In 1967, Canada celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation.1 On this occasion it was decided to arrange a GM tournament - the first of its kind in Canada. Organizer was Canada's only GM, "Abe" Yanofsky (who also played in the tournament), assisted by FIDE representative John Prentice and others.2 The opening ceremony on 2 October was attended by Jack Willis, chairman of the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg, James Cowan from Winnipeg Centre (representing the local government), Maitland Steinkopf, chairman of the Manitoba Centennial Corporation (which underwrote some of the tournament expenses), John MacDonald, and about 50 others.2, 3 Six of the players arrived on 2 October, but Matanovic, Szabo, Darga, and Gheorghiu did not arrive until hours before the tournament started because their plane was delayed in Amsterdam. When the draw was being made, they requested that they play each other in the first round since all were equally tired. But the draw was ruled inflexible, with Darga and Gheorghiu pitted against rested competitors.3 Play commenced on 3 October in Fort Garry Hotel4 at 1 pm5 (playing time for rounds 5 and 6). There was a 5-hour time limit on each game in which the players had 40 moves and 2,5 hours in which to make them. Spectators (entrance fee: $2) could watch the play on vertical boards on a stage behind the competitors. Several brought chess boards, to study each move of their favorites at close range. It was allowed to wander in the room, but the spectators were admonished to be quiet and not crowd the players. Prize money pot: $4000. 1st price: $1000.3

Fort Garry Hotel6 (Winnipeg), 3-12 October 1967:

                 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0  
=1 GM Darga      * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1  6
=1 GM Larsen     0 * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1  6
=3 GM Keres      ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1  5½
=3 GM Spassky    ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1  5½
 5 GM Benko      ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1  5
=6 GM Szabo      ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 0 1  4½
=6 GM Gheorghiu  ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1  4½
 8 GM Matanovic  ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ 1  4
 9 GM Yanofsky   0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ * ½  3½
10    Kagan      0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ *   ½

Pictures from round 1: http://umanitoba.ca/libraries/units..., http://umanitoba.ca/libraries/units...

Tournament book: Canadian Centennial Grand Masters Chess Tournament, Winnipeg, 1967 by Daniel Yanofsky (Chess Player (No. 61), Nottingham 1968. 47 p.) (not seen). The introduction here is much based on the report in Brandon Sun, 4 Oct. 1967. This was not written by a chess player and should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt.

NOTES: 1Wikipedia article: Canadian Centennial. 2Chess Canada 2007-01 p. 16: http://canadianchess.com/pdf/Chess-... 3Brandon Sun, 4 Oct. 1967. 4Winnipeg Free Press, 30 September 1967. 5Winnipeg Free Press, 9 October 1967. 6Wikipedia article: Fort Garry Hotel. 7Foreword to 2nd ed. of Yanofsky's Chess the Hard Way: http://www.americanaexchange.com/bo...

Original collection: Game Collection: Winnipeg 1967 by User: Tabanus.