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TOURNAMENT STANDINGS
Moscow Tournament

Vasily Smyslov11.5/15(+8 -0 =7)[games]
Mikhail Tal10.5/15(+7 -1 =7)[games]
Svetozar Gligoric10/15(+8 -3 =4)[games]
Vladimir Antoshin9.5/15(+5 -1 =9)[games]
Boris Vladimirov9/15(+7 -4 =4)[games]
Vladimir Liberzon8.5/15(+6 -4 =5)[games]
Paul Keres8.5/15(+5 -3 =7)[games]
Vladimir Simagin8/15(+6 -5 =4)[games]
Laszlo Szabo8/15(+5 -4 =6)[games]
Vlastimil Hort7.5/15(+3 -3 =9)[games]
Aleksandar Matanovic7.5/15(+3 -3 =9)[games]
Wolfgang Pietzsch6/15(+2 -5 =8)[games]
Nikola Padevsky5.5/15(+2 -6 =7)[games]
Eleazar Jimenez Zerquera4.5/15(+2 -8 =5)[games]
Frans Kuijpers3/15(+1 -10 =4)[games]
Witold Balcerowski2.5/15(+0 -10 =5)[games]
*

Chessgames.com Chess Event Description
Moscow (1963)

This tournament was played at the Moscow Central Chess Club. (1)

Moscow, Soviet Union (Russia), 29 October - 20 November 1963 (2, 3)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pts 1 Smyslov * ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 11½ 2 Tal ½ * 1 ½ 1 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 10½ 3 Gligoric 0 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 10 4 Antoshin ½ ½ ½ * ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 9½ 5 Vladimirov ½ 0 ½ ½ * 1 ½ 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 =6 Liberzon 0 1 ½ 1 0 * 1 0 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 8½ =6 Keres ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 * 0 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 8½ =8 Simagin 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 * 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 8 =8 Szabó ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 0 0 0 * ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 8 =10 Hort ½ ½ 0 0 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 7½ =10 Matanovic ½ 0 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 7½ 12 Pietzsch 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 1 6 13 Padevsky 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * 1 1 ½ 5½ 14 Jimenez 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 * ½ ½ 4½ 15 Kuijpers 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ * 1 3 16 Balcerowski 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 * 2½

(1) Rusbase [rusbase-1]
(2) Crosstable from Magyar Sakkelet, 1963, p. 181. In Di Felice, Chess Results 1961-1963, pp. 329-330.
(3) Rounds and game dates from: Alexander Khalifman, ed., Mikhail Tal Games II (Chess Stars 1995), pp. 34-43.

Original collection: Game Collection: Moscow 1963 by User: sneaky pete. Unfinished collection completed by User: TheFocus.

 page 3 of 5; games 51-75 of 120  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
51. Gligoric vs Simagin  1-0561963MoscowB84 Sicilian, Scheveningen
52. Smyslov vs Tal ½-½431963MoscowA30 English, Symmetrical
53. Szabo vs A Matanovic  ½-½371963MoscowC97 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin
54. E Jimenez Zerquera vs Antoshin  ½-½301963MoscowC41 Philidor Defense
55. B Vladimirov vs W Pietzsch  1-0421963MoscowD35 Queen's Gambit Declined
56. N Padevsky vs V Liberzon  ½-½301963MoscowB07 Pirc
57. Antoshin vs Hort 1-0411963MoscowA44 Old Benoni Defense
58. Keres vs V Liberzon  0-1491963MoscowA48 King's Indian
59. Simagin vs Smyslov 0-1401963MoscowB17 Caro-Kann, Steinitz Variation
60. Tal vs E Jimenez Zerquera 1-0311963MoscowC79 Ruy Lopez, Steinitz Defense Deferred
61. W Balcerowski vs Gligoric  0-1211963MoscowD80 Grunfeld
62. F Kuijpers vs B Vladimirov  0-1321963MoscowB43 Sicilian, Kan, 5.Nc3
63. A Matanovic vs N Padevsky  ½-½651963MoscowB77 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack
64. W Pietzsch vs Szabo  0-1391963MoscowE82 King's Indian, Samisch, double Fianchetto Variation
65. Hort vs Tal ½-½471963MoscowB43 Sicilian, Kan, 5.Nc3
66. Gligoric vs Keres  ½-½271963MoscowE43 Nimzo-Indian, Fischer Variation
67. E Jimenez Zerquera vs Simagin  0-1651963MoscowD84 Grunfeld, Grunfeld Gambit Accepted
68. Smyslov vs W Balcerowski 1-0351963MoscowE62 King's Indian, Fianchetto
69. B Vladimirov vs Antoshin  ½-½201963MoscowD45 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
70. Szabo vs F Kuijpers  1-0241963MoscowE80 King's Indian, Samisch Variation
71. N Padevsky vs W Pietzsch  ½-½371963MoscowB43 Sicilian, Kan, 5.Nc3
72. V Liberzon vs A Matanovic  ½-½281963MoscowE55 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Gligoric System, Bronstein Variation
73. Simagin vs Hort 0-1401963MoscowE56 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with 7...Nc6
74. Keres vs A Matanovic 1-0431963MoscowE93 King's Indian, Petrosian System
75. Gligoric vs Smyslov 0-1481963MoscowB17 Caro-Kann, Steinitz Variation
 page 3 of 5; games 51-75 of 120  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
Feb-03-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  WCC Editing Project: <TheFocus>, <Sneaky Pete>

I can't thank you enough for constructing this event, with the round numbers and dates also.

Any reason why you haven't listed the <start-finish> dates of this event in the intro, since you have listed the dates of each game in the collection?

Might you tell me your source for these dates?

Curiosities I've found:

In In Edward Winter, ed. "Word Chess Champions" (Pergamon 1981), p.150, <Winter> lists <Smyslov> winning the <5th Central Chess Club Championship> in Moscow 1963 with +8 -0 =7.

Clearly <Winter> means this tournament here, but he's mislabeled it- here is the actual <5th Central Chess Club Championship 1962>, which wasn't played in 1963: http://al20102007.narod.ru/nat_tour...

And here is the <6th Central Chess Club Championship 1963> http://al20102007.narod.ru/nat_tour..., which *was* played in 1963 and was won by Vladimir Mikhailovich Liberzon, who also appears in the tournament on this page, which might help explain <Winter's> mistake.

So in their title for the event on this page, <Rusbase> calls it the <International Tournament of Central Chess Club 1963> and lists the correct crosstable: http://al20102007.narod.ru/it/1963/....

But when I downloaded all the games from this <Rusbase> page, I found they are all labeled <Alekhine Memorial 1963>, with "chessbase" listed as the source for the game scores.

I don't think the "chessbase" title can be correct because there was an <Alekhine Memorial> in 1956, and the next one wasn't until 1971.

So I think it likely this tournament was indeed played at the <Moscow Chess Club>. But what we know for sure is that it was an international tournament played in <Moscow 1963>.

I would really like to know where the dates for these games came from though. The "chessbase" PGNs from the <Rusbase> tournament page list the round numbers, but not the dates. So if you could help me with this information, I'd be grateful.

Feb-04-14  sneaky pete: I was only trying to build a game collection, I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition.

The dates are from Complete Games of Mikhail Tal 1960-66 by Hilary Thomas, published by Batsford in 1979. A number of games in this database (I believe the Keres games and some others) already had a date. None of these dates here conflicted with the Thomas dates I used for my reconstruction of the event.

Some of the games I found here had the clearly wrong event tag Alekhine Memorial. The undated (it's probably from 1964) Yugoslav booklet by Bozic and Matanovic that I used to make the collection (and from which I submitted 17 missing games) calls it V (= 5th) Medjunarodni Turnir U Moskvi. On another page the dates are given: 28.X = 20.XI.1963. I guess October 28 was the day of the opening ceremony, the first round was played the next day and the last round November 20.

I think medjunarodni means international, so this was the 5th (in a series started in 1959) International Tournament organised by the Moscow Chess Club. I believe we have collections of some of the earlier tournaments here.

The magazines from 1963 I consulted (Deutsche Schachzeitung and Schakend Nederland) gave no details about prize money and playing hall and things like that. Matanovic wrote a 4 page introduction in the Yugoslav booklet mentioned above, but I have no idea what he's talking about.

Feb-04-14  nok: Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!
Feb-04-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  WCC Editing Project: <sneaky pete>

Thanks for giving such a thorough explanation of your data provenance, and also of the detailed process of how you put the puzzle together.

Your information supports mine. At the least, it doesn't contradict the conclusion I reached, so I'm breathing a little easier now. I'm glad to hear of the "5th" matching the number of Moscow chess club "Internationals." It also helps explain how <Winter> may have made his error.

And yes I can confirm that medjunarodni means international in <Bosnian>. At the least, when I type "medjunarodni" into the Google translator set to go from "Bosnian to English," then it coughs up the word "international."

I'm a little concerned at how heavily <Rusbase> relies on "chessbase" for its information though. That was "chessbase" that had every single game in this event mislabeled "Alekhine Memorial."

Here is some rare film footage that also supports your thesis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqr...

Dec-26-21  jerseybob: <nok: Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!> Our chief weapon is surprise!
Feb-07-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <nok: Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!>

Beware the bastinado!

Jul-19-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  PJchess: Keres reports on this tournament in the 'Chess Life' of January 1964, p. 10. He writes, "the traditional tournament of the Moscow Chess Club, which usually takes place in May, was held this year [i.e. 1963] from October 28th to November 20th. There was a really good participation with seven international grandmasters and many national masters."

He briefly discusses how the tournament unfolded, lists the final results with total scores of all participants (which matches the above crosstable), and also annotates Keres-Matanovic from Round 10 (g#1073016) and Tal-Gligoric from Round 6 (g#1139642).

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