Chess champions I have played
Recently a photograph re-emerged on Twitter, capturing all of the world champions and grandmasters who competed in the celebrated 1970 Match of the Century, which pitted the mighty USSR team against the Rest of the World. The USSR won the contest by a single point margin, largely due to the excellent score of Paul Keres, who was never world champion but runner up in no fewer than four Candidates qualifying tournaments for the world championship. The remaining representatives of the Soviet chess imperium generally underperformed, when compared with pre-match expectations. In particular, World champion Boris Spassky suffered a humiliating loss against Bent Larsen, and opted out of his fourth and final game against the Great Dane, being replaced by the reserve, Leonid Stein, who also lost to Larsen. Even worse was to befall former world champion Tigran Petrosian, who was crushed mercilessly by a rampant Bobby Fischer.
On perusing the photograph I realised that I had played against everyone in it, apart from Lev Polugaievsky, while Fischer (who declined to appear in this unique visual record) was the only world champion amongst the group whom I did not face over the board.
I was quite pleasantly surprised when I totalled up my record: losses, of course, but also draws with Spassky, Smyslov, Euwe (world champion from 1935-37, officiating but not playing in 1970). I also had draws against Keres, Larsen, Hort, Portisch, Taimanov, Geller, Najdorf, Tal, Matulovic, Reshevsky, Korchnoi, Uhlmann, Gligoric, Ivkov, Olafsson and Stein. And now for my wins, with top of the list being the Red Czar of Soviet Chess himself, Mikhail Botvinnik, world champion on and off from 1948-1963, as well as wins against Geller, Gligoric, Darga (reserve for The World Team in 1970) and against Tal, in a simultaneous display.
The champion (1957-1958) whom I found it most difficult to face was Vassily Smyslov, whose moves I could never anticipate. That great tactical genius Mikhail Tal, the Wizard of Riga, on the other hand, was more or less an open book to me: not just because of my juvenile simultaneous win against him, but also in tournament chess. There I found his aggressive intentions quite easy to foresee and thwart (see games below).
The main differences between the chess elite then, 55 years ago, and now? Current champions and contenders in world chess are much younger, partly down to a huge proliferation of tournament opportunities and computer training, neither of which was the case in the 1960s and 70s.
A curious fact concerning that 1970 match was Fischer’s totally unexpected and self effacing acquiescence in Bent Larsen’s demand to represent the world on Board 1. Most observers expected the mercurial Fischer to walk out, when faced with such a demand, but Fischer meekly submitted to playing second fiddle. As it was, in spite of a disaster in round one, when Larsen crashed to Spassky in one of the most sensational sacrificial masterpieces ever conceived over the board, the Danish Grandmaster bounced back to defeat Spassky in round two. Thereafter, he went on to beat Stein, when the reigning world champion opted out of the last round.
Fischer also profited from his voluntary demotion in two other ways: the unstoppable American was still not unstoppable where Spassky was concerned, so deferring a clash made good strategic sense. Furthermore, Tigran Petrosian had doubtless expected to face Larsen on board two and prepared accordingly. The sudden switch to Fischer disrupted his equilibrium and led to a couple of sharp defeats against his new surprise opponent.
To conclude this week, I present some of my games against giants of the Sixties and Seventies:
Tal vs. Keene (1964) Keene vs. Tal (1973) Keene vs. Botvinnik (1966)
Geller vs. Keene (1975) Gligoric vs. Keene (1971) Keene vs. Darga (1971)
Raymond Keene’s latest book “Fifty Shades of Ray: Chess in the year of the Coronavirus”, containing some of his best pieces from TheArticle, is now available from Blackwell’s . His 206th book, Chess in the Year of the King, with a foreword by The Article contributor Patrick Heren, and written in collaboration with former Reuters chess correspondent, Adam Black, is in preparation. It will be published later this year.
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