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Oscar Panno
Panno 
 

Number of games in database: 1,520
Years covered: 1952 to 2007
Last FIDE rating: 2438 (2440 blitz)
Highest rating achieved in database: 2580
Overall record: +558 -207 =743 (61.6%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 12 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 English (109) 
    A14 A15 A16 A17 A13
 King's Indian (109) 
    E75 E92 E80 E60 E67
 Nimzo Indian (58) 
    E59 E54 E53 E46 E32
 Reti System (55) 
    A04 A06 A05
 English, 1 c4 e5 (52) 
    A28 A22 A25 A21 A27
 English, 1 c4 c5 (48) 
    A30 A34 A33 A35 A31
With the Black pieces:
 Sicilian (249) 
    B42 B43 B83 B32 B22
 King's Indian (89) 
    E80 E62 E60 E94 E63
 Sicilian Kan (55) 
    B42 B43
 English (51) 
    A15 A10 A16 A14 A17
 Sicilian Scheveningen (46) 
    B83 B80 B84 B81 B82
 Queen's Pawn Game (40) 
    E00 A40 A46 A45 D02
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Panno vs Spassky, 1955 1-0
   Panno vs Eliskases, 1957 1-0
   Panno vs Polugaevsky, 1973 1-0
   Panno vs B Larsen, 1971 1-0
   Quinteros vs Panno, 1968 0-1
   Panno vs Bronstein, 1956 1/2-1/2
   Spassky vs Panno, 1969 1/2-1/2
   Hort vs Panno, 1976 0-1
   Panno vs J M Aitken, 1958 1-0
   Chiburdanidze vs Panno, 1992 0-1

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Mar del Plata / Buenos Aires Zonal (1954)
   Rio de Janeiro Zonal (1957)
   Pan-American Championship (1958)
   Buenos Aires YMCA (1968)
   Mar del Plata Zonal (1969)
   Argentine Championship (1985)
   Argentine Championship (1958)
   Palma de Mallorca (1971)
   Argentine Championship (1975)
   Gothenburg Interzonal (1955)
   Buenos Aires (1970)
   Buenos Aires / Rio Hondo Zonal (1966)
   Sao Paulo Zonal (1972)
   Mar del Plata (1957)
   Manila Interzonal (1976)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Palma de Mallorca 1972 by Tabanus
   Palma de Mallorca 1971 by Tabanus
   Amsterdam IBM 1977 by suenteus po 147

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Oscar Panno
Search Google for Oscar Panno
FIDE player card for Oscar Panno

OSCAR PANNO
(born Mar-17-1935, 90 years old) Argentina

[what is this?]

World Junior Champion (1953), Champion of Argentina (1953, 1975 (with Miguel Najdorf), 1985, and 1992); Pan-American Champion (1958); Champion of South America (1954, 1957, 1966 and 1969); Candidate (1956).

Preliminary

Oscar Roberto Panno was born in Buenos Aires and is a civil engineer by trade. He was the first locally born superstar of South American chess.

Titles

Panno was awarded the IM title in 1954 and the GM title in 1955.

Championships

In 1953, Panno won both the World Junior Championship and the championship of Argentina. The following year, he won the South American Championship (staged in Mar del Plata), which also doubled as the Zonal Tournament for the continent in that year, thereby qualifying for the Gothenburg Interzonal (1955). At Gothenburg, Panno placed third behind David Bronstein and Paul Keres, thus gaining the grandmaster title and qualifying for the Amsterdam Candidates (1956) where he started strongly, co-leading for the first few rounds but eventually placing eighth ex aequo. He also contested the Portoroz Interzonal (1958), Palma de Mallorca Interzonal (1970), Petropolis Interzonal (1973) and Manila Interzonal (1976).

In 1958, Panno won the Pan-American championship (aka the Tournament of the Americas) that was staged in Bogotá and won three subsequent championships of South America: in Rio de Janeiro in 1957, Rio Hondo, 1966 (jointly, again doubling as a Zonal) and again at Mar del Plata, 1969 (again jointly).

Tournaments

Panno was a primarily a player for team events and championships especially in his early years, although he does have some notable tournament successes. One of his earliest major wins, if not the earliest, was his 12/17 result at Buenos Aires in 1952 when he was still 16 years old. While there are games missing from the record of this event, they appear to be missing in respect of players who were out of the running for first place. The following year, he won the World Junior Championship and the Argentine Championship (see above).

During the decade from 1958 to 1968, Panno actively pursued his civil engineering career and only played rarely, and not at all between 1958 and 1962. Between 1962 and 1968 he kept his eye in by playing in the occasional tournament with some success, the Club Argentino in 1963 (2nd with 8/11), the Buenos Aires YMCA event in 1963 (1st with 5.5/7), the Punta del Este event in 1964, Mar del Plata in 1965 (=4th with 9.5/13 behind Najdorf, Leonid Stein and Yuri Averbakh), and Buenos Aires 1965 (=2nd behind Najdorf with 8/11)

Upon returning to a fuller schedule, he won several strong tournaments, Buenos Aires 1968 (+8, =2, -1) ahead of Najdorf; Palma de Mallorca (1971) (+7, =8) in his finest achievement since Gothenburg in 1955, winning ahead of a stellar cast of Grandmasters including co-leader Ljubomir Ljubojevic, and Lajos Portisch, Samuel Reshevsky, Ulf Andersson, Bent Larsen, Pal Benko and Raymond Keene. He had other good results including =3rd at the Buenos Aires Open in 1968, 3rd with 11/17 at the famous Buenos Aires (1970) behind Robert James Fischer 's incredible 15/17 win and Vladimir Tukmakov 's distant runner up placement with 11.5/17. Other successes included first on tiebreak at Caracas in 1970 ahead of co-leaders Stein and Lubomir Kavalek, and runners-up Anatoly Karpov and Pal Benko. There was also an excellent =2nd behind Lev Polugaevsky at Mar del Plata in 1971, a 2nd placement at the Villa Gesell open in 1971 and a stunning win at Palma de Mallorca (1972) (+6, =8, -1) ahead of the likes of Lev Polugaevsky and Viktor Korchnoi.

Other good results in the 1970s included equal second behind Benko at Sao Paulo in 1973, equal third at Las Palmas in 1973, equal second at Lone Pine in 1976 behind Tigran V Petrosian, a runaway first at Bogota in 1976, second at Buenos Aires in 1977, equal second at Biel in 1977, equal second at Buenos Aires in 1978 and in 1983. After 1980, his results declined with age but he still won the Argentine championship in 1985 and 1992 (at age 57). Panno remained active into the 21st century, last playing in a FIDE-rated event at the Bobby Fischer Memorial tournament held in Vicente Lopez in Argentina in March 2008; in that event he remained undefeated (aged 73) winning one and drawing nine games finishing equal third with 5/9, half a point behind Diego Valerga and Mauricio Flores Rios.

Team Events

In 1958, Panno was on top board for Argentina at the World Student Championships. He led his team to a second=place finish in the qualifying group to contest the Finals, in which he scored 5.5/10 (+3 -2 =5) and his team placed seventh.

Panno represented his country eleven times at the Olympiads: in 1954, 1956, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1976, 1986, 1988 and finally in 1992. His medal tally for these events was a team silver (behind the Soviet Union) in 1954, team bronzes in 1958 and 1962 (behind the USSR and Yugoslavia on both occasions), individual bronze for board 2 in 1958 and individual gold for board 2 in 1966. In total at these Olympiads, Panno played 151 games (+51 -13 =87) for an overall percentage of 62.6%.

Panno also represented Argentina at the World Team Championship of 1985 and the Pan-American Team Championships staged in 1971, 1985 and 1991; in the 1971 and 1985 Pan-American events he won both team and individual gold.

Matches

Panno played matches against Ruben Rollansky in Buenos Aires in 1965 (winning with +3 =2), Vicente Palermo in 1966 (winning with +2 =5), Miguel Quinteros in 1970 (winning with +2 =7) and again in 1990 (also won with +2 =7), Horacio Garcia in 1971 (winning with +3 =5), Cesar Guillermo Poch in 1971 (winning with +4 =4), Oscar Cuasnicu in 1975 (+3 =3), and Rodrigo Vazquez in 1987 (+1 =9).

Ranking

Panno was never formally ranked or rated during his peak years. However, his results in the Interzonals and in major tournaments shows he was among the world's leading grandmasters. Chessmetrics.com, which attempts to rank players from before the introduction of FIDE ratings, estimates that Panno was as high as 18th in the world in late 1955 when he qualified for the Candidates by placing third at the Gothenburg Interzonal.

Tribute

Tributes to Panno on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of winning the World Junior in 1953 appear at https://www.fide.com/component/cont....

His You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw...

References

His You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw...

Team results were referenced from http://www.olimpbase.org/players/82..., World championship qualifying events from http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/wcc.... Other events, mainly non-championship tournaments, were sourced primarily fromwww.365chess.com. The chessmetrics stat appears at http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/....

His You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw...

Wikipedia article: Oscar Panno

Last updated: 2023-02-01 20:43:28

Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 61; games 1-25 of 1,520  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Panno vs A Foguelman ½-½921952Buenos AiresD45 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
2. F Benko vs Panno  ½-½451952Buenos AiresB22 Sicilian, Alapin
3. Panno vs C Incutto 1-0461952Ch-ARGD68 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense, Classical
4. Panno vs J C Sanchez  ½-½471952Buenos AiresD57 Queen's Gambit Declined, Lasker Defense
5. Panno vs M Luckis  1-0581952Buenos AiresA33 English, Symmetrical
6. J P Rubinstein vs Panno 0-1691952Buenos AiresD78 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.O-O c6
7. E Dodero vs Panno  0-1571953ARG-chE95 King's Indian, Orthodox, 7...Nbd7, 8.Re1
8. C Guimard vs Panno  0-1381953ARG-chD80 Grunfeld
9. Panno vs Eliskases  ½-½431953ARG-chD63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense
10. I Pleci vs Panno  0-1791953ARG-chA45 Queen's Pawn Game
11. L Marini vs Panno  1-0411953ARG-chB73 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical
12. Panno vs B Wexler  ½-½411953ARG-chE59 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line
13. F Olafsson vs Panno  ½-½171953World Junior Championship qual-1D75 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.cd Nxd5, 7.O-O c5, 8.dxc5
14. Panno vs Y Barda  1-0431953World Junior Championship qual-1E67 King's Indian, Fianchetto
15. R Siemms vs Panno  ½-½621953World Junior Championship qual-1B73 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical
16. Panno vs E Reichel  ½-½441953World Junior Championship qual-1E43 Nimzo-Indian, Fischer Variation
17. R Persitz vs Panno  0-1441953World Junior Championship qual-1E70 King's Indian
18. Panno vs D Keller  0-1511953World Junior Championship qual-1E16 Queen's Indian
19. Ivkov vs Panno  0-1611953World Junior Championship qual-1B76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack
20. B Mellberg vs Panno  0-1361953World Junior Championship qual-1B73 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical
21. Panno vs J M Boey  ½-½301953World Junior Championship qual-1E64 King's Indian, Fianchetto, Yugoslav System
22. Panno vs F Olafsson 1-0351953World Junior Championship Final-AE69 King's Indian, Fianchetto, Classical Main line
23. Panno vs Ivkov  1-0241953World Junior Championship Final-AE59 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line
24. K Darga vs Panno  ½-½411953World Junior Championship Final-AE94 King's Indian, Orthodox
25. Panno vs B Larsen 1-0831953World Junior Championship Final-AE18 Queen's Indian, Old Main line, 7.Nc3
 page 1 of 61; games 1-25 of 1,520  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Panno wins | Panno loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 5 OF 5 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Dec-02-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: <Avun Jahei: the rook move thing doesn't make sense to me>

It's just light humor. Another thing I know he likes to say is "and here both players are worse." I always found that one hilarious.

Apr-02-16  falso contacto: Recent interview (spanish):
https://youtu.be/IxII1gXMrcY?t=3m21s
Mar-29-18  ChessHigherCat: <perfidious: One of two former Candidates to celebrate a birthday today, Panno enjoyed a fine career for someone who played only in spurts, and for a decade, not at all.>

For genius doesn't come in spurts
like some obscene excrescence.
The muses are not fond of flirts
but favor men of essence

I don't really believe consistency is that important though. I like that Billy Wilder quote mentioned by Devere the other day, that you're as good as the best thing you've ever done (or something to that effect). Think of Rembrandt, for example. He may have produced a lot of junk on a daily basis for all we know but we judge him by his great masterpieces and that's enough.

Mar-30-18  Chizoad: As counterpoint to the Billy Wilder quote:

I used to play in a home poker game for low stakes. One exceedingly garrulous guy in the game, Stu, would crack some hilarious jokes. A new player sat in one time and said to the table "That Stu guy is pretty funny" to which another regular said "If you say enough stuff, some of it is bound to be funny".

That being the case, it's hard to imagine Rembrandt accidentally making a masterpiece.

Dec-20-19  cunctatorg: @ <Chessgames.com>:

the list of prominent players currently includes e.g. my compatriot GM Vassilios Kotronias who never took part in any Candidates Tournament, however it doesn't include ... GM Oscar Panno, a very strong GM who took part in the 1956 Candidates Tournament and he was for more than twenty years among the leading non-soviet Grandmasters!!

How so?!?

Mar-17-20  diagonal: Oscar Panno, International Grandmaster since 1955 (then only Spassky was younger) turns 85 years today: Health and Happiness to the first top world chess player born in South America!

Great portrait, many thanks, I guess, the credit goes to <Fusili>

Famous game: Panno vs Spassky, 1955, 1-0

Chess Coryphaeus - The seven <living former Candidates, aged eighty or older> (as of 2020):

<Averbakh> (*1922), <Ivkov> (*1933), <Olafsson> (*1935), <Panno> (*1935), <Uhlmann> (*1935), <Boris Spassky> (*1937), World Champion 1969-1972, and <Portisch> (*1937).

Wildcard for <Matanovic> (*1930), in the Interzonal at Portoroz, Matanovic was the only player in the strong field of 21 contestants to beat meteoric Mikhail Tal, the eventual tournament winner, Challenger and Champion, and finished shared seventh, just half a point behind a possible qualification spot.

Jul-02-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: <diagonal> No, I didn't supply the photo. I don't know who did. It's a good one!
Jul-02-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <Fusilli: <Avun Jahei: the rook move thing doesn't make sense to me>

It's just light humor. Another thing I know he likes to say is "and here both players are worse."...>

This calls to mind the old chestnut from a strong player and writer when commenting on a position (believe it was Tarrasch): both sides stand badly.

Jul-02-20  diagonal: <Fusili> I meant the portrait in the <Chessgames Biography> box which could serve as role model for bios!
Jul-02-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: <diagonal> Oh, I see what you mean, but again the credit is not mine... I didn't realize his bio had been that much improved! Great job whoever did it.
Jul-02-20  diagonal: <Great job whoever did it.> Who is the writer of this comprehensive biography? I'm still curious... :)

On any account, many thanks to her / him for this little masterpiece!

Jul-02-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: Attribution for this bio belongs to the esteemed and much-missed User: twinlark, a credit to this site; and may he return.
Jul-02-20  diagonal: oh, it's <twinlark>, esteemed and much-missed, he has done a lot for this site over a long time,

with deep gratitude for your chessgames contributions, dear <twinlark>, may you return one day, and good luck for you!

Jul-02-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  moronovich: As with so many others,<twinlark> is dearly missed.
Mar-17-21  Ironmanth: Happy birthday, Grandmaster!
Mar-17-22  pazzed paun: Panno claimed to have a limited opening knowledge due to the unavailability of top level opening prep in 1950s Argentina
Mar-17-22  LoveThatJoker: Happy Birthday, GM Panno! He has a YouTube channel, btw: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCwk3...

LTJ

Aug-31-24  vonKrolock: In Club Atlético River Plate, 1947 or early 1948 : <" It happened the day that maestro Alfredo Esposito was showing and commenting on a game by the great Capablanca. In this case, it was Bogoljubov vs Capablanca, 1928 . Using a common didactic resource, Espósito, from time to time, interrupted the playback of the game and its explanations to ask “what do you think Capablanca played at this moment?” Deep silence in the auditorium of twelve or fifteen people, of all ages. Until the correct answer came from a twelve-year-old boy, with gelled hair and eyebrows in the shape of an inverted “v”. Given the reiteration of Panno's successes, and more specifically, at the moment he hit the difficult 17...Rhb8! Espósito asked the boy if he had seen that game ever before. “It's the first time I've seen it,” Oscar responded. “So, if you can find Capablanca's moves so easily, it seems to me that a great future awaits you in chess,” Espósito concluded." > * by Enrique Arguiñariz, in chessbase.com / slightly edited Google translation
Mar-18-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: Panno is 90 today!

Here's the Instagram post dedicated to him by the Club Argentino de Ajedrez:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHUR9A5...

Mar-18-25  vonKrolock: Congratulations, Gran Maestro, many happy returns !! My first favorite game, spotted in a variety mag's column is Panno vs R Cantero, 1957 ... I watched him performing in Sao Paulo (1979) , a gentleman of the chessboards...
Mar-18-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I can't tell Pomar from Panno. Also, I always mix up Chajes and Jaffé.

It's even worse with Bondarevsky and Boleslavsky.

Mar-18-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: < Fusilli: Panno is 90 today! Here's the Instagram post dedicated to him by the Club Argentino de Ajedrez:>

Nice picture! What does the plaque say? Is that the Capablanca-Alekhine set?

< offramp: I can't tell Pomar from Panno.... [snip]>

Panno I remember the crazy loss to Tal and the queen sacrifice game with Fischer but also some nice wins -- felt like he played very much like an engineer. And declining to accommodate Fischer's schedule at Palma.

Pomar was Alekhine's last student and was working as a postman? when he lost a long ending to Botvinnik in an olympiad, the author stressing the disparity in adjournment resources. I also remember a vignette of him losing to Tartakower when he was a boy and Tarktakower an old man with a soupstain on his sweater.

Chajes was the winner of the game that caused the poet, Alfred Kreymbourg?, to give up chess. AK screwed up a long combination by transposing moves. And didn't Chajes beat Capablanca? Jaffe I remember because Norman Lessing wrote him up...the Crown Prince of East Side Chess.

Bondarevsky was Spassky's trainer and "an Asiatic in his view of women" (I think Clarke wrote that?). Boleslavsky was a nice guy, legend with the Sicilian and the King's Indian, supposedly really terrible with the White pieces, dreadful score against Botvinnik, allegedly let Bronstein catch up with him at the 1950 Candidates, Bronstein later married his daughter.

It's the little things.

Mar-19-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: <keypusher: Nice picture! What does the plaque say? Is that the Capablanca-Alekhine set?>

Definitely not the Capablanca-Alekhine set. The sets in photos 1, 2, and 4 are either 1978 Olympiad sets or variations of it. (The set in photo 3 seems to be a simpler set, but I doubt it's too old.) That 1978 set, developed for the Buenos Aires Olympiad, was a big deal. The balance of weight between the bottom and top of the pieces is perfect, making the pieces very stable. The matte finish is more soothing to the eyes that glossy finishes. Most sets were distributed among Buenos Aires clubs after the Olympiad. I "grew up" playing with them.

Many players loved that set, including Korchnoi, who asked for it for the Korchnoi - Polugaevsky Candidates Semifinal (1980) in Buenos Aires. It became a collectors item over time. The company that produced it manufacture batches for sale later. I own one. I love it. It's almost exactly like the original, except for a small variation in the design of the knight mane, I think.

I can't make out what the plaque says, but I just asked on Instagram about it. If someone responds, I'll share.

Mar-19-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: Detailed post about the 1978 olympiad chess set here:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/ch...

Mar-24-25  Granny O Doul: <keypusher: .....Panno I remember the crazy loss to Tal and the queen sacrifice game with Fischer>

Fischer did win a nice game from Panno at Buenos Aires 1970, but no queen sacrifice. I'd guess you're confusing him either with Miagmarsuren (another KIA) or Letelier (another South American).

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