer, when Smyslov displayed his great defense skill, and against Agdamus. This game was one that Smyslov tried hard to win, but to no avail. Two of the youngest players in the tournament tied with 8.5 points. For 17-year-old Mecking this was a disappointment. He had hoped for a grandmaster score, but did not come close. Mecking was the only player to have an advantage against Fischer, but could not find a win. He earned the international master title and finished ahead of five of the grandmasters. The next four players in the standings, O'Kelly, Damjanovic, Bisguier and Szabo, all had the grandmaster title, but hardly played up to it. Szabo particularly was hardly recognizable, with seven losses, more than anyone else except the two tailenders. Bisguier often obtained good games, but inexact play accounted for several losses. The five Argentinians at the bottom of the list had much less experience than most of the others in major international tournaments. Among them they won only two games against those above them, Schweber vs. Najdorf and Rubinetti vs. Bisguier - Isaac Kashdan in the tournament book Buenos Aires 1970. Compiled by User: TheFocus.  page 1 of 7; games 1-25 of 153  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. J Agdamus vs Bisguier 0-1 38 1970 Buenos Aires D35 Queen's Gambit Declined 2. Panno vs Mecking 1-0 53 1970 Buenos Aires A14 English 3. Najdorf vs J Rubinetti 1-0 23 1970 Buenos Aires D38 Queen's Gambit Declined, Ragozin Variation 4. O'Kelly vs Reshevsky ½-½ 18 1970 Buenos Aires A25 English 5. S Schweber vs Smyslov ½-½ 19 1970 Buenos Aires B08 Pirc, Classical 6. H Rossetto vs Szabo   ½-½ 38 1970 Buenos Aires A45 Queen's Pawn Game 7. Fischer vs Tukmakov 1-0 26 1970 Buenos Aires A01 Nimzovich-Larsen Attack 8. M Damjanovic vs Gheorghiu   0-1 39 1970 Buenos Aires B40 Sicilian 9. Quinteros vs R Garcia   ½-½ 24 1970 Buenos Aires A25 English 10. Bisguier vs H Rossetto   ½-½ 32 1970 Buenos Aires C86 Ruy Lopez, Worrall Attack 11. M Damjanovic vs Fischer 0-1 79 1970 Buenos Aires A31 English, Symmetrical, Benoni Formation 12. Mecking vs J Agdamus   1-0 32 1970 Buenos Aires A55 Old Indian, Main line 13. Reshevsky vs Najdorf   ½-½ 17 1970 Buenos Aires B43 Sicilian, Kan, 5.Nc3 14. R Garcia vs O'Kelly   ½-½ 44 1970 Buenos Aires A00 Uncommon Opening 15. Smyslov vs Quinteros   ½-½ 56 1970 Buenos Aires A27 English, Three Knights System 16. Gheorghiu vs Szabo   ½-½ 21 1970 Buenos Aires A31 English, Symmetrical, Benoni Formation 17. Tukmakov vs S Schweber   1-0 42 1970 Buenos Aires E11 Bogo-Indian Defense 18. J Rubinetti vs Panno   ½-½ 56 1970 Buenos Aires E89 King's Indian, Samisch, Orthodox Main line 19. Szabo vs Bisguier 0-1 42 1970 Buenos Aires A14 English 20. Fischer vs Gheorghiu 1-0 35 1970 Buenos Aires C42 Petrov Defense 21. Najdorf vs R Garcia   1-0 34 1970 Buenos Aires A56 Benoni Defense 22. O'Kelly vs Smyslov   ½-½ 17 1970 Buenos Aires E55 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Gligoric System, Bronstein Variation 23. Quinteros vs Tukmakov   0-1 62 1970 Buenos Aires A14 English 24. J Agdamus vs J Rubinetti 0-1 28 1970 Buenos Aires E15 Queen's Indian 25. Panno vs Reshevsky   ½-½ 22 1970 Buenos Aires A17 English  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 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing> Jun-24-13    Benzol: Thanks Dave. Yes, that is much better now. :) Jun-24-13    harrylime: Love Kashdan's review. Typical Fischer.Arrived late.Put everyones' nose out of place in doing so.. Then is forgiven due to his sublime play over the board. Oct-25-13    abaddon620: The score of Robert James Fischer is totally opposide to Samuel Reshevsky. May-11-15    zanzibar: Found some comments by Tukmakov about Fischer from this tournament, and about Browne, taken from a review of Tukmakov's autobiography: <... on Fischer (Buenos Aires 1970): "Not only his play but also his behavior on stage was unusual. He hardly got ever up from the board, which was not common at the time. Now and then he would turn away from the game, however not so much to rest or to take a look at the positions of competitors, but only to refill his glass of milk, which he consumed in large quantities." Tukmakov continues to muse a lot more on Fischer, and also tells about the special circumstances of their personal encounter. (In the Buenos Aires tournament Tukmakov was the first to play Fischer, who had not appeared for the first two rounds, but later came to an agreement with the organization and decided to play, which subsequently messed up the schedule). By the way, Fischer opened that game with 1.b3, perhaps for the same reasons as for Browne’s puzzling description of Tukmakov: (Madrid 1973): “the young theoretical Soviet”. For your information, at his turn, Tukmakov said this about Browne at the Madrid tournament: "The American Walter Bowne attracted attention with his play and extravagant behavior." > http://www.chessvibes.com/?q=review... May-12-15    zanzibar: <CG> is this an example of a promoted tournament with neither dates, nor (more seriously) round numbers for any of the games?! How many other such tournaments exist? (I guess I should try to look, but I wonder if <CG> knows the answer itself/herself/himself?) May-12-15    Howard: Some tournaments on this website have round numbers. Moscow 1935 Moscow 1975 (two of my favorite events) May-12-15    zanzibar: You're a lucky boy! Actually I checked - there are only 4% of the tournaments without rounds for at least one of the games in my <CG> snapshot (83/2142). Not too bad, but that's 83 tournaments more than I expected. May-12-15    TheFocus: When I originally put this collection together, I included dates and rounds according to the tournament book by Kashdan. The fact that the dates are no longer there was probably an act of sabotage by another editor. Shame on you! And this collection won a Caissar. May-12-15    Fusilli: <abaddon620: The score of Robert James Fischer is totally opposide to Samuel Reshevsky.> What does this mean? May-13-15    Phony Benoni: <Fusili> Apparently, that Fischer had 13 wins and 4 draws, Reshevsky 4 wins and 13 draws. Perhaps not the best choice of words. May-13-15    Fusilli: <PB> Oh, right... If Agdamus had drawn with Schweber instead of beating him, arguably, *he* would have had the exact opposite score to Fischer! But he didn't... he deserved to cash in his only victory! May-15-15    Karpova: Thanks to the editor(s) who added dates and round numbers for the games now! Info like this has to be added by hand, game for game - 153 games in this case. The admins had a look into the matter - Biographer Bistro (kibitz #10726) - and it turned out that the games never had date and round info in the first place. No sabotage was involved, the possibility is even excluded. It was either a rare technical defect, or the info was simply never added. Jun-08-15    A.T PhoneHome: Wonderful performance by Tukmakov as well as by Panno! Also, 1970 spelt magical times for Bobby Fischer; him having had his final period of inactivity before his showdown with Spassky. This marked the period of Fischer's chess, when he was as focused and strong as ever. This time around, he was going to cause some serious headaches for the Soviet camp. Jul-14-15    offramp: In five days it will be 30 years since the start of this famous tournament. Jul-14-15    Diademas: Hmmm. 2015-30=1985 Jul-14-15    offramp: <Diademas: Hmmm. 2015-30=1985> Oh yeah. I meant 50 years. Jul-14-15    Diademas: 2015-50=1965 Jul-14-15    schweigzwang: In five years it will be ... no, wait, that doesn't work either. Jul-14-15    Howard: 2015-50========1965 Now, let's see.....1965 was the famous Capablanca Memorial, in which Fischer took place without actually being physically present. So let's use that event for a 50th anniversary commeneration. Jul-14-15    diceman: <offramp: In five days it will be 30 years since the start of this famous tournament. <Diademas: Hmmm. 2015-30=1985> > <offramp: <Diademas: Hmmm. 2015-30=1985> Oh yeah. I meant 50 years. <Diademas: 2015-50=1965> >> ...it may take more than 5 days to figure out???? Jul-19-15    offramp: This event started exactly 60 years ago today. Jun-10-17    Fusilli: <offramp: This event started exactly 60 years ago today.> (posted in 2015) So, "Buenos Aires 1970" was played in 1955? :) Jun-22-19    thegoodanarchist: Scroll up, <Fusilli>. Scroll up. Jun-22-19    Fusilli: <thegoodanarchist: Scroll up, <Fusilli>. Scroll up.> Ah, I see. Anyway, let's forget my comment. After all, I posted it five years ago! Apr-05-22    whiteshark: <"I still think that the 1970 Buenos Aires tournament was the best in his career."> -- Vladimir Tukmakov in "Profession: Chessplayer - Grandmaster at Work" search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  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. 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