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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 2; games 1-25 of 38  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Korchnoi vs Hort 1-0 43 1969 Palma de Mallorca E77 King's Indian 2. Bobotsov vs R Toran Albero   1-0 42 1969 Palma de Mallorca E80 King's Indian, Samisch Variation 3. Spassky vs Larsen 1-0 67 1969 Palma de Mallorca C60 Ruy Lopez 4. Mecking vs Najdorf 1-0 41 1969 Palma de Mallorca E93 King's Indian, Petrosian System 5. J Diez del Corral vs M Damjanovic   1-0 35 1969 Palma de Mallorca E30 Nimzo-Indian, Leningrad 6. Larsen vs J Penrose 1-0 44 1969 Palma de Mallorca A01 Nimzovich-Larsen Attack 7. Hort vs J Diez del Corral   1-0 73 1969 Palma de Mallorca E92 King's Indian 8. Korchnoi vs Unzicker 1-0 51 1969 Palma de Mallorca A00 Uncommon Opening 9. J Diez del Corral vs Szabo   1-0 43 1969 Palma de Mallorca E91 King's Indian 10. Petrosian vs Mecking 1-0 41 1969 Palma de Mallorca B06 Robatsch 11. Korchnoi vs J Diez del Corral 1-0 24 1969 Palma de Mallorca E62 King's Indian, Fianchetto 12. Parma vs A Medina Garcia   1-0 33 1969 Palma de Mallorca C93 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Smyslov Defense 13. Panno vs Parma   1-0 55 1969 Palma de Mallorca D34 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch 14. Petrosian vs J Penrose 1-0 38 1969 Palma de Mallorca E89 King's Indian, Samisch, Orthodox Main line 15. Larsen vs Korchnoi 1-0 55 1969 Palma de Mallorca A00 Uncommon Opening 16. Hort vs R Toran Albero   1-0 39 1969 Palma de Mallorca A07 King's Indian Attack 17. J Penrose vs Bobotsov 1-0 27 1969 Palma de Mallorca B05 Alekhine's Defense, Modern 18. Spassky vs A Medina Garcia 1-0 30 1969 Palma de Mallorca C93 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Smyslov Defense 19. Najdorf vs Unzicker 1-0 41 1969 Palma de Mallorca A07 King's Indian Attack 20. Petrosian vs Hort 1-0 60 1969 Palma de Mallorca E83 King's Indian, Samisch 21. Larsen vs Panno 1-0 44 1969 Palma de Mallorca A00 Uncommon Opening 22. Unzicker vs A Pomar Salamanca   1-0 33 1969 Palma de Mallorca B14 Caro-Kann, Panov-Botvinnik Attack 23. J Penrose vs Mecking   1-0 41 1969 Palma de Mallorca B03 Alekhine's Defense 24. Najdorf vs J Diez del Corral   1-0 30 1969 Palma de Mallorca E73 King's Indian 25. Spassky vs J Penrose 1-0 49 1969 Palma de Mallorca E80 King's Indian, Samisch Variation  page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 38    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. 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