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Mar del Plata (1960) The 23rd Mar del Plata International Chess Tournament was held in Mar del Plata, Argentina (1) from March 29th to April 15th. Among the longtime participants of the event and the field of Argentinian masters, four grandmasters were invited to compete. Bobby Fischer was participating on behalf of the United States for the second time, while the Soviet Union sent David Bronstein and Boris Spassky to represent them, and Fridrik Olafsson journeyed from Iceland. While neither player was new to international chess, the 17 year old Fischer and the 23 year old Spassky drew a great deal of attention to themselves by dominating the event, both of them tying for first place with 13˝/15. Spassky had defeated Fischer in their individual encounter and gone undefeated, but Fischer's results were not lost on the Soviets who perceived him as a potential challenger to their long reign in international chess. The final standings and crosstable: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pts =1 Spassky * 1 ˝ 1 1 ˝ 1 1 1 1 1 1 ˝ 1 1 1 13˝ =1 Fischer 0 * ˝ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 13˝ 3 Bronstein ˝ ˝ * ˝ 1 1 ˝ ˝ ˝ 1 ˝ 1 1 1 1 1 11˝ 4 Olafsson 0 0 ˝ * 1 1 0 1 ˝ 1 ˝ 1 1 1 1 1 10˝ 5 Bazan 0 0 0 0 * 1 ˝ ˝ 1 ˝ 1 ˝ 1 1 1 1 9 6 Wexler ˝ 0 0 0 0 * 1 ˝ ˝ ˝ 1 1 1 ˝ 1 1 8˝ 7 Letelier 0 0 ˝ 1 ˝ 0 * ˝ 1 0 1 1 1 0 ˝ 1 8 =8 Incutto 0 0 ˝ 0 ˝ ˝ ˝ * 0 1 ˝ ˝ ˝ 1 ˝ ˝ 6˝ =8 Redolfi 0 0 ˝ ˝ 0 ˝ 0 1 * 0 1 ˝ ˝ 1 0 1 6˝ =8 Foguelman 0 0 0 0 ˝ ˝ 1 0 1 * 0 0 1 1 1 ˝ 6˝ =11 Bielicki 0 0 ˝ ˝ 0 0 0 ˝ 0 1 * ˝ ˝ ˝ 1 1 6 =11 Eliskases 0 0 0 0 ˝ 0 0 ˝ ˝ 1 ˝ * ˝ ˝ 1 1 6 =13 Marini ˝ 0 0 0 0 0 0 ˝ ˝ 0 ˝ ˝ * ˝ 0 1 4 =13 Alvarez 0 0 0 0 0 ˝ 1 0 0 0 ˝ ˝ ˝ * 0 1 4 =13 Gadia 0 0 0 0 0 0 ˝ ˝ 1 0 0 0 1 1 * 0 4 16 Saadi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ˝ 0 ˝ 0 0 0 0 1 * 2 Sources: Wikipedia article: Mar del Plata chess tournament, and Game Collection: Mar del Plata 1960 by User: suenteus po 147.  page 1 of 5; games 1-25 of 120  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. C Bielicki vs Spassky   0-1 43 1960 Mar del Plata D25 Queen's Gambit Accepted 2. B Wexler vs Fischer 0-1 40 1960 Mar del Plata E93 King's Indian, Petrosian System 3. R A Redolfi vs O Bazan   0-1 38 1960 Mar del Plata B24 Sicilian, Closed 4. C Incutto vs F Olafsson   0-1 37 1960 Mar del Plata E97 King's Indian 5. Bronstein vs Foguelman 1-0 44 1960 Mar del Plata A46 Queen's Pawn Game 6. Letelier vs J Saadi 1-0 22 1960 Mar del Plata B40 Sicilian 7. J L Alvarez del Monte vs E Eliskases   ½-½ 31 1960 Mar del Plata A65 Benoni, 6.e4 8. L Marini vs O Gadia   0-1 28 1960 Mar del Plata A10 English 9. J Saadi vs L Marini   0-1 30 1960 Mar del Plata A18 English, Mikenas-Carls 10. Spassky vs Fischer 1-0 29 1960 Mar del Plata C39 King's Gambit Accepted 11. E Eliskases vs Letelier   0-1 34 1960 Mar del Plata A12 English with b3 12. F Olafsson vs Bronstein   ½-½ 19 1960 Mar del Plata C17 French, Winawer, Advance 13. Foguelman vs J L Alvarez del Monte   1-0 41 1960 Mar del Plata E60 King's Indian Defense 14. O Gadia vs B Wexler   0-1 44 1960 Mar del Plata B91 Sicilian, Najdorf, Zagreb (Fianchetto) Variation 15. C Bielicki vs R A Redolfi   0-1 62 1960 Mar del Plata E59 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line 16. O Bazan vs C Incutto   ½-½ 20 1960 Mar del Plata C44 King's Pawn Game 17. B Wexler vs J Saadi 1-0 34 1960 Mar del Plata A14 English 18. Letelier vs Foguelman   0-1 53 1960 Mar del Plata B18 Caro-Kann, Classical 19. C Incutto vs C Bielicki   ½-½ 32 1960 Mar del Plata B90 Sicilian, Najdorf 20. J L Alvarez del Monte vs F Olafsson   0-1 33 1960 Mar del Plata D24 Queen's Gambit Accepted 21. Fischer vs O Gadia 1-0 23 1960 Mar del Plata B87 Sicilian, Fischer-Sozin with ...a6 and ...b5 22. L Marini vs E Eliskases   ½-½ 24 1960 Mar del Plata A16 English 23. R A Redolfi vs Spassky   0-1 39 1960 Mar del Plata B53 Sicilian 24. Bronstein vs O Bazan 1-0 43 1960 Mar del Plata B19 Caro-Kann, Classical 25. C Bielicki vs Bronstein   ½-½ 40 1960 Mar del Plata A54 Old Indian, Ukrainian Variation, 4.Nf3  page 1 of 5; games 1-25 of 120    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)     Nov-24-12    Benzol: At the time this tournament was played Spassky and Fischer were the two youngest grandmasters in the world. Spassky later wrote an interesting article on Fischer based on his observations of him in this tournament. Nov-25-12    Sneaky: Spassky vs Fischer, 1960 was, of course, that famous King's Gambit game that cost Fischer the clear first place thereby inspiring him to write his famous tract "A Bust to the King's Gambit". Mar-08-14    offramp: Spassky, Fischer, Bronstein and Olafsson were all top-class players. As they say in the great big state of Texas: "Of the rest of the competitors it is hardly necessary to speak." Mar-18-14    Caissanist: Argentina was one of the strongest chess countries in the world at the time, but for some reason only one of their top players (Eliskases) participated in this event. Seems strange, since they had so few opportunities to play against top foreigners. Jul-22-15    Diademas: Argentina vs The Rest of The World: 5-43 Any other examples of a major round-robin tournament were 13.5/15 was not enough for clear first? Sep-25-15    offramp: <Diademas: ...Any other examples of a major round-robin tournament were 13.5/15 was not enough for clear first?> There was a similar result at St Petersburg (1909) where Rubinstein & Lasker ran away from the field which was strong and included Duras, Vidmar & Schlechter. Both finished on 14.5/18. Seperately,I think it's odd that Eliskases didn't do a bit better. Probably just a run of bad form. Sep-25-15    moronovich: <Seperately,I think it's odd that Eliskases didn't do a bit better. Probably just a run of bad form.> Wasn´t he getting old and had peaked several years ago ? Feb-19-16    A.T PhoneHome: The infamous first encounter between two child prodigies, Fischer the American and Spassky the Soviet Russian, took place in this edition of Mar del Plata. Considering the aforementioned fact, this tournament had something symbolic to offer. Fischer's first game against Spassky, a loss here, lost him the tournament, but Fischer's last 'official' game against Spassky, a win, clinched him the World Championship of chess. I find this fact to have undeniable beauty and mysterious appeal to it. Spassky's win prompted Fischer to use his blade of journalism. NOTE: You need to pick a username and password to post a reply. Getting your account takes less than a minute, totally anonymous, and 100% free--plus, it entitles you to features otherwise unavailable. Pick your username now and join the chessgames community! If you already have an account, you should login now. Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, or duplicating posts. No personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. No posting personal information of members. See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform an administrator. 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