The 13th IBM tournament took place in the main hall of the RAI building in Amsterdam, the Netherlands from July 17 (Round 1) to August 4 (Round 15), with rest days on July 21, 26, 29 and August 3. Round 6 started on the same day as Round 1 of the Petropolis Interzonal (1973). From the top ten players in the world, Boris Spassky (Elo rated as #4) and Tigran Petrosian (#7) participated. The other fourteen were Jan Smejkal (#16), Laszlo Szabo (#28), Lubomir Kavalek (#28), Ulf Andersson (#35), Ivan Radulov (#47), Zoltan Ribli (#51), Albin Planinc (#51), Miguel Quinteros (#56), Drazen Marovic (#100), and the Dutchmen Jan Hein Donner (#100), Jan Timman (#116), Bert Enklaar (#145), Hans Ree (#187) and Kick Langeweg (#221). Six players were perhaps more tired than the rest: Smejkal, Radulov and Quinteros who had played in the Leningrad Interzonal (1973), and Szabo, Andersson and Timman who had played in the 2nd AVRO (1973) tournament (12-29 June). Not counting Spassky, Petrosian, Szabo, Ribli and Planinc, who arrived straight from the European Team Championship (1973) in Bath, England (6-13 July). Spassky was surrounded by journalists, after he lost his world championship title to Robert James Fischer the previous year, but did not want to talk about his experiences in Iceland.
In addition to the main event (this page), there was also a masters' group (B-group) and several minor events. The opening ceremony took place in Hilton Hotel on July 16. The drawing of lots was conducted by mayor Ivo Samkalden, with the help of Petrosian, Spassky and Donner. Round 1 started in the presence of Ineke Bakker, FIDE's General Secretary and sort of first lady of chess. According to Harry Golombek, neither player made an auspicious start and it was Planinc who made the running. At the end of Round 9 he was leading with 7½ points, ahead of Petrosian 5½, Donner, Kavalek, Ribli, Spassky, Szabo and Timman all with 5. Spassky's position was explained by his loss to Donner (in Round 9). Petrosian beat Langeweg in the next round, while Planinc drew Kavalek. In Round 11, Petrosian beat Planinc, reducing Planinc's lead to half a point (Planinc 8, Petrosian 7½). Planinc slipped back further when, in Round 13, he lost to Quinteros, so that now both Petrosian and Planinc had 8½. They remained even until the end of the tournament.
The application of the Sonneborn-Berger system brought Petrosian the first place, but the prize money was equally shared. For Planinc, it was his greatest success since the Vidmar Memorial (1969). Kavalek secured third place by a draw with Szabo in the last round, whilst Spassky levered himself up to fourth by beating Timman. Spassky returned to form by winning the USSR Championship (1973) in October.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 17 July - 4 August 1973
Age Elo* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pts
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=1 Petrosian 44 2640 • 1 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 10
=1 Planinc 29 2525 0 • ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 10
3 Kavalek 29 2565 ½ ½ • 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 9½
4 Spassky 36 2655 ½ ½ 1 • ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 9
5 Szabo 56 2565 0 ½ ½ ½ • ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 8½
6 Marovic 35 2480 1 0 ½ ½ ½ • 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 8
=7 Andersson 22 2555 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 • ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 7½
=7 Ribli 21 2525 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ • 0 1 0 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 7½
=7 Donner 46 2480 ½ 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 • ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 7½
=7 Smejkal 27 2595 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ • 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 7½
=7 Timman 21 2470 ½ 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 1 0 0 • 1 1 1 1 ½ 7½
=12 Ree 28 2440 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 • 0 1 ½ ½ 6
=12 Radulov 34 2530 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 1 • 1 ½ 1 6
=14 Quinteros 25 2520 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 5½
=14 Enklaar 29 2445 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 • 1 5½
16 Langeweg 36 2430 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 0 • 4½
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Tournament category: XII (2526). Chief arbiter: Piet Bakker.The B-group was won by Vlastimil Jansa with 8½, ahead of Oleg Romanishin 7½, Hans-Joachim Hecht and Ole Jakobsen 7, Raymond Keene 6½, Gennadi Sosonko and Eugenio Torre 5½, Vladimir Kovacevic and Rob Hartoch 4½, Adrianus van den Berg and Eddie C Scholl 3½, and Robert Bellin 2½.
Tournament book: Dertiende IBM Schaaktoernooi 1973, ed. by Berend Jan Withuis. Toernooicomitee, Amsterdam. 216 pp.
Sources
Harry Golombek in The Times, 8 September 1973, p. 11
*FIDE rating list July 1973 (https://web.archive.org/web/2023120...)
De Telegraaf, 18 July 1973, p. 13 (https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/v...)
Max Pam in De Volkskrant, 17 July 1973, p. 8 (https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/v...)
Max Pam in De Volkskrant, 19 July 1973, p. 11 (https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/v...)
Dominic Lawson in Standpoint, July/August 2014 (https://web.archive.org/web/2014070...)
Alexander Jongsma in De Telegraaf, 27 July 1973, p. 17 (https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/v...)
Alexander Jongsma in De Telegraaf, 6 August 1973, p. IV (https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/v...)
Miguel Quinteros in Jaque 23 (November 1973), pp. 32-36 (https://www.olimpbase.org/leagueES/...)
Tim Krabbe in Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant, 6 August 1973, p. 10 (https://krantenbankzeeland.nl/issue...)
Original collections Game Collection: IBM Amsterdam 1973 by User: Tabanus Round dates (from Dutch newspapers): July 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31, August 1, 2, 4.
Previous: Amsterdam IBM (1972). Next: Amsterdam IBM (1974). See also Amsterdam IBM-B (1973)
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