| Netanya (1968) |
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The fourth international chess tournament organized by the Netanya chess club in the capital city of the Sharon Plain, Israel (a popular seaside resort twenty miles north of Tel Aviv) was held from June 16th to July 1st, 1968. The tournament commemorated the 20th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. Two grandmasters, eight international masters, and four chess masters were invited to compete in the round robin event. Among the notable foreign participants were Bobby Fischer from the United States, Daniel Yanofsky from Canada, Hans Ree from the Netherlands, and Victor Ciocaltea from Romania. Two of Israel's strongest players, Yair Kraidman and Moshe Czerniak, also participated along the with best and most promising of Israel's chess talent. Fischer's presence was especially notable because he had turned down participating in the 1968 US Championship (running concurrently with this event) because the organizers had failed to meet his conditions for attendance such as the issues of prize money and playing conditions in the venue. Fischer found better welcome in Israel where, among other things, the tradition of observing the Sabbath from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown was shared by Fischer's faith in the Church of God. Some have speculated that his attendance at this event over the US Championship was intended to show that he was not unreasonable and more than willing to play, so long as his conditions were met beforehand. Whatever his reasons, Fischer blew away the competition in what would become typical fashion for him: he finished undefeated with ten wins and three draws, three and a half points ahead of the shared seconds. The final standings and crosstable:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 Pts
1 Fischer * ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 11½
=2 Yanofsky ½ * ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 8
=2 Czerniak 0 ½ * 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 8
=4 Hamann 0 1 0 * 0 1 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1 7
=4 Kagan 0 0 0 1 * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 0 1 7
6 Ciocaltea 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 6½
=7 Kraidman ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 0 0 ½ 1 6
=7 Porath ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 6
=7 Aloni 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 0 1 1 0 6
=7 Domnitz 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 * ½ 1 0 1 6
11 Troianescu 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ * 0 0 1 5½
=12 Geller 0 ½ 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 * ½ 0 5
=12 Ree 0 ½ 0 0 1 0 ½ 0 0 1 1 ½ * ½ 5
14 Bernstein 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 1 ½ * 3½
Special thanks to <jessicafischerqueen> for the finishing touches on the historical content of this collection.Original collection: Game Collection: Netanya-A 1968, by
User: suenteus po 147.
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| page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 34 |
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| Game |
| Result | Moves |
Year | Event/Locale | Opening |
| 1. Fischer vs S Hamann |
  | 1-0 | 32 | 1968 | Netanya | B88 Sicilian, Fischer-Sozin Attack |
| 2. V Ciocaltea vs Y Kraidman |
| 1-0 | 37 | 1968 | Netanya | C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed |
| 3. Y Porat vs U Geller |
| 1-0 | 39 | 1968 | Netanya | E32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical |
| 4. H Ree vs S Kagan |
| 1-0 | 73 | 1968 | Netanya | A30 English, Symmetrical |
| 5. S Hamann vs Yanofsky |
| 1-0 | 41 | 1968 | Netanya | B17 Caro-Kann, Steinitz Variation |
| 6. S Kagan vs Y Bernstein |
| 1-0 | 41 | 1968 | Netanya | C63 Ruy Lopez, Schliemann Defense |
| 7. Y Porat vs H Ree |
| 1-0 | 27 | 1968 | Netanya | A57 Benko Gambit |
| 8. Yanofsky vs Y Kraidman |
| 1-0 | 67 | 1968 | Netanya | E84 King's Indian, Samisch, Panno Main line |
| 9. Fischer vs M Czerniak |
| 1-0 | 47 | 1968 | Netanya | B13 Caro-Kann, Exchange |
| 10. U Geller vs S Hamann |
| 1-0 | 56 | 1968 | Netanya | A10 English |
| 11. Yanofsky vs O Troianescu |
| 1-0 | 35 | 1968 | Netanya | C10 French |
| 12. Fischer vs S Kagan |
| 1-0 | 34 | 1968 | Netanya | B11 Caro-Kann, Two Knights, 3...Bg4 |
| 13. Y Bernstein vs U Geller |
| 1-0 | 40 | 1968 | Netanya | A07 King's Indian Attack |
| 14. I Aloni vs M Czerniak |
| 1-0 | 69 | 1968 | Netanya | E92 King's Indian |
| 15. U Geller vs Y Kraidman |
| 1-0 | 42 | 1968 | Netanya | A16 English |
| 16. M Czerniak vs S Hamann |
| 1-0 | 27 | 1968 | Netanya | B20 Sicilian |
| 17. O Troianescu vs I Aloni |
| 1-0 | 50 | 1968 | Netanya | B46 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation |
| 18. Fischer vs H Ree |
| 1-0 | 25 | 1968 | Netanya | C81 Ruy Lopez, Open, Howell Attack |
| 19. V Ciocaltea vs Y Bernstein |
| 1-0 | 24 | 1968 | Netanya | B27 Sicilian |
| 20. Z Domnitz vs U Geller |
| 1-0 | 47 | 1968 | Netanya | C07 French, Tarrasch |
| 21. Yanofsky vs Y Porat |
| 1-0 | 33 | 1968 | Netanya | C98 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin |
| 22. O Troianescu vs Y Kraidman |
| 1-0 | 86 | 1968 | Netanya | C85 Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation Doubly Deferred (DERLD) |
| 23. S Kagan vs S Hamann |
| 1-0 | 38 | 1968 | Netanya | B88 Sicilian, Fischer-Sozin Attack |
| 24. I Aloni vs H Ree |
| 1-0 | 40 | 1968 | Netanya | E32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical |
| 25. S Hamann vs Y Porat |
| 1-0 | 33 | 1968 | Netanya | D09 Queen's Gambit Declined, Albin Counter Gambit, 5.g3 |
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| page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 34 |
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Aug-16-15
 | | Tabanus: Geller and Aloni may have switched place in the crosstable. 365Chess and http://netanyachess.com/Topic/ev_Ne... have 6 points for Geller, 5 points for Aloni. But Tidskrift för Schack no. 7, 1968 p. 197 and La Vanguardia 9 Aug. 1968 p. 27 have 6 points for Aloni, 5 points for Geller. It all depends on the result of U Geller vs I Aloni, 1968. Did Aloni lose on time? |
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| Aug-16-15 | | TheFocus: Aloni won the game according to tournament book <Netanya1968> by David Daniels. |
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Aug-16-15
| | Tabanus: Ok! I updated the crosstable. Hopefully it's correct now, but a tiny question mark remains. |
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| Apr-26-19 | | sac 4 mate: The historical description indicates that five grandmasters played here, but at the time of the tournament I believe Fischer and Yanofsky were the only two. Kraidman, Ciocaltea and Ree all didn't earn the title until many years later. |
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| Jun-24-19 | | diagonal: <sac 4 mate> thanks for this distinction, Kraidman got the GM title in 1976, Ciocaltea, IM since 1957, got it in 1978 (according to Iclicki, FIDE Golden book, cg. has 1979), and Ree, IM since 1968, became a GM in 1980. <Netanya International Chess Tournament series> had been held rather unregular, mostly in the 1960s and 1970s, the first edition was organised in 1961: http://netanyachess.com/Topic/ev_Ne... The most famous tournament of the series was surely the fourth <Netanya edition in 1968>, with Fischer winning overwhelmingly, but facing not that forceful opposition: The two strongest chess tournaments in that year, according to Sonas, were <Palma de Mallorca 1968> (Korchnoi ahead of joint Larsen and Vice World Champion Spassky, then World Champion Petrosian, Gligoric, Ivkov; 18 players), <Wijk aan Zee 1968> (Korchnoi three full points ahead of joint Portisch, Hort, and Tal, followed by Gheorghiu; 16 players); <Monte Carlo 1968> also showed many world elite players (Larsen won ahead of Botvinnik and joint Hort and Smyslov, followed by R. Byrne; 14 players). Much later, in 2009, and indepently, Netanya had two world elite speed events, a Rapid tournament as well as a Blitz tournament at <The Richard Riordan Chess Festival> during the 18th Maccabiah Games: https://theweekinchess.com/html/twi... Revival in 2019! Netanya is back on the map with a strong <Netanya International Chess Festival 2019>. The Festival consists of two main events: A crown group, the Netanya <Masters> tournament (10 players in a round robin), and an <Open>. It takes part from June 23nd – July 2nd 2019, and is organised by The Israeli Chess Federation and the city of Netanya. The venue is the VIP main hall in the Netanya Football Stadium. (to be continued) |
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Jun-24-19
 | | Annie K.: Speaking of Netanya Masters (2019) - great writeup <diagonal>, thanks. :) |
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Jul-24-21
 | | Sally Simpson: Some footage of this event. Looks like the game Kraidman vs Fischer, 1968 https://jfc.org.il/news_journal/606... |
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Nov-22-23
 | | FSR: I guess the organizers could only afford to pay for one elite grandmaster. Securing Fischer was quite a coup. I wonder what Fischer, an anti-Semite and Hitler fanatic (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby...), thought about playing in Israel. Chessmetrics rates the top players at the outset of the tournament as Fischer (2796), Yanofsky (2548), Ree (2535), and Ciocaltea (2533). They don't have a rating for Uzi Geller. Against the 12 players with ratings, the expected scores were Fischer 10.7/12, Yanofsky 6.9/12, Ree 6.7/12, and Ciocaltea 6.6/12. Their actual scores against the 12 were Fischer 10.5, Yanofsky 7.5, Ree 4.5, and Ciocaltea 5.5. So Fischer slightly underperformed, Ciocaltea and Yanofsky overperformed, and Ree dramatically underperformed. Czerniak (2446), who was expected to score 5.3/12 but actually scored 7 and tied for second, also did much better than expected. http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/... |
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| Nov-22-23 | | Muttley101: <FSR Against the 12 players with ratings, the expected scores were Fischer 10.7/12, Yanofsky 6.9/12, Ree 6.7/12, and Ciocaltea 6.6/12. Their actual scores against the 12 were Fischer 10.5, Yanofsky 7.5, Ree 4.5, and Ciocaltea 5.5. So Fischer slightly underperformed ... > How could Fischer have scored 10.7?
Rounding a continuous variable to a discrete value would take 10.7 to 10.5, so Fischer actually performed as expected. |
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Nov-22-23
| | FSR: <Muttley101> I realize that scoring exactly 10.7 points was impossible, and that 10.5 was the closest score to 10.7 that Fischer could have gotten. I still consider it technically "underperforming" because it was less than his statistical expectation (even though scoring exactly as expected was impossible) and lost him rating points. His Chessmetrics rating fell from 2796 to 2790. http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/... Players often encounter a similar situation when seeking norms from FIDE. A GM norm, for example, is a performance of at least 2600. It may be that in a given tournament a 2600-level performance would be a score of, say, 8.03. Obviously, one will never score 8.03 points, but FIDE will not accept an 8.00 score as a GM norm since it will be slightly below a 2600-level performance. So the player will have to score at least 8.5 points to get a GM norm. Players like John Peters and John Donaldson have missed the GM title by fractions of points. |
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Nov-22-23
| | FSR: Two participants (Fischer and Troianescu) died at the chessic age of 64. |
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| Nov-22-23 | | Muttley101: <FSR> Thanks for your explanation, I appreciate it. As someone with a statistical background, it wouldn't occur to me to go against rounding rules. I can see the logic in "prove to us you really are GM material" but the rounding up to an extra half point for a norm is a hugely significant and disproportionate difference, as your final comment makes clear you also appreciate. |
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