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TOURNAMENT STANDINGS
Hastings 1967/68 Tournament
Vlastimil Hort6/9(+3 -0 =6)[games]
Florin Gheorghiu6/9(+3 -0 =6)[games]
Leonid Stein6/9(+3 -0 =6)[games]
Alexey Suetin6/9(+3 -0 =6)[games]
Predrag Ostojic5/9(+2 -1 =6)[games]
Julio Kaplan4/9(+0 -1 =8)[games]
Andrew Whiteley3.5/9(+0 -2 =7)[games]
Raymond Keene3/9(+0 -3 =6)[games]
William Hartston3/9(+1 -4 =4)[games]
Michael Basman2.5/9(+0 -4 =5)[games]
*

Chessgames.com Chess Event Description
Hastings 1967/68

The 43rd Hastings Christmas Chess Festival was held at the end of the year 1967. Ten grandmasters and masters were invited to compete in a round robin format at the premier event. The notable participants of this edition included Soviet grandmasters Leonid Stein and Alexey Suetin, World Junior Champion Julio Kaplan, Czechoslovakian grandmaster Vlastimil Hort, Romanian grandmaster Florin Gheorghiu, and British junior master Raymond Keene. The final saw a four way tie for first place among Hort, Gheorghiu, Stein, and Suetin. They each finished undefeated with +3, a full point ahead of Yugoslavian master Predrag Ostojic.

Hastings, England, 27 December 1967 - 5 January 1968

              1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
=1 Hort       * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½  6
=1 Gheorghiu  ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1  6
=1 Stein      ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1  6
=1 Suetin     ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1  6
 5 Ostojic    0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ 1 ½  5
 6 Kaplan     ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½  4
 7 Whiteley   0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ ½ ½  3½
=8 Keene      ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½  3
=8 Hartston   0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * 1  3
10 Basman     ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 *  2½
Video: https://twitter.com/twitter/statuse...

Original collection: Game Collection: Hastings 1967/68, by User: suenteus po 147.

Previous: Hastings (1966/67). Next: Hastings (1968/69)

 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 45  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Gheorghiu vs Stein  ½-½181967Hastings 1967/68E71 King's Indian, Makagonov System (5.h3)
2. Keene vs Hort ½-½201967Hastings 1967/68A04 Reti Opening
3. W Hartston vs M Basman  1-0671967Hastings 1967/68B07 Pirc
4. A Whiteley vs J Kaplan  ½-½861967Hastings 1967/68A56 Benoni Defense
5. P Ostojic vs Suetin  ½-½841967Hastings 1967/68B47 Sicilian, Taimanov (Bastrikov) Variation
6. W Hartston vs Keene  ½-½121967Hastings 1967/68B06 Robatsch
7. M Basman vs Suetin  0-1411967Hastings 1967/68A40 Queen's Pawn Game
8. J Kaplan vs Gheorghiu  0-1291967Hastings 1967/68B61 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer, Larsen Variation, 7.Qd2
9. Stein vs P Ostojic  ½-½581967Hastings 1967/68B35 Sicilian, Accelerated Fianchetto, Modern Variation with Bc4
10. Hort vs A Whiteley 1-0321967Hastings 1967/68D48 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav, Meran
11. A Whiteley vs W Hartston  ½-½211967Hastings 1967/68D76 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.cd Nxd5, 7.O-O Nb6
12. Gheorghiu vs Hort  ½-½141967Hastings 1967/68D42 Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch, 7.Bd3
13. P Ostojic vs J Kaplan  ½-½251967Hastings 1967/68B32 Sicilian
14. Suetin vs Stein  ½-½211967Hastings 1967/68E98 King's Indian, Orthodox, Taimanov, 9.Ne1
15. Keene vs M Basman ½-½341967Hastings 1967/68A07 King's Indian Attack
16. W Hartston vs Gheorghiu  ½-½321967Hastings 1967/68B04 Alekhine's Defense, Modern
17. J Kaplan vs Suetin  ½-½401967Hastings 1967/68B48 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation
18. Hort vs P Ostojic 1-0361967Hastings 1967/68A07 King's Indian Attack
19. Keene vs A Whiteley  ½-½261967Hastings 1967/68A07 King's Indian Attack
20. M Basman vs Stein  0-1431967Hastings 1967/68B56 Sicilian
21. Suetin vs Hort  ½-½221967Hastings 1967/68A37 English, Symmetrical
22. Gheorghiu vs Keene 1-0271967Hastings 1967/68A29 English, Four Knights, Kingside Fianchetto
23. P Ostojic vs W Hartston 1-0501967Hastings 1967/68B89 Sicilian
24. A Whiteley vs M Basman  ½-½211967Hastings 1967/68D30 Queen's Gambit Declined
25. Stein vs J Kaplan  ½-½271967Hastings 1967/68A39 English, Symmetrical, Main line with d4
 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 45  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
Apr-06-18  Cibator: One of the more notorious Hastings tournaments. The four-way tie for first place was deliberately engineered so as to share the prize-money equally among the grandmasters.

The root of the trouble was a prize fund that was on the thin side to begin with, and too skewed in its distribution, as the table below makes clear:

1st - UKP250
2nd - UKP100
3rd - UKP50
4th - UKP25

(These sums seem derisory nowadays, but weren't quite that bad in 1968, when UKP25 was a goodish week's salary.)

CHESS magazine hit the nail on the head with its comment: "Far too steep a descent. We can recall no other tournament where fourth prize was only one-tenth of first." They went on to remark that the grandmasters weren't going to allow the indignity of one their number going home with only UKP25. Hence the "obviously contrived" final result.

Apr-06-18
Premium Chessgames Member		  MissScarlett: I read about this in one of Baruch Wood's columns. I'll try and dig it up.
Jul-05-25
Premium Chessgames Member		  Sally Simpson: Donner in 'The King' in an article headed; 'Draw Conspiracy' (written in December 1968) said he spoke to all four of the players involved and each one said there was no fix. He added none of them were invited back for the 1968/69 event.

Comments from all four merged into Hastings had become boring no longer inspiring great deeds. It is small calibre, only 10 contestants, the prizes are modest and the revolting English practice of beginning play at 9.00 am is maintained.

"Superstition has a long life among the island dwellers and they believe that a man is at his brightest in the morning."

Staying on the subject of short draws Donner gives a 14 move draw v Damjanovic. He is not too kind about the tournament (' a lousy tournament - small prizes, never a day off) so he does not give the exact date or venue.

Here Damjanovic played 14.Nd5.


click for larger view

And then offered a shocked Donner a draw adding there was a sci-fi film he wanted to go and see. Donner agreed.
He then goes onto mention that 14.Nd5 appeared in a couple opening books from that period judging the move 14.Nd5 as unclear.

Jul-06-25  FM David H. Levin: If the pairings would have had the four ultimate winners of this tournament facing only each other in the last three rounds, then meaningful collusion among them would seem feasible. But given that Stein's last game against one of the co-winners was in round 6 and gave him 3.5/6, assurance of the four-way tie would have required knowing that Stein would score 2.5 in his last three games. Thus, the alleged collusion would have had to involve other players also.

The skewed prize fund, if anything, gave incentive to contrive a sole winner. Had Suetin and Gheorghiu arranged for their last-round matchup to be decisive with the stipulation that they would split the anticipated first prize, each would have won 125 pounds rather than the ~107 pounds resulting from the four-way tie.

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