Members · Prefs · Laboratory · Collections · Openings · Endgames · Sacrifices · History · Search Kibitzing · Kibitzer's Café · Chessforums · Tournament Index · Players · Kibitzing

Palma de Mallorca (1969) This was the strongest tournament in 1969. It was organized by FIDE and the Federación Balear de Ajedrez, and sponsored by the city of Palma and the Spanish press, with journalist and Chess Oscar founder Jorge Puig Laborda as the technical director. Both the new world champion Spassky and ex-world champion Petrosian were invited, and this was the first time the two met in a tournament after the Petrosian - Spassky World Championship Match (1969). The five highest ranked of the 18 players were according to Chessmetrics* Korchnoi (#2), Spassky (#3), Larsen (#5), Petrosian (#6) and Hort (#13). Among the others were Najdorf (#28) from Argentina and 17-year-old Mecking (#48) from Brazil. Unfortunately, Vasily Smyslov (#4) and Robert James Fischer (#1) did not come. The opening ceremony took place on 21 November in the Palma town hall, and play started the next day at Hotel Jaime I.# Larsen began with two losses and had only two points after the first five rounds. However, after a dramatic win against Korchnoi in Round 7 (when according to Panno the crazy ones met), Larsen vs Korchnoi, 1969 - a real Larsen game! - he managed to turn the tables and keep up the good results from Palma de Mallorca (1967) and Palma de Mallorca (1968). Photo of participants: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/... Hotel Jaime I, Palma, Spain, 22 November - 13 December 1969 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pts 1 GM Larsen * ½ 1 0 0 1 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 12 2 GM Petrosian ½ * ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 11½ =3 GM Korchnoi 0 ½ * 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 10½ =3 GM Hort 1 0 0 * ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 10½ 5 GM Spassky 1 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 10 6 IM Corral 0 0 0 0 ½ * ½ 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 9½ =7 IM Mecking 1 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 9 =7 GM Panno 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 * 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 9 =9 GM Parma ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 8½ =9 GM Najdorf 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 8½ =11 GM Szabó ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 8 =11 GM Unzicker 0 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 8 13 GM Pomar ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 7½ =14 GM Bobotsov 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ 0 1 0 6½ =14 GM Damjanovic 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 6½ =14 IM Penrose 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 1 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ * ½ ½ 6½ 17 IM Torán 0 0 1 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ 6 18 IM Medina 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ * 5 First Brilliancy Prize went to Diez del Corral for J Diez del Corral vs A Pomar Salamanca, 1969. The prize for highest quality game was shared between Larsen and Spassky for their victories against Penrose. At the closing ceremony, speeches were held by Najdorf, Juan Casals from Hotel Jaime I, and FIDE Vice President Jaroslav Sajtar. Chess Oscar for 1969 was awarded to Spassky. Finally, a "dream team" for the USSR vs. Rest of the World (1970) match was suggested, with 1) Fischer, 2) Larsen, 3) Hort, 4) Lajos Portisch and 5) Svetozar Gligoric on the top tables. Larsen disagreed - he wanted table 1. Tournament books: V Gran Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez: Palma de Mallorca 21 noviembre a 14 diciembre 1969 (Aries, Palma 1969. 168 pp.); Palma de Mallorca, 1969 by Robert Wade (Chess Player, Nottingham 1970. 64 pp.) (sorted by opening); Palma de Mallorca 69: Mit den stärksten Grossmeistern by Edwin Bhend (Kräuchi, Basel 1970. 98 pp.). Round dates and most other information on this page are from Román Torán's daily reports in the newspaper La Vanguardia (online at http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com/...). Original collection: Game Collection: Palma de Mallorca 1969 by User: Tabanus. *http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/... #Hotel Jaime I: https://web.archive.org/web/2015071...  page 1 of 7; games 1-25 of 153  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Korchnoi vs Hort 1-0 43 1969 Palma de Mallorca E77 King's Indian 2. Larsen vs Mecking 0-1 40 1969 Palma de Mallorca A00 Uncommon Opening 3. Najdorf vs A Medina Garcia ½-½ 58 1969 Palma de Mallorca A26 English 4. Szabo vs Parma   ½-½ 23 1969 Palma de Mallorca D34 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch 5. Panno vs J Penrose 0-1 52 1969 Palma de Mallorca E80 King's Indian, Samisch Variation 6. R Toran Albero vs Petrosian 0-1 36 1969 Palma de Mallorca E04 Catalan, Open, 5.Nf3 7. J Diez del Corral vs Spassky ½-½ 42 1969 Palma de Mallorca E80 King's Indian, Samisch Variation 8. A Pomar Salamanca vs Bobotsov   ½-½ 22 1969 Palma de Mallorca E52 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with ...b6 9. Unzicker vs M Damjanovic   ½-½ 42 1969 Palma de Mallorca B47 Sicilian, Taimanov (Bastrikov) Variation 10. Hort vs Unzicker 0-1 59 1969 Palma de Mallorca D41 Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch 11. Szabo vs Korchnoi   ½-½ 32 1969 Palma de Mallorca E10 Queen's Pawn Game 12. Mecking vs Najdorf 1-0 41 1969 Palma de Mallorca E93 King's Indian, Petrosian System 13. Parma vs Petrosian ½-½ 15 1969 Palma de Mallorca C10 French 14. J Penrose vs J Diez del Corral   ½-½ 41 1969 Palma de Mallorca C05 French, Tarrasch 15. Spassky vs Larsen 1-0 67 1969 Palma de Mallorca C60 Ruy Lopez 16. Bobotsov vs R Toran Albero   1-0 42 1969 Palma de Mallorca E80 King's Indian, Samisch Variation 17. M Damjanovic vs Panno   ½-½ 43 1969 Palma de Mallorca B43 Sicilian, Kan, 5.Nc3 18. A Medina Garcia vs A Pomar Salamanca   ½-½ 15 1969 Palma de Mallorca B18 Caro-Kann, Classical 19. Panno vs Hort   0-1 38 1969 Palma de Mallorca A25 English 20. Korchnoi vs Parma   ½-½ 40 1969 Palma de Mallorca B07 Pirc 21. Najdorf vs Spassky ½-½ 53 1969 Palma de Mallorca D34 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch 22. Larsen vs J Penrose 1-0 44 1969 Palma de Mallorca A01 Nimzovich-Larsen Attack 23. Petrosian vs Bobotsov   ½-½ 14 1969 Palma de Mallorca A30 English, Symmetrical 24. Unzicker vs Szabo   ½-½ 15 1969 Palma de Mallorca C78 Ruy Lopez 25. A Pomar Salamanca vs Mecking   ½-½ 20 1969 Palma de Mallorca A41 Queen's Pawn Game (with ...d6)  page 1 of 7; games 1-25 of 153    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Aug-14-15    Olavi: The winner Larsen started with two losses. Top tournaments won from that situation include Najdorf, 16,5/21 at the Capablanca Memorial 1962, and Beliavsky, 8,5/14 in Tilburg 1986. Are there others? Aug-14-15    diagonal: Not an international top tournament - still worth mentioning: Valentina Gunina, losing her two first games, finishing 7-0 at 64th Russian Superfinals women (ch-RUS) in Kazan 2014, winning the round robin tournament outright: Russian Superfinals (Women) (2014)/Valentina Gunina Others? :) Jun-21-19    perfidious: For those who would point to Spassky's lacklustre tournament record while champion, the six draws concluded in less than twenty moves contributed a great deal towards his indifferent placing in this event. Jun-21-19    harrylime: Spassky was the World Chess Champion whilst Bobby got his head together 👍 Jun-21-19    Howard: Petrosian's record during the second three-year period that he was WC, wasn't much better. NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion. Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members. No trolling. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers. Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times. See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator. NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific tournament only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café. Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors. All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration. Spot an error? Please suggest your correction and help us eliminate database mistakes! Home | About | Login | Logout | F.A.Q. | Profile | Preferences | Premium Membership | Kibitzer's Café | Biographer's Bistro | New Kibitzing | Chessforums | Tournament Index | Player Directory | Notable Games | World Chess Championships | Opening Explorer | Guess the Move | Game Collections | ChessBookie Game | Chessgames Challenge | Store | Privacy Notice | Contact Us Copyright 2001-2023, Chessgames Services LLC