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Blitz Tournament, Herceg Novi 1970
April 13, 2020
There is a book published in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia in 1971 entitled:
Chess Meets of the Century
World-Soviet Union, Belgrade 1970
Blitz Tournament, Herceg Novi 1970
Fischer-Taymanov 6:0 Vancouver 1971
Fischer-Larsen 5:0 Denver 1971
By Robert Fischer and Dimitrije Bjelica
152 pages
I think it would be interesting to give the blitz tournament round by round. All of Fischer’s games are known and a smattering of the others.
Introduction - On April 8, 1970, Herceg Novi in Yugoslavia hosted a blitz tournament that might well be the best blitz tournament of all time. Twelve of the world's best players competed in a double round-robin. Bobby Fischer won with 19 out of 22.
24 of the world's best players had come to Belgrade to take part in the "Match of the Century" (USSR vs Rest of the World) in 1970. Some stayed in Yugoslavia after the match was over and accepted an invitation to a blitz tournament in Herceg Novi.
The first official FIDE Blitz World Championship of FIDE was not held until 2006. Before that there had been a strong blitz tournament with world championship character in 1988 in St. John which was won by Mikhail Tal. But due to the strength of the field the blitz tournament in Herceg Novi in 1970 also went down in history as a kind of unofficial early Blitz World Championship.
Each player had five minutes for the whole game, the usual time-limit for blitz before the introduction of electronic clocks.
In the absence of World Champion Boris Spassky, many experts considered Tigran Petrosian, Spassky's predecessor as favourite. Tal and Viktor Korchnoi also enjoyed a reputation as powerful blitz-players. Bobby Fischer, at that time the number one in the world, was not known as a particularly strong blitz player – until then.
But Fischer won the tournament in impressive fashion. He scored 19/22, distancing runner-up Tal by 4.5 points. Fischer lost only one game, against Korchnoi, and quickly established a big time advantage in all of his games. According to contemporary reports, Fischer never used more than 2.5 minutes of his time in any game and outclassed the five Soviet grandmasters with 8.5-1.5. Fischer defeated Smyslov, Tal and Petrosian 2-0 each. For this dominating performance Fischer 400 USD as prize-money.
Hundreds of spectators had followed the tournament. In a room next door a football match between Yugoslavia and Austria was shown on television but attracted only ten spectators.
Today a large number of blitz games are automatically recorded, usually by DGT-boards or online. However, in 1970 blitz games usually did not survive. But some of the games in Herceg-Novi were recorded and Fischer even made handwritten notes of his games after the tournament, sometimes adding annotations.
Probably Fischer wrote down the games from memory after the tournament and annotated some of them afterwards. Later Fischer and the Yugoslavian journalist Bjelica published a book about the tournament that contains 60 selected games.
André Schulz
https://en.chessbase.com/post/the-bl...fischer-papers
Round One
The day was April 8th 1970. Time : 4:00 P. M. Place : Hotel "Plaza" in Herceg Novi, on the Sea Coast. Eleven Grandmasters and one international master began the strongest Rapid tournament ever played. In the first round, there was played the derby - match Tai - Fischer.
As Tal says he always loses the first game, but Fischer was lucky from the very beginning. Fischer was the only player who won both games. He was leading till the end of the Tournament.
Herceg Novi Blitz
Herceg Novi, Montenegro
Game 1, April 8, 1970
Tal, Mikhail – Fischer Robert J.
B50 Sicilian Defence, Scheveningen/Najdorf/dragon
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Bc4 Be7 5.d3 Nf6 6.O-O Nc6 7.Ne1 O-O 8.f4 a6 9.a4 exf4 10.Bxf4 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Bg3 Qb6 13.Qd2 Ng4 14.Nf3 Nd4 15.Rab1 Nxf3+ 16.gxf3 Ne5 17.Kg2 Ng6 18.Ne2 Nh4+ 19.Bxh4 Bxh4 20.b4 Qc7 21.bxc5 dxc5 22.a5 Rf6 23.f4 Raf8 24.Rb6 Bg5 25.e5 Rf5 26.Rxe6 Qf7 27.Rd6 Bxf4 28.Rxf4 Rxf4 29.Nxf4 Qxf4 30.Qxf4 Rxf4 31.Rd7 Ra4 32.e6 Kf8 33.Rf7+ Ke8 34.Rxg7 Rxa5 35.Rxb7 Ra2 36.Kf3 Rxc2 37.Rxh7 c4 38.d4 c3 39.d5 Rd2 40.Ke4 c2 41.Rc7 Kd8 42.Rc4 a5 43.h4 a4 44.Ke5 a3 45.d6 Re2+ 46.Kf5 Rf2+ 47.Kg4 a2 48.d7 Ke7 49.Rc8 Rd2 50.Re8+ Kf6 51.e7 Rxd7 0-1
Position after Black’s 44….a3
- Why didn't Tal simply play 50. d8-Q+? Seems like it would be an easy win. Then again, I must be overlooking something.
- 50 ..... Rxd8 is one of only two legal moves, but is quite sufficient.
- 45. Kd6 is soo won. I mean I don't even need an engine to say that Tal made a huge mistake with d6.
Round 1, Game 2,
April 8, 1970
Fischer, Robert J. – Tal, Mikhail
A00 Symmetrical Opening, Hungarian Opening
1.g3 g6 2.Bg2 Bg7 3.Nf3 c5 4.c3 Nf6 5.O-O O-O 6.d4 d6 7.dxc5 dxc5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Be3 Na6 10.Na3 Nd5 11.Rfd1 Bg4 12.Bd2 h6 13.h3 Be6 14.Nb5 Ndc7 15.a4 Bb3 16.Rdc1 Nxb5 17.axb5 Nc7 18.Be3 Nxb5 19.Bxc5 b6 20.Bxe7 Re8 21.Ba3 Rad8 22.e3 a5 23.Nd4 Nxa3 24.Rxa3 Bc4 25.Bf1 Bd5 26.Bg2 Bc4 27.Ra4 Bd3 28.b4 axb4 29.Rxb4 Rd6 30.Rd1 Bc2 31.Rd2 Bf5 32.Rdb2 Rc8 33.Rxb6 Rxb6 34.Rxb6 Rxc3 35.Nxf5 gxf5 36.Bd5 Rc7 37.Rb5 Re7 38.Bc4 Re5 39.Rb7 Kh7 40.Rxf7 Kg6 41.Rc7 Bf8 42.Rc6+ Kg7 43.Bd3 Be7 44.Bc2 Ra5 45.Kg2 1-0
Final Position
You can read Fischer’s comments on several of the games at:
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...on?cid=1006241
First Round Results
Ostojic-Reshevsky 1-1
Uhlmann-Bronstein 0.5-l.5
Korchnoi-Petrosyan 0.5-l.5
Matulovic-Hort 1-1
Tal-Fischer 0-2
Ivkov-Smyslov 1-1
Fischer 2, Bronstein and Petrosyan 1.5 etc.
April 13, 2020
There is a book published in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia in 1971 entitled:
Chess Meets of the Century
World-Soviet Union, Belgrade 1970
Blitz Tournament, Herceg Novi 1970
Fischer-Taymanov 6:0 Vancouver 1971
Fischer-Larsen 5:0 Denver 1971
By Robert Fischer and Dimitrije Bjelica
152 pages
I think it would be interesting to give the blitz tournament round by round. All of Fischer’s games are known and a smattering of the others.
Introduction - On April 8, 1970, Herceg Novi in Yugoslavia hosted a blitz tournament that might well be the best blitz tournament of all time. Twelve of the world's best players competed in a double round-robin. Bobby Fischer won with 19 out of 22.
24 of the world's best players had come to Belgrade to take part in the "Match of the Century" (USSR vs Rest of the World) in 1970. Some stayed in Yugoslavia after the match was over and accepted an invitation to a blitz tournament in Herceg Novi.
The first official FIDE Blitz World Championship of FIDE was not held until 2006. Before that there had been a strong blitz tournament with world championship character in 1988 in St. John which was won by Mikhail Tal. But due to the strength of the field the blitz tournament in Herceg Novi in 1970 also went down in history as a kind of unofficial early Blitz World Championship.
Each player had five minutes for the whole game, the usual time-limit for blitz before the introduction of electronic clocks.
In the absence of World Champion Boris Spassky, many experts considered Tigran Petrosian, Spassky's predecessor as favourite. Tal and Viktor Korchnoi also enjoyed a reputation as powerful blitz-players. Bobby Fischer, at that time the number one in the world, was not known as a particularly strong blitz player – until then.
But Fischer won the tournament in impressive fashion. He scored 19/22, distancing runner-up Tal by 4.5 points. Fischer lost only one game, against Korchnoi, and quickly established a big time advantage in all of his games. According to contemporary reports, Fischer never used more than 2.5 minutes of his time in any game and outclassed the five Soviet grandmasters with 8.5-1.5. Fischer defeated Smyslov, Tal and Petrosian 2-0 each. For this dominating performance Fischer 400 USD as prize-money.
Hundreds of spectators had followed the tournament. In a room next door a football match between Yugoslavia and Austria was shown on television but attracted only ten spectators.
Today a large number of blitz games are automatically recorded, usually by DGT-boards or online. However, in 1970 blitz games usually did not survive. But some of the games in Herceg-Novi were recorded and Fischer even made handwritten notes of his games after the tournament, sometimes adding annotations.
Probably Fischer wrote down the games from memory after the tournament and annotated some of them afterwards. Later Fischer and the Yugoslavian journalist Bjelica published a book about the tournament that contains 60 selected games.
André Schulz
https://en.chessbase.com/post/the-bl...fischer-papers
Round One
The day was April 8th 1970. Time : 4:00 P. M. Place : Hotel "Plaza" in Herceg Novi, on the Sea Coast. Eleven Grandmasters and one international master began the strongest Rapid tournament ever played. In the first round, there was played the derby - match Tai - Fischer.
As Tal says he always loses the first game, but Fischer was lucky from the very beginning. Fischer was the only player who won both games. He was leading till the end of the Tournament.
Herceg Novi Blitz
Herceg Novi, Montenegro
Game 1, April 8, 1970
Tal, Mikhail – Fischer Robert J.
B50 Sicilian Defence, Scheveningen/Najdorf/dragon
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Bc4 Be7 5.d3 Nf6 6.O-O Nc6 7.Ne1 O-O 8.f4 a6 9.a4 exf4 10.Bxf4 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Bg3 Qb6 13.Qd2 Ng4 14.Nf3 Nd4 15.Rab1 Nxf3+ 16.gxf3 Ne5 17.Kg2 Ng6 18.Ne2 Nh4+ 19.Bxh4 Bxh4 20.b4 Qc7 21.bxc5 dxc5 22.a5 Rf6 23.f4 Raf8 24.Rb6 Bg5 25.e5 Rf5 26.Rxe6 Qf7 27.Rd6 Bxf4 28.Rxf4 Rxf4 29.Nxf4 Qxf4 30.Qxf4 Rxf4 31.Rd7 Ra4 32.e6 Kf8 33.Rf7+ Ke8 34.Rxg7 Rxa5 35.Rxb7 Ra2 36.Kf3 Rxc2 37.Rxh7 c4 38.d4 c3 39.d5 Rd2 40.Ke4 c2 41.Rc7 Kd8 42.Rc4 a5 43.h4 a4 44.Ke5 a3 45.d6 Re2+ 46.Kf5 Rf2+ 47.Kg4 a2 48.d7 Ke7 49.Rc8 Rd2 50.Re8+ Kf6 51.e7 Rxd7 0-1
Position after Black’s 44….a3
- Why didn't Tal simply play 50. d8-Q+? Seems like it would be an easy win. Then again, I must be overlooking something.
- 50 ..... Rxd8 is one of only two legal moves, but is quite sufficient.
- 45. Kd6 is soo won. I mean I don't even need an engine to say that Tal made a huge mistake with d6.
Round 1, Game 2,
April 8, 1970
Fischer, Robert J. – Tal, Mikhail
A00 Symmetrical Opening, Hungarian Opening
1.g3 g6 2.Bg2 Bg7 3.Nf3 c5 4.c3 Nf6 5.O-O O-O 6.d4 d6 7.dxc5 dxc5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Be3 Na6 10.Na3 Nd5 11.Rfd1 Bg4 12.Bd2 h6 13.h3 Be6 14.Nb5 Ndc7 15.a4 Bb3 16.Rdc1 Nxb5 17.axb5 Nc7 18.Be3 Nxb5 19.Bxc5 b6 20.Bxe7 Re8 21.Ba3 Rad8 22.e3 a5 23.Nd4 Nxa3 24.Rxa3 Bc4 25.Bf1 Bd5 26.Bg2 Bc4 27.Ra4 Bd3 28.b4 axb4 29.Rxb4 Rd6 30.Rd1 Bc2 31.Rd2 Bf5 32.Rdb2 Rc8 33.Rxb6 Rxb6 34.Rxb6 Rxc3 35.Nxf5 gxf5 36.Bd5 Rc7 37.Rb5 Re7 38.Bc4 Re5 39.Rb7 Kh7 40.Rxf7 Kg6 41.Rc7 Bf8 42.Rc6+ Kg7 43.Bd3 Be7 44.Bc2 Ra5 45.Kg2 1-0
Final Position
You can read Fischer’s comments on several of the games at:
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...on?cid=1006241
First Round Results
Ostojic-Reshevsky 1-1
Uhlmann-Bronstein 0.5-l.5
Korchnoi-Petrosyan 0.5-l.5
Matulovic-Hort 1-1
Tal-Fischer 0-2
Ivkov-Smyslov 1-1
Fischer 2, Bronstein and Petrosyan 1.5 etc.
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