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Palma de Mallorca (1972) The memorable event this year had been the Spassky - Fischer World Championship Match (1972), in Iceland, in July-September. Then followed the Olympiad in Skopje, which had ended 13 October. (1) When Jorge Puig Laborda and the enthusiasts in Palma prepared for their event in November, they knew it would compete with an equally strong affair in San Antonio (1972). It also ran concurrently to some extent with the USSR Championship (1972), but Polugaevsky, Korchnoi, and Averbakh were able to come. According to Chessmetrics, (2) the highest ranked of the 16 players were Polugaevsky (#5), Korchnoi (#7), Smejkal (#16), Panno (#22), Ivkov (#24) and Ljubojevic (#25). As in previous years, Jorge Puig was tournament director. Panno again showed his class, and also won the tie-break, unlike in Palma de Mallorca (1971). Hotel Jaime I, Palma, Spain, 27 November - 16 December 1972 Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pts SonBe (3) 1 GM Panno 2570 * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 10 69.75 2 GM Smejkal 2545 ½ * ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 10 69.25 3 GM Korchnoi 2640 0 ½ * 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 10 67.50 4 GM Andersson 2535 ½ 1 0 * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 0 1 9½ 5 GM Averbakh 2550 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 9 63.75 6 GM Gheorghiu 2520 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ * 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 9 60.50 7 GM Polugaevsky 2645 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 * 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 9 58.55 8 GM Ljubojevic 2550 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 8½ 9 GM Ivkov 2520 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 8 10 Calvo 2330 ½ 0 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 6 41.00 11 IM Hug 2475 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ ½ 1 1 6 39.25 12 GM Pomar 2460 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 * ½ ½ 1 ½ 6 39.00 13 GM Bilek 2485 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ 6 38.50 14 GM Robatsch 2460 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * 1 ½ 5½ 15 Bellon 2385 0 ½ ½ 1 0 0 0 1 ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 * 1 5 16 IM Medina 2380 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 * 2½ Ljubojevic won the First Brilliancy price for Ljubojevic vs Panno, 1972. At the annual meeting of the Asociación Internacional de Comentaristas de Ajedrez, held during the event, it was decided that the Chess Oscar silver trophy for 1972 should be awarded to the new World Champion Robert James Fischer. (3) This would be the last of the Palma tournaments. Jorge Puig and the organization moved on to Madrid (1973), where also next year's Oscar was awarded. In addition, with Las Palmas (1972) a series of strong tournaments had started in the Canaries. Tournament books: 8º Gran Torneo Ajedrez Internacional ... Palma de Mallorca, 1972 by Jorge Puig Laborda (Palma Ayuntamiento, 1973. 211 p.); Palma de Mallorca 1972 by A. J. Gillam (The Chess Player, Nottingham. 27 p.). Round dates are mostly from reports in the newspaper La Vanguardia (http://www.lavanguardia.com/hemerot...). (1) http://www.olimpbase.org/1972/1972i.... (2) Chessmetrics November 1972 list, http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/.... (3) La Vanguardia, 19 December 1972, p. 40 (http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com/...). Original collection: Game Collection: Palma de Mallorca 1972 by User: Tabanus. Thanks to User: thomastonk, User: crawfb5 and User: Paint My Dragon for help with Round 14.  page 3 of 5; games 51-75 of 120  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 51. Polugaevsky vs Gheorghiu   1-0 35 1972 Palma de Mallorca A34 English, Symmetrical 52. Robatsch vs Averbakh   0-1 78 1972 Palma de Mallorca C95 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Breyer 53. Smejkal vs J Bellon Lopez   ½-½ 40 1972 Palma de Mallorca B27 Sicilian 54. Panno vs A Pomar   ½-½ 16 1972 Palma de Mallorca A04 Reti Opening 55. I Bilek vs A Medina Garcia   ½-½ 13 1972 Palma de Mallorca D34 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch 56. W Hug vs R Calvo Minguez ½-½ 86 1972 Palma de Mallorca A26 English 57. J Bellon Lopez vs I Bilek 0-1 61 1972 Palma de Mallorca A01 Nimzovich-Larsen Attack 58. R Calvo Minguez vs Ivkov   0-1 48 1972 Palma de Mallorca C72 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense, 5.O-O 59. Gheorghiu vs Korchnoi   1-0 47 1972 Palma de Mallorca A34 English, Symmetrical 60. Ljubojevic vs Smejkal 0-1 39 1972 Palma de Mallorca A01 Nimzovich-Larsen Attack 61. Polugaevsky vs Robatsch   ½-½ 31 1972 Palma de Mallorca A10 English 62. A Medina Garcia vs Panno 0-1 47 1972 Palma de Mallorca B87 Sicilian, Fischer-Sozin with ...a6 and ...b5 63. Averbakh vs Andersson ½-½ 43 1972 Palma de Mallorca D38 Queen's Gambit Declined, Ragozin Variation 64. A Pomar vs W Hug 1-0 22 1972 Palma de Mallorca A54 Old Indian, Ukrainian Variation, 4.Nf3 65. Andersson vs Polugaevsky 1-0 42 1972 Palma de Mallorca A21 English 66. Ivkov vs A Pomar   ½-½ 34 1972 Palma de Mallorca A04 Reti Opening 67. Korchnoi vs R Calvo Minguez 1-0 54 1972 Palma de Mallorca A57 Benko Gambit 68. I Bilek vs Ljubojevic   ½-½ 19 1972 Palma de Mallorca A07 King's Indian Attack 69. Smejkal vs Averbakh   ½-½ 42 1972 Palma de Mallorca C91 Ruy Lopez, Closed 70. Panno vs J Bellon Lopez 1-0 48 1972 Palma de Mallorca A31 English, Symmetrical, Benoni Formation 71. Robatsch vs Gheorghiu   0-1 38 1972 Palma de Mallorca B98 Sicilian, Najdorf 72. W Hug vs A Medina Garcia 1-0 55 1972 Palma de Mallorca C68 Ruy Lopez, Exchange 73. A Medina Garcia vs Ivkov   ½-½ 26 1972 Palma de Mallorca C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed 74. A Pomar vs Korchnoi 0-1 50 1972 Palma de Mallorca D90 Grunfeld 75. Ljubojevic vs Panno 1-0 43 1972 Palma de Mallorca B06 Robatsch  page 3 of 5; games 51-75 of 120    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Jul-23-19    diagonal: Palma de Mallorca invitation tournaments, was one of the leading series around fifty years ago: Eight editions, annually from 1965 to 1972 (including the FIDE Interzonal from 1970). Twice winners, sole or shared, at Palma de Mallorca are <Bent Larsen>, <Viktor Korchnoi>, and surprising <Oscar Panno>. All post-war world chess champions (then) did participate at Palma de Mallorca series: <Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal (winner 1966), Petrosian, Spassky, and Fischer (winner of IZT 1970)>, meaning no less than four world chess champions did play but not win at Palma de Mallorca! Mikhail Tal triumphed as clear first in 1966, ahead of Pomar and Portisch who shared second place, followed then by Ivkov. In 1967, Bent Larsen surpassed the two former soviet world champions, Botvinnik and Smyslov, who finished as joint runners-up, followed by some of the usual suspects, Portisch, Gligoric, Ivkov: Palma de Mallorca (1967) The edition of 1968 saw Petrosian the reigning world champion, Spassky his challenger, Korchnoi, the runner-up of the candidate's final and Larsen the previous winner. Viktor Korchnoi who also took Wijk aan Zee in January the same year, won outright and unbeaten ahead of Larsen and Spassky, Petrosian, Gligoric, Ivkov: Palma de Mallorca (1968) Bent Larsen won again outright at Palma de Mallorca in 1969, surpassing Petrosian, Korchnoi, Hort, and Spassky, the new crowned world champion: Palma de Mallorca (1969) The Interzonal in 1970 with 24 players in a round robin, was dominated by Bobby Fischer, he won overwhelmingly at 3.5 points ahead of joint 2.-4. Larsen, Geller, and IM Hübner (Spassky defending world champion, Petrosian, and Korchnoi already qualified for the candidate's matches, thus all absent): Palma de Mallorca Interzonal (1970) Oscar Panno co-won in 1971, together with Ljubomir Ljubojevic, ahead of joint Portisch and Reshevsky, Larsen sharing sixth place, and won again a year later, as best on tie-break in 1972, surpassing three prominent soviet players, co-winner Korchnoi, top-seeded Polugaevsky, and Averbakh. The French Wikipedia provides a good overview, summary of the Palma de Mallorca series: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourn... Jul-23-19    RookFile: Every now and then somebody says: "What if Korchnoi had played Fischer instead?" This tournament gives an objective answer. Put Fischer in this mix and he wins by 3 points minimum. Jul-23-19    keypusher: It's funny how insecure some Fischer fans are. Jul-23-19    Nietzowitsch: <This tournament gives an objective answer.> No it doesn't. But you can make up your fantasy world the way you like it. Jul-23-19    RookFile: The only fantasy here is to believe that a Fischer in this field wins by fewer than 3 points. Jul-24-19    diagonal: In the years 1970 to 1972 (in chess a relatively brief period), Bobby Fischer was certainly a class of his own: <Best Challenger, Worst Champion ever>. People sometimes tend to pick up an anecdote (in chess: tournament / match, even a match who never took part) to generalize it then for a so-called "objective answer" or so. RJF vs. VK lifetime score: +2=4-2 in classical chess (+1-1 in blitz); games played between 1960 Buenos Aires (1960), warning: this tournament gives not an abjective answer of Fischer's strength: as a Candidate, he finished below 50%, Korchnoi won together with Reshevsky, and 1970. Jul-24-19    perfidious: Regrettably, Fischer did not play here--or in a tournament anywhere else--after winning the title. It would have been a positive development for chess had he continued to play after Reykjavik. As matters went, there was nothing for it but to exclaim what was once termed those saddest words of tongue and pen: <Oh, what might have been!> With apologies; but I do not recall the name of the author. Jul-24-19    Retireborn: Whittier. 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