Uruguay only scored one draw.
Playing dates: April 1st and 2nd.
"From Faraway Times
by Hector Silva Nazzari
Undoubtedly the year 1954 was exceptional in the history of the Uruguayan Chess. We have already written about the UNESCO Tournament at the end of that year at the Hotel Ermitage Montevideo (1954), but the fact that marked out 1954 forever was the unrepeatable match played in Montevideo on 1st and 2nd April between a team from the Soviet Union and our country.
Taking advantage of the fact that the Soviet team had already traveled to South America, for the first and only time, to face Argentine, a match that won by the USSR 20.5 to 11.5 (ARG-URS (1954)), the Uruguayan Chess Federation invited the Soviets to play against our national team which was accepted.
So, on March 31st, the Soviet delegation arrived at Carrasco Airport. It was composed of fourteen people, including a doctor, and of the twelve chess players, eleven held the title of Grand Master and the remaining A. Suetin would get the title in 1965. The only Soviet GMs missing were: Botvinnik and Smyslov, who were preparing for their match, A. Lilienthal, G. Levenfish and I. Bondarevsky.
The match was agreed to be played on ten boards over two rounds. It took place in the gymnasium of the C.A. Bohemians on G Pereyra Street.
It is worth mentioning that an entrance fee was charged to watch the games, the amount of which was the equivalent of two movie tickets, if my memory serves me correctly.
The publicity for this match was excellent both in the written and radio press. The games were broadcast live on the radio and were commented upon by the maestro Luis A. Gulla among others. The end result of the match, as expected, was conclusive, 19.5 to 0.5 for the Soviets, with a draw by L. Ibarburu against Kotov.
The makeup of the teams was as follows:
USSR: David Bronstein, Yuri Averbach, Mark Taimanov, Alexander Kotov, Tigran Petrosian, Effim Geller, Isaac Boleslavsky, Alexander Tolush, Salo Flohr and Alexander Suetin. The Captain of the Team was Viacheslav Ragosin. Paul Keres did not play despite being a member of the team.
Uruguay: Rogelio Linskens, José Cánepa, Rodolfo Kalkstein, Luis Ibarburu, Héctor Corral, Pedro Masoero, Elias Aguilera, Julio C. Infantozzi, Ernesto J. Rotunno, Eduardo Etcheverry, Juan F. Olivera and José Bademian. Both the Uruguayan champion Walter Estrada Champion and the Sub-Champion, Lorenzo Bauza did not play because they were in Mar del Plata for the Zonal Tournament for the South American area (Mar del Plata / Buenos Aires Zonal (1954)).
We have invaluable testimony about the match from GM A. Kotov, who in his book "Notes of a Chess Player," dedicates ten pages to the tour and recounts several very interesting facts. Amongst this information, we learn that the Soviet team's stay was prolonged in Montevideo until April 15th as there was no aeroplane available for the return flight. This additional time was used to give simultaneous displays and for other social activities
We give some of Kotov's comments, extracted from the aforementioned work, about his games with Ibarburu.
Kotov says: "While my comrades were winning on all boards, I was doing very badly. The young Uruguayan master Ibarburu, who playing white, had started the game magnificently and quickly gained a considerable superiority. While my colleagues were already giving mates, I was forced to defend myself vigorously to repel the White attacks. A weak point developed in my position, my opponent took advantage of it and with each move reinforced his advantage. It came to look like I could not avoid our first defeat in Latin America. However, a few small mistakes from Ibarburu allowed me to simplify the position and weaken white's attack. Eventually, I managed to level the game and then even get a slight advantage. At the end of the game, he played accurately and we drew. The Uruguayans warmly congratulated their young chess player." (1)
See L Ibarburu vs Kotov, 1954
(1). Source in Spanish: https://fuajedrez.tripod.com/match1....
Kibitzing
