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🏆 Gothenburg Interzonal (1955)

PARTICIPANTS (sorted by highest achieved rating; click on name to see player's games) Paul Keres, Miguel Najdorf, Herman Pilnik, Andrija Fuderer, Braslav Rabar, Bogdan Sliwa, Gideon Stahlberg, Miroslav Filip, Ludek Pachman, Georgy Ilivitsky, Boris Spassky, Tigran Petrosian, Efim Geller, David Bronstein, Oscar Panno, Laszlo Szabo, Wolfgang Unzicker, Jan Hein Donner, Arthur Bisguier, Antonio Medina Garcia, Carlos Guimard

Gothenburg Interzonal (1955) The Gothenburg interzonal tournament was played between 15th August and 21st September 1955. It was a 21-player round robin, with the top nine players qualifying for the Amsterdam Candidates (1956) tournament. The winner was Bronstein with 15/20 (+10 =10 -0), Keres was second with 13.5, Panno had 13, Petrosian 12.5, Geller and Szabo each had 12 and the other qualifiers were Filip, Pilnik and Spassky with 11. Just missing out with 10.5 were Ilivitsky and Pachman (but see the Prague Candidates Reserve Playoff (1956)). Picture of participants: http://es.chessbase.com/portals/0/f... Of particular theoretical note is that the 14th round saw three unsuccessful tries of the novelty 9 ... g5 10. fxg5 ♘d7 by players from Argentina when three Soviets tested their sacrifices in the move-order 1. e4 c5 2. ♘f3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. ♘xd4 ♘f6 5. ♘c3 a6 6. ♗g5 e6 7. f4 ♗e7 8. ♕f3 h6 9. ♗h4, so the so-called Vespers - (Argentine or Göteborg) variation - with the main continuation being 11. ♘xe6 (11. 0-0-0 saw the game Rodolfo Cardoso vs Fischer, 1957 0-1) 11 ... fxe6 12. ♕h5 ♔f8 13. ♗b5 - and remained under a cloud for more than 2 years, until Paul Keres suggested the improvement 13 ... ♖h7 which was later played in Gligoric vs Fischer, 1958 1/2-1/2 and resurrected that Sicilian, Najdorf (B98) line. (1) Gothenburg, Sweden, 15 August - 21 September 1955 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 1 Bronstein * 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15.0 2 Keres 0 * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 0 1 ½ ½ 1 13.5 3 Panno 0 0 * ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 13.0 4 Petrosian ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 12.5 5 Geller 0 ½ 1 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 12.0 6 Szabo ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 12.0 7 Filip ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 11.0 8 Spassky ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 * 1 1 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 0 1 1 ½ 11.0 9 Pilnik ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 11.0 10 Ilivitsky ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 10.5 11 Pachman ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 10.5 12 Najdorf ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ * 0 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 0 9.5 13 Guimard ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 * ½ 1 0 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 9.5 14 Rabar ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1 0 9.0 15 Fuderer 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 0 ½ * 1 1 1 1 0 ½ 9.0 16 Unzicker 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 8.5 17 Stahlberg 0 1 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ * 1 ½ ½ 1 8.0 18 Bisguier 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 * ½ 1 1 8.0 19 Medina Garcia 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 1 0 ½ ½ ½ * 0 0 5.5 20 Donner 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 0 ½ 0 1 * ½ 5.5 21 Sliwa 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 0 1 ½ 0 0 0 1 ½ * 5.5 (1) https://web.archive.org/web/2010070... Original collection: Game Collection: Interzonals 1955: Gothenburg, by User: capybara. Previous: Stockholm Interzonal (1952). Next: Portoroz Interzonal (1958)  page 1 of 9; games 1-25 of 210  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. A Bisguier vs Najdorf 0-1 43 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal E70 King's Indian 2. Bronstein vs Stahlberg 1-0 83 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal D35 Queen's Gambit Declined 3. Geller vs Sliwa 1-0 65 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal E58 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with 8...Bxc3 4. Keres vs J H Donner ½-½ 56 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal B45 Sicilian, Taimanov 5. Pachman vs Filip   ½-½ 20 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal E17 Queen's Indian 6. Spassky vs Szabo ½-½ 30 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal C77 Ruy Lopez 7. Panno vs Pilnik   ½-½ 36 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal A22 English 8. B Rabar vs A Fuderer   ½-½ 31 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal B01 Scandinavian 9. A Medina Garcia vs C Guimard   1-0 41 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal C02 French, Advance 10. G Ilivitsky vs Unzicker   1-0 41 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal E52 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with ...b6 11. C Guimard vs A Bisguier   ½-½ 20 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal D11 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 12. Unzicker vs Bronstein 0-1 42 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal B92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation 13. Szabo vs Geller   ½-½ 13 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal C01 French, Exchange 14. Petrosian vs Keres ½-½ 22 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal E43 Nimzo-Indian, Fischer Variation 15. Najdorf vs Panno 0-1 41 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal A07 King's Indian Attack 16. Stahlberg vs Pachman   ½-½ 40 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal A12 English with b3 17. J H Donner vs Spassky 0-1 32 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal E62 King's Indian, Fianchetto 18. Filip vs B Rabar   ½-½ 29 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal D30 Queen's Gambit Declined 19. A Fuderer vs A Medina Garcia   1-0 33 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal D54 Queen's Gambit Declined, Anti-Neo-Orthodox Variation 20. Sliwa vs G Ilivitsky 0-1 51 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal D87 Grunfeld, Exchange 21. A Bisguier vs A Fuderer 0-1 28 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal A07 King's Indian Attack 22. Bronstein vs Sliwa 1-0 38 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal E58 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with 8...Bxc3 23. Geller vs J H Donner   ½-½ 29 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal C11 French 24. Pilnik vs Najdorf   ½-½ 55 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal A15 English 25. Pachman vs Unzicker   ½-½ 13 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal E53 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3  page 1 of 9; games 1-25 of 210    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing> Nov-20-12    Phony Benoni: The most memorable event of this tournament came in round 14, when three Soviet players (Keres, Geller and Spassky) had White against three Argentinans (Najdorf, Panno, Pilnik). The Argentinans had carefully analyzed a sharp variation in the Sicilian beforehand, and all three played it. The three Soviet players all found a spectacular series of sacrifices and went on to win quickly (See games #134, 135, 136). May-23-14    keypusher: Quite a performance by Bronstein! Jun-04-14    ughaibu: At the half-way point, Geller had only four points from ten games. Amazing! Jun-04-14    keypusher: Of interest only to me: in Bisguier's games, White scored +4-8=8. Sep-26-14    Ke2: Awesome tournament. +10 =10 from bronstein was amazing. And of course the Argentinian tragedy. Sep-26-14    Everett: < keypusher: Quite a performance by Bronstein!> Yes this is one of Bronstein's career highlights.besides the remarkable victory over Keres, he had some other gems as well. I think it helped that he secured Furman as his second for the tournament. I think it shows in his focused play. Sep-26-14    WCC Editing Project: <Phony Benoni> Here is a video that in part discusses the "Sicilian Vespers" anecdote you describe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVJ_... Sep-26-14    Everett: I find it both amazing and typical that a tournament that involves Fischer not at all somehow has an introduction with two links to his games. Apparently Fischer was the only one that discovered some theoretical improvements on these games. Remarkable. Sep-26-14    Benzol: Actually it wasn't Fischer but Keres who discovered the improvement. See the discussion on the Geller vs Panno, 1955 game. Sep-26-14    Everett: <Sep-26-14 premium member Benzol: Actually it wasn't Fischer but Keres who discovered the improvement. See the discussion on the Geller vs Panno, 1955 game.> Great! Let's now change this page to rightfully honor Keres. Sep-28-14    WCC Editing Project: The bio doesn't need to be changed- it already credits <Keres> for coming up with the post-Vespers improvement: "until Paul Keres suggested the improvement 13 ... Rh7 which was later played in Gligoric vs Fischer, 1958 1/2-1/2 and resurrected that Sicilian, Najdorf (B98) line (1)." Sep-28-14    Everett: Too bad. Apr-20-15    Howard: Wonder why Gligoric didn't take part in this tournament. Apr-20-15    Olavi: <Howard: Wonder why Gligoric didn't take part in this tournament.> He failed in the Jugoslav championship and didn't qualify for the Munich zonal: http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/... Mar-04-21    tympsa: Weird that Korchnoi was not playing here . He was on 2nd place in super strong USSR champiopnships in 1954. He failed in 1955 championships though and perhaps because of it he was not playing . Soviet system was harsh - if you failed once, you are immediately punished, they didnt let you on strong tournaments abroad. Mar-04-21    perfidious: USSR Championship (1955) was the zonal for this event; after finishing last but one, why <should> Korchnoi have played at Gothenburg? Apr-25-22    Radmankaruf: Does anybody knows at which venue the tournament took place? Surprisingly not much information is available online so I was hoping maybe someone checked the Swedish chess articles archive. Apr-25-22    Stonehenge: I think it was played here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%.... <Konsthallen vid Götaplatsen> See page 75 here: https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1955... Apr-25-22    Z free or die: Maybe, but I instead suspect it was played at the Gotenburg Chess Club: <en stor heder har det ocksa varit for jubilerande goteborgs Schachforbund att ha fatt detta valdiga arrangemang pa sin lott> <TfS v61 N4 (1955) p202> Apr-25-22    Z free or die: I believe the Art Museum was often used for reception dinners (for diners) though... Apr-25-22    Stonehenge: At least the first round was played in the Museum (p. 131): https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1955... Apr-25-22    Stonehenge: No, I can't read Swedish but you can use OCR like this: https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1955... Apr-25-22    Z free or die: <<misfire RDT alias> Interesting. Can you read Swedish? (It's rather laborious for me, especially as the PDF's lack OCR)> Thanks so much for the alternative links w OCR, saves a very tedious step. If the games were played in multiple venues it might explain why it was so hard to find the details. I'll leave you flush it out then? (PS- was my reading correct about some of the games being in GCC.) Apr-25-22    Stonehenge: Well it's still difficult. You get sentences like <On Sunday the 14th, the taking of the participants in the Art Museum sculpture hall in solemn forms, and thereafter, the drawing of the 21 was carried out participants, Monday the 15th was played first round in the Art Gallery>. Apr-25-22    Olavi: Those Tidskrift för Schack pages state that the first round was played at the Art Museum, nothing about the rest of the tournament. I'd presume the rest was played there too. I can check the Swedish tournament book in a couple of days. Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 3) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 3 ·  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. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. 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