Members · Prefs · Laboratory · Collections · Openings · Endgames · Sacrifices · History · Search Kibitzing · Kibitzer's Café · Chessforums · Tournament Index · Players · Kibitzing

Moscow (1967) Three years after the zonal tournament won by Boris Spassky, another elite international tournament was held in the Soviet capital of Moscow in 1967. Dubbed the 50th Jubilee tournament, eighteen grandmasters were invited to participate in the round robin event. Many of the best grandmasters from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe participated, including the world champion Tigran Petrosian and former world champions Vasily Smyslov and Mikhail Tal. This strong international gathering was won by three-time Soviet champion Leonid Stein with 11/17. Moscow, Soviet Union (Russia), 21 May - 16 June 1967 (1) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pts 1 Stein * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 11 =2 Smyslov ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 10 =2 Bobotsov ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 10 =2 Gipslis ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 10 =2 Tal ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 10 =6 Portisch 0 0 ½ ½ 1 * ½ 1 0 ½ 1 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 9½ =6 Bronstein ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 9½ =6 Spassky ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 9½ =9 Geller ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 * 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 8½ =9 Najdorf ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 * ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 8½ =9 Keres 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 8½ =9 Petrosian ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ * 1 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 8½ 13 Gheorghiu 1 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 8 14 Gligoric 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ 7½ =15 Pachman ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 6 =15 Filip 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ 0 6 =15 Bilek 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 6 =15 Uhlmann 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ * 6 (1) Chess Life 1967, p. 223. Original Collection : Game Collection: Moscow 1967 by User: suenteus po 147.  page 2 of 7; games 26-50 of 153  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 26. Gheorghiu vs Uhlmann   ½-½ 20 1967 Moscow D86 Grunfeld, Exchange 27. Filip vs Gligoric 0-1 73 1967 Moscow A07 King's Indian Attack 28. I Bilek vs Gipslis   ½-½ 21 1967 Moscow A00 Uncommon Opening 29. Bronstein vs Gheorghiu   ½-½ 41 1967 Moscow E61 King's Indian 30. Geller vs Portisch 1-0 23 1967 Moscow C93 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Smyslov Defense 31. Keres vs Filip   ½-½ 27 1967 Moscow B10 Caro-Kann 32. Petrosian vs Najdorf 1-0 35 1967 Moscow D42 Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch, 7.Bd3 33. Pachman vs Smyslov 1-0 37 1967 Moscow A15 English 34. Uhlmann vs Spassky 0-1 22 1967 Moscow D58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst 35. Stein vs Bobotsov ½-½ 67 1967 Moscow B44 Sicilian 36. Tal vs Gligoric ½-½ 31 1967 Moscow C93 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Smyslov Defense 37. Bobotsov vs I Bilek   ½-½ 26 1967 Moscow A70 Benoni, Classical with 7.Nf3 38. Spassky vs Bronstein ½-½ 15 1967 Moscow E12 Queen's Indian 39. Smyslov vs Geller   ½-½ 20 1967 Moscow A04 Reti Opening 40. Gipslis vs Tal ½-½ 27 1967 Moscow B89 Sicilian 41. Gligoric vs Keres   ½-½ 27 1967 Moscow D33 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch 42. Najdorf vs Uhlmann   ½-½ 23 1967 Moscow E97 King's Indian 43. Filip vs Pachman   ½-½ 21 1967 Moscow D40 Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch 44. Portisch vs Petrosian 1-0 24 1967 Moscow D10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 45. Gheorghiu vs Stein 1-0 34 1967 Moscow E82 King's Indian, Samisch, double Fianchetto Variation 46. I Bilek vs Gheorghiu   ½-½ 34 1967 Moscow B89 Sicilian 47. Bronstein vs Najdorf   ½-½ 17 1967 Moscow A16 English 48. Geller vs Filip   ½-½ 23 1967 Moscow C67 Ruy Lopez 49. Gipslis vs Bobotsov ½-½ 17 1967 Moscow B76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack 50. Tal vs Keres 0-1 30 1967 Moscow C81 Ruy Lopez, Open, Howell Attack  page 2 of 7; games 26-50 of 153    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Nov-30-12    Benzol: Didn't Fischer want to be invited to this tournament? May-02-14    Gottschalk: <Benzol> Because Fischer was supercapitalist and this event celebrated 50 years of the bolshevik revolution. May-02-14    Benzol: Yes I suppose it might not have gone down so well if Fischer had won this event but that would have been a tall order given the field. May-03-14    perfidious: Fischer would have had fun converting all his roubles into USD afterwards. May-03-14    Peter Nemenyi: Fischer paid an indirect compliment to the strength of this tournament when he said, after his famous victory over Stein at Sousse 1967, "I beat Stein here and Stein was the winner of the Moscow tournament. I've proved I'm the best" (quoted in Soltis). Looking at the crosstable, though, it's apparent that the Soviet grandmasters played for draws against each other and let the question of who best thrashed the foreigners decide the event. Stein played six decisive games out of nine against the guests, one out of eight against his fellow Soviets. Four other Soviets only had one decisive game against their compatriots, and two had none. Apr-06-15    Howard: As far as Fischer's absence, only players from the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc countries, were invited. Western players, in other words, could not take part. It should also be noted, by the way, that Petrosian only scored 50%. Considering that he was world champion at the time, he surely should have done better. Apr-06-15    perfidious: <It should also be noted, by the way, that Petrosian only scored 50%. Considering that he was world champion at the time, he surely should have done better.> Such a lacklustre result was hardly unique to reigning titleholders during the period from Botvinnik to Spassky inclusive; it was only when Karpov and Kasparov ascended to the throne that we witnessed dominance by a champion as was the case, eg, during Alekhine's purple patch of 1930-34. Apr-06-15    A.T PhoneHome: Perhaps Soviets wanted to draw an ideal picture of Bolshevism, excuse me for the lame pun. Anyways, as you guys can see from the standings, Portisch was the other one with six wins here. He didn't seem to be in such a drawing mood. As for Leonid Stein, he was just incredible. He won three USSR Championships; in 1963, 1965 and 1966. That amounts to something! Regarding Soviets drawing against each other, I don't think it meant so much. One could say that Soviets bet awful lot on themselves. For example, Milko Bobotsov, Bulgarian player had 3 wins and 14 draws. He was only 1 point behind Stein; Soviets couldn't afford to lose more than they did here. This woulda-coulda-shoulda talk is to illustrate that Soviets weren't doing themselves any favours with their common draws. Oct-24-16    RookFile: Fischer at this tournament would have thought that Stein's 6 wins were cute. I see Fischer putting up something like 10 wins and 2 losses with his style of play. Nov-10-17    Stonehenge: Photo from the fourth round: https://img.gazeta.ru/files3/389/10... Nov-10-17    ZonszeinP: Stein! What a player! Feb-02-18    zanzibar: Soltis, <Soviet Chess: 1917-1992> p276 <The Soviets held their own showcase event in Moscow, May 21-June 18, 1967, dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. No Westerners were invited — except for Najdorf of Argentina, a Russian-speaking former Pole. The attempt by Benko, a Hungarian defector, was naturally rejected —as well as a rumored effort by Fischer> Can anyone definitely confirm the Fisher rumor? (see Benzol's comment) Feb-02-18    Retireborn: <z> There's a mildly relevant discussion here:- https://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopi... <SallySimpson> can probably track down the issue of CHESS Sutton Coldfield referred to, but it's probably just speculation anyway. Feb-02-18    zanzibar: Ah, yes, took a quick look, thanks. Soltis also implied that Najdorf's ability to speak Russian also contributed to him giving an invite. Nov-28-19    Scuvy: More than any other player, Lajos Portisch took the role usually played by Korchnoi and imparted a definite character to the tourney. He came to play and had more decisive games than anyone else. His beautiful endgame versus Keres was proof of this, and maintained his fighting attitude even though he was defeated in a crushing miniature by Geller. Nov-28-19    keypusher: < Stonehenge: Photo from the fourth round: https://img.gazeta.ru/files3/389/10... Nice picture! Taken during the fourth round. Uhlmann has launched a kamikaze attack on Spassky, Pachman is on his way to beating Smyslov, the World Champion will win against Najdorf, Bronstein and Gheorghiu have barely gotten started, and unfortunately the demonstration board for Geller-Portisch is not visible. In profile, Petrosian resembles Mr. Punch. Mar-31-20    ewan14: Gligoric said most of the Soviet players were not that bothered ( just so long as a Soviet won ) Jun-27-20    Fusilli: perfidious: <It should also be noted, by the way, that Petrosian only scored 50%. Considering that he was world champion at the time, he surely should have done better. Such a lacklustre result was hardly unique to reigning titleholders during the period from Botvinnik to Spassky inclusive; it was only when Karpov and Kasparov ascended to the throne that we witnessed dominance by a champion as was the case, eg, during Alekhine's purple patch of 1930-34.> I didn't realize that. Growing up under Karpov's scorched earth tournament record as WC, I just assumed the WC would have always done that... That's why no one took the FIDE world champion seriously during Kasparov's reign after all, right? Apr-10-24    eyalbd: Video footage from this tournament: https://youtu.be/qcKouHIVIvI Apr-10-24    Stonehenge: <eyalbd> Thanks, very nice. Apr-11-24    perfidious: <eyalbd>, thanks again; excellent stuff indeed. Apr-11-24    Granny O Doul: I'm guessing either Fischer or Larsen would have competed had Khrushchev had anything to say. He didn't see a problem with Van Cliburn winning the Tchaikovsky competition. Mar-28-25    FSR: Tremendous result for both Bobotsov and Gipslis, tying for second and finishing +3, undefeated, in such a field. There were four past, present, and future world champions, one shy of the record. They tied with two of them. 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. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members. No trolling. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers. Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times. See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator. NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific tournament only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café. Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors. All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration. Spot an error? Please suggest your correction and help us eliminate database mistakes! Home | About | Login | Logout | F.A.Q. | Profile | Preferences | Premium Membership | Kibitzer's Café | Biographer's Bistro | New Kibitzing | Chessforums | Tournament Index | Player Directory | Notable Games | World Chess Championships | Opening Explorer | Guess the Move | Game Collections | ChessBookie Game | Chessgames Challenge | Store | Privacy Notice | Contact Us Copyright 2001-2025, Chessgames Services LLC