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Halle Zonal (1967) "Portisch will turn 30 on the 15th round, April 4. The Hungarian champion is 3 months younger than Spassky and 5 months younger than Tal. However, his style differs from that of his contemporaries. He is primarily a strategist. The turbulent, uncertain style of fighting, evoking complications, of which Tal is the most outstanding representative, is far from Portisch's style. He prefers to weaken the opponent's position almost imperceptibly and exploit these weaknesses through long-term positional play and inexorable logic. In this type of fight, he is almost invincible, as shown by the fact that he won three times against world champion Petrosian, who had a similar style, and their other games ended in draws. The city of Halle brings back pleasant memories for Portisch. This is also where he last fought his way into the interzonal competition. He considers Wolfgang Uhlmann, the grandmaster of the GDR, to be the strongest of his current opponents, followed by the Czechoslovak Hort and the Yugoslav Matulovic as the most likely to advance. Qualifying tournaments are always difficult, as only the first three places have value. The Hungarian and international public considers Portisch to be an almost certain winner. The task is not easy, but there is every reason to be optimistic. Portisch canceled several major tournaments at the beginning of the year to prepare carefully for Halle. He further refined his openings, analyzed the shortcomings of his older games, and adjusted his lifestyle to the time schedule of the tournament weeks ago. And serious preparation always pays off in chess." (Portisch's second Tibor Florian in Képes Sport, transl.) Portisch had trained for the zonal "with great care. Thus, among others, he had examined the games of such players of extreme styles as Rashid Nezhmetdinov and Gosta Stoltz in order to be at home with unforeseeably confused positions." (Selected Games of Lajos Portisch, Egan Varnusz, Batsford, 1979) Hotel Stadt Halle, East Germany, 19 March - 9 April 1967 Age 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Pts Son-Be ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— 1 GM Portisch 30 ● ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 15½ 2 GM Hort 23 ½ ● ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 15 =3 GM Uhlmann 32 ½ ½ ● ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 13 114.00 =3 GM Matulovic 31 0 ½ ½ ● 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 13 114.00 5 IM Zinn 29 0 0 ½ 0 ● 0 1 1 ½ 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 11½ =6 Westerinen 22 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ● ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 11 97.00 =6 Besser 32 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ● ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 11 85.50 8 Zwaig 20 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ ● ½ 1 1 ½ 0 1 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 10½ 9 Johansson 48 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ● 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 10 =10 IM Kuijpers 26 ½ 0 1 0 1 ½ ½ 0 0 ● 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 8½ 78.25 =10 IM Minev 35 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 0 0 ½ 1 ● ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 0 8½ 76.50 =10 Holm 27 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ● 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 ½ 8½ 69.75 =10 Gerusel 29 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 ½ ½ 1 ● ½ ½ 0 0 1 1 1 8½ 69.75 =10 Kristinsson 24 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ● ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 8½ 68.75 15 IM Ciocaltea 35 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ● 1 ½ 0 1 0 8 16 Kinnmark 22 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 0 0 ● ½ 1 0 ½ 7 17 IM Minic 30 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 0 ½ ½ ● ½ ½ ½ 6½ =18 Pietrusiak 33 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 ½ ● ½ ½ 5½ 47.00 =18 Havansi 25 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ● 1 5½ 42.75 20 Camilleri 34 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ● 4½ ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— The players were accommodated in Hotel Stadt Halle. It had a tiring schedule with 19 rounds in 22 days, starting on Sunday 19 March (190 games). Rest days: 25 March, 1 & 8 April. Rounds started at 4 pm. Organizers: Hans Platz and E. Kopka. Kinnmark was a replacement for GM Gideon Stahlberg, who did not want to play, and Minev replaced GM Bruno Parma, who was unable to play due to military service. No title norms could be taken because less than 50% were titled players. The top three players, Portisch, Hort and Matulovic (after he beat Uhlmann at the Halle Zonal Playoff (1967) in Budapest Hungary 25-28 July) qualified for the Sousse Interzonal (1967). Photo (Westerinen vs Uhlmann): https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ga4ypcH... Sources Wikipedia article: Interhotel Wikipedia article: Halle (Saale) OlimpBase (https://www.olimpbase.org/ind-wcc/w...) Mark Weeks (https://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/zo...) Szachy w Polsce website (http://www.szachypolskie.pl/turniej...) Northwest Chess website (https://nwchess.com/minev/files/196...) Skakbladet, 6/1967, pp. 90-93 (https://danbase.skak.dk/skakbladet/...) Tidskrift för Schack, 4/1967, p. 106 (https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1967...) Magyar Sakkélet, 5/1967, pp. 87-90 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Sak...) Shahmatny Bulletin, 7/1967, pp. 217-220 (https://publ.lib.ru/ARCHIVES/SH/''S... ) ПОЛИТИКА (POLITICS), 29 July 1967, p. 17 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Pol...) Képes Sport, 21 March 1967, p. 189 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Kep...) Népszabadság, 1967.02.04, p. 12 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Nep...) Hungarian newspapers at https://adt.arcanum.com/en/discover Text and table by User: Tabanus and User: Chessical  page 1 of 3; games 1-25 of 64  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. N Minev vs B Pietrusiak 1-0 37 1967 Halle Zonal B31 Sicilian, Rossolimo Variation 2. A Zwaig vs F Kuijpers   1-0 42 1967 Halle Zonal E52 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with ...b6 3. Westerinen vs H Camilleri   1-0 24 1967 Halle Zonal C63 Ruy Lopez, Schliemann Defense 4. O Kinnmark vs S Holm   1-0 37 1967 Halle Zonal B62 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer 5. Portisch vs A Zwaig   1-0 40 1967 Halle Zonal A56 Benoni Defense 6. H Besser vs E Havansi   1-0 33 1967 Halle Zonal E17 Queen's Indian 7. Uhlmann vs J Kristinsson   1-0 41 1967 Halle Zonal D97 Grunfeld, Russian 8. J Kristinsson vs D Minic   1-0 36 1967 Halle Zonal A44 Old Benoni Defense 9. L Zinn vs B Pietrusiak   1-0 41 1967 Halle Zonal B21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4 10. A Zwaig vs O Kinnmark   1-0 25 1967 Halle Zonal D34 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch 11. Matulovic vs F Kuijpers   1-0 42 1967 Halle Zonal C92 Ruy Lopez, Closed 12. F Kuijpers vs L Zinn   1-0 51 1967 Halle Zonal C88 Ruy Lopez 13. D Minic vs M Gerusel   1-0 64 1967 Halle Zonal B45 Sicilian, Taimanov 14. O Kinnmark vs N Minev   1-0 41 1967 Halle Zonal B89 Sicilian 15. Portisch vs Matulovic 1-0 55 1967 Halle Zonal A33 English, Symmetrical 16. Matulovic vs O Kinnmark   1-0 41 1967 Halle Zonal C93 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Smyslov Defense 17. M Gerusel vs B Pietrusiak   1-0 39 1967 Halle Zonal A56 Benoni Defense 18. Portisch vs J Kristinsson   1-0 62 1967 Halle Zonal E73 King's Indian 19. A Zwaig vs N Minev   1-0 64 1967 Halle Zonal A07 King's Indian Attack 20. M Johansson vs H Besser   1-0 26 1967 Halle Zonal C10 French 21. V Ciocaltea vs Westerinen   1-0 44 1967 Halle Zonal B35 Sicilian, Accelerated Fianchetto, Modern Variation with Bc4 22. Hort vs D Minic 1-0 28 1967 Halle Zonal E75 King's Indian, Averbakh, Main line 23. J Kristinsson vs O Kinnmark   1-0 34 1967 Halle Zonal E56 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with 7...Nc6 24. L Zinn vs S Holm   1-0 43 1967 Halle Zonal B21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4 25. H Besser vs V Ciocaltea   1-0 50 1967 Halle Zonal A10 English  page 1 of 3; games 1-25 of 64    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Aug-06-25    jnpope: Per research by User: Tabanus, Finn Petersen changed to Sejer Holm (Petersen). 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