1962 Candidates Tournament

Curacao

by Vik Vasiliev

Up to the time of the Candidates tournament, which took place in May-June 1962, the isle of Curacao had taken no part in chess history. The only connection it had had with the struggle for the world championship lay in that its shores, and the shores of Cuba were washed by the same Caribbean sea. And Cuba, as is well known, was in its time the field of great chess battles - in Havana Steinitz and Chigorin played, as did Lasker and Capablanca.

Grandmaster Yuri Averbakh, who was present in the capacity of leader of the Soviet chess delegation, described Curacao thus:

'Curacao is a piece of earth, sixty kilomtres in length, and width varying from four to twelve kilometers, in appearance remarkably akin to the sole of a boot. Even on large maps, Curacao appears as a tiny spot in the Caribbean sea to the north of the South American land mass, roughly 75 kilometres from the shores of Venezuela. The northern part of the island is very smooth and level, the south very uneven. From an aerial viewpoint (and we flew in by plane) it is clearly visible that one of the deepest indentations into the body of the island, widening appreciably, forms a large inland reservoir. On its banks is an agglomerateion of red tiled roofs, tens of smoking chimneys, and hundreds of oil tanks... the reservoir, fourth largest in the world, forms a natural harbour. Around the harbour is spread the capital of the island, the city of Willemstad, where the tournament took place.'

The participants lived in a comfortable hotel, with every convenience, close to a pool with running sea water, but all the same the length of the tournament, and the unusual climate presented them with complex problems.

'The tournament was extremely difficult,' said Petrosian afterwards in conversations with correspondents. 'I cannot remember any such complicated tournament previously. Much of the guilt lay with the climate. When the thermometer registered 28-29 degrees [Centigrade], the day was considered cool.'

Petrosian played for first place. Accordingly he had to draw up a general plan of battle, where everything, literally everything, was accounted for. Perhaps he should attend to the advice of Fischer, who declared after the Stockholm tournament that if Petrosian played a little more courageously, he would be the strongest player in the world. Petrosian only smiled when he read these words. Well, he had played rather courageously in the Soviet championships more than once, and the results had not been bad, but was courage really the first requirement in this tournament?

Tigran had grave doubts about this. He knew that a marathon tournament in a tropical climate required stamina more than bravery, physical and psychological restraint, the ability to distribute energies in such a way that on the final straight one was still running, however slowly, and not crawling. He resolved to conduct the tournament in the manner of a skater, according to a strict graph, trying not to lag behind the leaders too much, but avoiding any sudden, exhausting spurts.

Such a strategy could not succeed in a Soviet championship, nor would have brought first place in the Interzonal tournament at Stockholm; but here in Curacao it had every chance of success. True, there was one indispensable condition - that none of the players set such a burning pace, as had Tal and Keres in the previous Candidates. [In the 1959 Candidates Tournament Tal scored 20 out of 28, Keres scored 18½.]

Who might theoretically be capable of doing this? Tal and Keres, and besides them, Korchnoi, Geller and Fischer - Benko and Filip did not enter into it. But shortly before the tournament Tal had undergone a serious operation, and was completely unprepared for an extended struggle, which, by the way, he demonstrated in his very first game. Keres was already 46 years old - for all his fitness, he could not hope to repeat his Yugoslav result on the shores of the Caribbean sea. Geller too was already 37, four years older than Petrosian himself, and could hardly wish to play a sharp tournament variation.

There remained only two - Fischer and Korchnoi. The first would undoubtedly throw himself at the rest; he was extremely ambitious, and after his performance in Stockholm, where he gained first place, 2½ points clear of his nearest rivals, he did not regard himself as anything other than candidate number one. But Fischer was not only ambitious, but excessively self-confident, and besides that he was also very young - 19 years old.

That left Korchnoi. This 'cavalier without fear or reproach' was capable of anything. He would no doubt take up an uncompromising position, but Petrosian was sure that Korchnoi's usually proud motto, 'All or nothing!' would prove suicidal in Curacao.

In Round One Petrosian played White against Tal. All their previous meetings had ended in draws, except once in the 24th [Soviet] Championship, where Tal had won. This time there was something nervous, a sort of feverish impatience about Tal's play. Barely having completed piece development, he tried to start tactical operations. Petrosian rebuffed the attempt without particular effort, and, offering a pawn, firmly grasped the initiative. The game was adjourned in a difficult, but hardly hopeless endgame for black. However, during the resumption Tal committed a positional error, after which the game could not be saved.

This game already gave indication that the ex-World Champion was not on his best form.

[Round 2] The next partner was another 'gamecock' - Korchnoi. This game was unusually complex and difficult for both sides. Petrosian worked out a deep plan whose main aim was not to cede the centre to White, but he made an inaccurate move, and was forced to go into an inferior variation. Afterwards Korchnoi erred, then the players exchanged mistakes, and finally a position arose where Petrosian had an extra pawn, but with both sides short of time. So when Korchnoi proposed a draw, Petrosian accepted without much deliberation.

This was a typically Petrosianic decision. In the first place, it still seemed to him a long way to victory, especially since he would have to overcome the resistance of a player such as Korchnoi. In the second place, it did not fit into his plans to take the lead too early. As a last resort he was prepared to share the lead with another player, but not to 'call the fire upon himself'. Having this attitude, Petrosian found it relatively easy to overcome feelings of disappointment, when Geller came to the board and showed a pawn move which would have presented Korchnoi with barely soluble problems.

'Why get upset?' Petrosian silently advised himself, 'I saw that move, but did not realize its real strength. That means that I wouldn't have been able to win anyway.' And in fact, he didn't grieve very much.

Petrosian was concerned to avoid ever-excitement at the beginning of the tournament, and accordingly did not fight particularly hard in the [5] remaining games [of the first cycle]. He made an exception with Benko [in Round 5], who was generally considered the 'rabbit' of the tournament. All the same, great experience, practical shrewdness and outstanding endurance made the Hungarian player a sufficiently dangerous opponent. Petrosian was one of the first to feel this; in his game with Benko he tried to extract more from the position than was there, and in the end secured the draw with great difficulty.


                1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
  1. Korchnoi   x ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1  5 -2
  2. Keres      ½ x ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1  4 -3
  3. Geller     ½ ½ x ½ ½ 1 ½ ½  4 -3
  4. Petrosian  ½ ½ ½ x ½ ½ ½ 1  4 -3
  5. Benko      ½ 0 ½ ½ x 1 0 1  3½-3½
  6. Fischer    0 1 0 ½ 0 x 1 ½  3 -4
  7. Filip      0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 x 0  2½-4½
  8. Tal        0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 x  2 -5

The players had completed one cycle [7 rounds]. First with five points was Korchnoi. He had drawn his first four games, then beaten Fischer with Black in the fifth. In the sixth he overcame Filip in a game lasting over 100 moves, and in the seventh, Tal. In fact he was employing the tactics of the famous Kuts - dash to the front, and let them follow who were able. However, not only Petrosian, but also Keres and Geller were disinclined to follow. All three kept comfortably in the background on four points.

Korchnoi must burn himself out. No man could continue to expend such colossal amounts of physical and nervous energy in every game.

Fifth, to everyone's surprise, was Benko [at 3½-3½]. He had not only been able to take advantage of Tal's temporary fall from form, but had even managed to deal a blow to Fischer! Next with three points came Fischer, then Filip [with 2½], and finally Tal [with 2].

The results of the first cycle were fully satisfactory to Petrosian. If matters could only continue like this to the last phase of the tournament, then his nerves, which until now had never let him down, his patience, restraint - all that went to make up the character of the 'iron Tigran' - would make themselves felt. Only recently, during the Stockholm tournament, Gligoric had called Tigran a 'man without nerves'.

[Round 8] In his second game with Tal, Petrosian carried out a delicate psychological experiment. It was clear to him that after a catastrophic start [a 2-5 score] Tal would throw himself at him. Therefore he chose a rarely met variation of the French Defense out of which White obtained a free position, but nevertheless had to tread carefully. On the eighth move Tal thought for over an hour, and began to sharpen the play, ignoring the resultant worsening of his position. Petrosian reacted swiftly and himself sacrificed a pawn. The game did not continue long: on the twentieth move, Tal capitulated. After this meeting, Petrosian finally understood that all was not well with Tal, and mentally erased him from his list of chief opponents.

In Round Thirteen the French Defence brought Petrosian yet another victory - in his game with Fischer. For this meeting he had long ago prepared an old and (for the present day) very rare continuation - the so-called McCutcheon variation. Tigran had travelled to Stockholm with this variation, but there had been no sense unleashing his secret move there, so he stored it for a more serious moment. Petrosian was not only relying on the variation itself, but on its psychological effect, for he knew that Fischer did not orientate very well in unknown situations.

When Fischer saw that Petrosian had chosen an unexpected, but difficult for himself opening, he even glanced reproachfully at his opponent. Petrosian returned this glance, and mentally congratulated himself on his success - the 'secret weapon' was doing its work, even if Fischer should find the strongest answer. But the question of the refutation of the defence did not arise; Fischer went in for a peculiar bishop manoeuvre (a suggestion of Soviet origin) and Petrosian was soon in command of the game, which he carried to victory in the second session.

In the last round of the cycle [Round 14] Petrosian managed to beat Filip as well. After this he had nine points, and was sharing the lead with Geller, who had also defeated Filip, Fischer and Tal in the second cycle. As for Korchnoi, he had been unable to maintain his sprint and the abyss of disaster yawned before him. In Round Twelve he had the better position and an extra pawn against Fischer. The win it seemed, was only a matter of time; but Fischer defended dourly and the effects of excess tension began to reveal themselves: Korchnoi put a bishop en prise and suffered a horrible defeat. Next day, it is true, he beat Filip, but then he lost to all three of his main rivals, one after another.



                 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8
  1. Geller     xx ½½ ½½ ½½ 11 ½½ ½1 ½1  9 -5
  2. Petrosian  ½½ xx ½½ ½½ ½1 ½½ 11 ½1  9 -5
  3. Keres      ½½ ½½ xx ½½ 0½ 11 1½ ½1  8½-5½
  4. Korchnoi   ½½ ½½ ½½ xx 10 ½½ 10 11  8 -6
  5. Fischer    00 ½0 1½ 01 xx 01 ½1 1½  7½-6½
  6. Benko      ½½ ½½ 00 ½½ 10 xx 10 01  6 -8
  7. Tal        ½0 00 0½ 01 ½0 01 xx 10  4½-9½
  8. Filip      ½0 ½0 ½0 00 0½ 10 01 xx  4 -10

The tournament had reached the half-way stage, and everything was still going well. Petrosian had won 4 games and drawn the remaining ten, was not particularly tired, nor had his nervous resources been strained up to now. He also took great pleasure in the visit of the Soviet football team, which dropped in at Curacao on its way to Chile. Tigran not only mingled happily with the famous footballers, but also asked for details of the Moscow 'Spartak' team's performance in the championship. There is a large photograph in one of the tournament bulletins - Petrosian, waving his arms, is enthusiastically demonstrating something to Andre Starostin and Igor Netto. We can be sure that the conversation at that moment was not about his games with Tal and Fischer!

For the time being too Geller was playing excellently; in an interview given after the tournament, Petrosian stated that Geller had played 'with great verve and self-control'. But the tension of the finish still lay before him, which, as had happened often before with Geller, might well prove ruinous.

Keres, the third of the grandmasters who had followed a course connected with the retention of energies, was also going well. He was now half a point behind the two leaders. However, he could not continue these tactics and still hope for success. By reason of his age, he could not place too much faith in his finishing ability. So it might be expected that in the third cycle, Keres would try to break away from the field, in order to leave himself with a reserve of points at the end.

Following a five-day breathing space, which the participants spent on the tiny island of Sint Maarten, Keres returned in truly incisive form; out of seven games, he allowed only two draws - with Geller and Petrosian, the remainder he won. This was a phenomenal achievement, and Petrosian would have had every reason for unease, were it not for the game Keres-Benko. Here Benko obtained a winning position, but falling into his usual time trouble, overlooked a simple continuation.

Perhaps weariness had already begun to set in, but looking at Keres one could never tell. He was always calm, unruffled, impenetrable, nor did he ever betray with the slightest gesture his true condition.

Geller, on the other hand, was beginning to show more obvious signs of tiredness., He, for example, incorrectly evaluated his position against Keres, and agreed a draw in a clearly superior position. As well as that, he should definitely have lost his third game with Tal, and only thanks to his partner's time-trouble chalked up a win instead of a loss.

Both his main rivals were tired, but there was no doubt that Petrosian was tired too. When Gligoric had called him a man without nerves, he did not at the time consider this a great exaggeration. He had always felt that self-control was his strongest characteristic. But after 20 rounds, he realized that his spiritual and physical reserves were almost exhausted. For the first time in his life, Petrosian experienced such a condition, whereby every renewal of strength is achieved with enormous difficulty. He was depressed, close to despair, and the only factor which enabled him to take himself in hand, was the knowledge that Keres and Geller must be in a worse state.

For such a conclusion he had not only subjective, but also objective criteria. After the tournament was over, some curious figures came to light; it turned out that in 27 games (Tal did not take part in the last cycle due to illness, and the other players accordingly played one game less) Petrosian had made 839 moves, Keres 924 and Geller 945. Petrosian had expended little more than 48 hours over his games, Keres and Geller 59 hours each, Korchnoi 72 hours, and Benko 78!



                 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8 
  1. Keres      xxx ½½½ ½½½ 0½1 ½½1 111 1½1 ½11  14½- 6½
  2. Geller     ½½½ xxx ½½½ 11½ ½½1 ½½½ ½11 ½11  14 - 7
  3. Petrosian  ½½½ ½½½ xxx ½1½ ½½1 ½½1 11½ ½11  14 - 7
  4. Fischer    1½0 00½ ½0½ xxx 010 01½ ½1½ 1½1  10 -11
  5. Korchnoi   ½½0 ½½0 ½½0 101 xxx ½½½ 10½ 111  11 -10
  6. Benko      000 ½½½ ½½0 10½ ½½½ xxx 10½ 011   9 -12
  7. Tal        0½0 ½00 00½ ½0½ 01½ 01½ xxx 10½   7 -14
  8. Filip      ½00 ½00 ½00 0½0 000 100 01½ xxx   4½-16½

The fourth and final cycle got under way. In one way or another, this phase must prove decisive - the tension at the end of a two-month long tournament was by now unbearable. In the third cycle, Keres had made a break, but he was still unable to shake off his pursuers completely - they had themselves managed to accumulate five points. Petrosian had beaten Korchnoi, Benko and Filip; Geller, Filip, Tal and Korchnoi. After 21 rounds, the scores were: Keres 14½, Petrosian and Geller 14. Next was Korchnoi with 11.

Now, as never before, Petrosian was convinced as to the correctness of his pre-tournament planning. Returning to Moscow, he was surprised to find that others were of a completely different opinion. V. Panov, for example, wrote at the end of two cycles that the winner would be the one who 'went forth courageously into battle!'. A. Kotov, in an article entitled 'On the finishing straight' wrote that the final meetings between the leaders would have 'decisive importance in the determining of the highest positions'. He then added 'What does T. Petrosian lack, in order to play a match with M. Botvinnik? Courage, above all courage! To receive chances of a match with the World Champion is not at all easy, but now Tigran's chances are excellent. Petrosian must forget about his caution, and play with all his strength, mobilise all his resources. Forward, only forward!...'

An accurate assessment of such prognoses was later given by Y. Averbakh: 'It had become clear that the winner of the tournament could only be one of the first three. But who? Quite a few observers, never having played in similar tournaments, and situated quite a distance from Curacao, asserted that the eventual winner would be the player who in the last cycle overcame his rivals. But it would have been sufficient to glance at the candidates to refute such a suggestion: every victory at the close of the two-month marathon demanded such iron nerves, such strength, of which in the given real situation perhaps only abstract "supermen" were possessed. It was far more likely to suppose that he would retain best chances who preserved the greatest strength, will, and nerves; who played most solidly and with the highest coefficient of reliability.

The fourth cycle began without Tal; he had fallen ill and dropped out of the tournament. The finishing straight shortened by one eighth, which slightly improved Keres' chances. In the 22nd Round Petrosian was free, since he was scheduled to play Tal, so he had the opportunity of observing the play of his main rivals. He did not doubt that his thesis was correct: the winner of the tournament would be, not the one who made a courageous spurt - that variation was definitely excluded - but the player who could make it to the finishing post without suffering a catastrophe. In these circumstances, the main roles were assumed, not by the leaders, but by the remaining participants who, by now having nothing to lose, constituted a deadly danger.

Keres on that day played a draw with Filip, and Geller drew with Korchnoi. Geller played the whole game very actively, sacrificing two pawns. Korchnoi beat off the attack, and Geller had to go into the ending two pawns down, which he nonetheless managed to draw.

If this game already intimated that Geller would find it hard to overcome his nerves, the next round proved it beyond all question.

[Round 23] On that day Geller played against Fischer. Fully realizing, that the latter was addicted to playing one and the same opening, Geller caught him in a variation of the Sicilian worked out by Boleslavsky. Sacrificing a pawn, Geller obtained an excellent attacking position, and wrote down a move on his score-sheet which would have rendered Fischer defenceless. However, thinking about his move, he suddenly changed his mind and played something else. This was a tragic error, and now Geller was losing control of himself, and making more weak moves. Fischer retained his extra pawn and confidently carried the game to victory.

This was the destruction of all Geller's hopes. A destruction which Petrosian had foreseen, and which could in no way have been accidental. Disastrous reversals of form had accompanied Geller in many tournaments, and here it had come again, a definite psychological instability, which revealed itself in the most dramatic moments of the struggle. Twenty-two rounds without defeat, and now this failure practically reduced to nought his previous efforts.

Geller's position was worsened in that Petrosian won against Korchnoi on the same day, and with an elegant bishop sacrifice. Korchnoi had played the opening rather riskily, and then went into a line which gave Petrosian the opportunity of sacrificing a bishop for a dangerous attack. Korchnoi had relied on Petrosian playing 'safety first', and did not seriously consider the latter would undertake any so risky an operation at this stage of the tournament. But Tigran's tactical abilities were capable of allowing him to calculate all the consequences of the sacrifice, and he calmly delivered the knock-out blow. Six moves later Korchnoi resigned.

'It appears that the game of chess does not age,' wrote Taimanov in his notes to the game 'if despite the high level of present-day technique you can still come across a bishop sacrifice on KB7, even between candidates for the world championship!...'

The twenty-third round sharply altered the situation. Petrosian caught Keres up - they were now both on 15 points (from a chronological point of view Keres only reached 15 points after he won his adjourned game against Fischer from the third round [3rd cycle, 21st round], but in any event, Keres and Petrosian had identical scores four rounds before the end), and Geller was factually out of the race for first place - he could not catch two at once. The triumvirate had broken up - the challengers were now two!

The next round saw all the games drawn, and then Keres and Petrosian met. Petrosian was out for a draw, but nevertheless he chose an active defence, the Sicilian, against Keres' 1. P-K4. The game followed a previous one of Keres' down to move twelve, and on move 14, Petrosian proposed a draw; Keres asked first to see Black's next move, considering that in the event of almost any move except one he would have the advantage. Petrosian thought for some time and then played the one move, and Keres quickly agreed: in the interim, both players had realized that the one move led to Black's advantage...

The games of the next round were again draws. As White against Benko, Petrosian obtained a minimal advantage from the opening, and quickly affixed the draw. Keres was even more cautious against Geller. On this day Keres, for all his mask of urbanity, seemed more strained than before, not so much by this game perhaps, but by the prospect of playing Benko on the following day. On the face of it there was no cause for alarm; up to now in Candidates' tournaments Keres had a fantastic score against Benko -- 7-0! Yet for this very reason, if the gods of war were out to create a 'Greek tragedy' for Keres, they could hardly have chosen a better time. What was more, Benko had worked out a nasty opening system (nasty especially for a player of Keres' style) for this tournament, and in the second cycle had held the advantage, in the third had had equality in his game against Keres. Whatever the reason, Keres sat down to play against the 'lunatic' of the tournament in a state approaching mental paralysis.

[Round 27] In the penultimate round Petrosian was Black against Fischer. As Black in a Sicilian Defence, he stood slightly worse, but not so bad that he was unable to follow the events of the Benko-Keres game. Keres was deprived of this possibility, his game was so bad that he was unable to tear his gaze from the board.

At one point Petrosian proposed a draw, but Fischer proudly declined it. Then the position evened out, and soon the initiative passed into the hands of Petrosian, but he was so taken up with following Keres' game that he did not pay much attention to this, and agreed a draw.

[Benko-Keres] Benko meanwhile, having obtained a large positional advantage, as usual got short of time and lost a part of it, but still managed to adjourn in the better position. During the resumption Keres might still have complicated his opponent's task, but he was so demoralized by the turn of events that, after a few moves, he committed an irreparable blunder...

For Keres this meant probably the end of the struggle. He understood that in such conditions, he could hardly beat Fischer in the last round.

And so, with one round to go, Tigran was in the lead by half-a-point! He was loath to believe his good fortune, but it was so: Petrosian, who in his youth was prepared to worship before Keres, was now close to victory in a difficult competition with his previous idol. In a tournament where the prize was a match with Botvinnik... Only one step separated Tigran from triumph. However, that step still had to be made.

[Round 28] In the final round, Tigran had to play his most accommodating opponent - peace-loving Filip. Added to that, Petrosian was White, so a draw, almost guaranteed, would give him at the worst a share of first place. But why not try to win? Surely if Keres managed to beat Fischer, then Petrosian would have to play a hard match against the 'eternal challenger'.

Petrosian weighed this up carefully, and decided to act according to circumstances, bearing in mind only one thing - that to take risks would be to place in danger all that he had worked for years to achieve. Especially, to alter his tournament strategy at this late stage would be a very dangerous thing.

Although Filip, realizing how much depended on this game, played extremely accurately, Petrosian's position after 14 moves was clearly the more promising. Keres' game looked even better: he had seized the initiative and had very real chances of victory. It appeared that just such a situation had arisen, where Petrosian had to play for a win. But then something occurred which completely stunned the assembled audience: thinking on his move for forty minutes, Petrosian suddenly offered a draw. Filip at first gazed at Petrosian in surprise, then shrugged his shoulders and with obvious pleasure accepted it; it was for him the ideal solution of the problem.

Many, no doubt, condemned Petrosian for this apparently weak-hearted step. I overheard one such remark to this effect: 'Okay, if Keres can't beat Fischer, then everyone will start to praise Petrosian's far-sightedness. But if Fischer loses, then they will say Petrosian showed timidity.'

This assessment outwardly appears very logical, but it slides over the surface of things. We already know that Petrosian, when necessary, could show daring - he had proved this more than once before Curacao. And therefore, that if he had come to the conclusion that he had to beat Filip, he would immediately have begun active operations. But Petrosian had reached the opposite conclusion, and his decision had not been instinctive, but based on the consideration of many circumstances.

The position in his game with Filip was such that Petrosian would have been forced to develop active play on the king's side, whilst his opponent would have advanced on the queen's flank. And play on opposite flanks, as is well known, carries with it a certain amount of risk, which Petrosian was trying to avoid. It would be another matter if Filip were to refuse the draw, then Petrosian's psychological situation would have been alleviated; it was as if Tigran were telling Filip: 'Decline the offer, and you will force me to fight!'

But there was little likelihood of Filip refusing, so had not Petrosian lightened Keres' task by offering the draw?

In actual fact he had not eased Keres' task, rather, complicated it. For no sooner did Keres realize that he had very real chances of catching Petrosian, than he began to agitate inwardly, and if the psychological pressure of the previous round had been difficult to overcome, now it became unbearable.

'An irony of fate!' wrote Averbakh later on, 'The oldest competitor in the tournament, 46-year old Keres must in the very last round score a victory over the youngest player - 19-year-old Fischer.'

In his calculations Petrosian had foreseen this 'irony'. And in reality, Keres, having achieved an excellent position, did not withstand the tension, and fearing to dissipate his advantage, began to play more cautiously. Fischer, with rather less on his mind, reasserted himself and the game ended in a draw.

There was yet another, extremely vital detail, which influenced Petrosian's decision. Suggesting the draw to Filip, Petrosian was aware that in the final games of the Candidates tournaments, Keres frequently behaved uncertainly. In 1950, in the first Candidates tournament, he had lost to Bronstein, in 1953 had had a difficult position against Najdorf, in 1956, had only by a miracle saved himself against Petrosian, and in 1959 suffered a reverse in his game with Olafsson.

And all the same - what if Petrosian's remarkably common-sensical decision had met with disaster, and Keres, against all the odds, had won the game, what then? It was precisely this question that I gave to Petrosian, and he answered:

'That would have meant only that Keres had not played worse than me in this tournament, and that it would only have been just that a match should take place between us.'

The honesty of this remark does not occasion the slightest doubt. In this we hear the voice of the young Petrosian, who believe in the unshakeability of the laws of chess, and of the Petrosian who was later to say, 'I believe only in logic in chess...' In the last round of the Candidates tournament, Petrosian, as always, played according to position, and considered just and reasonable any result to which his decision might lead.

Fortunately for Petrosian, the result was the most propitious. Finishing his game with Filip, he, trying to stay calm, went out for a walk. From time to time he came back and glanced into the hall. The first time he saw that Keres' position was marvellous, the second time - that the game was almost equal. When he returned a third time, he saw Keres, irreproachably restrained, elegant, smiling as much as was natural, as much as was humanly possible, Keres, coming toward him with outstretched hand: the chess cavalier without fear or failing was hurrying to be the first to congratulate his rival on victory in the tournament....




FINAL STANDINGS:

                  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    Score    W   D   L
  1. Petrosian  xxxx ½½½½ ½½½½ ½1½½ ½½11 ½½1½ 11½- ½11½  17½- 9½   8  19   0
  2. Keres      ½½½½ xxxx ½½½½ 0½1½ ½½1½ 1110 1½1- ½11½  17 -10    9  16   2
  3. Geller     ½½½½ ½½½½ xxxx 11½0 ½½1½ ½½½1 ½11- ½11½  17 -10    8  18   1
  4. Fischer    ½0½½ 1½0½ 00½1 xxxx 010½ 01½1 ½1½- 1½1½  14 -13    8  12   7
  5. Korchnoi   ½½00 ½½0½ ½½0½ 101½ xxxx ½½½0 10½- 1111  13½-14½   7  13   7
  6. Benko      ½½0½ 0001 ½½½0 10½0 ½½½1 xxxx 10½- 011½  12 -15    6  12   9
  7. Tal        00½- 0½0- ½00- ½0½- 01½- 01½- xxxx 10½-   7 -14    3   8  10
  8. Filip      ½00½ ½00½ ½00½ 0½0½ 0000 100½ 01½- xxxx   7 -20    2  10  15


ROUND BY ROUND RESULTS

                       ROUND
           1234567 8901234 5678901 2345678
Petrosian  1½½½½½½ 1½½½½11 ½1½½1½1 -1½½½½½  17½- 9½
Keres      ½1½½½10 1½½½½1½ 111½½11 ½-½½½0½  17 -10
Geller     ½1½½½½½ ½1½1½1½ 1½½1½1½ ½0½½½-1  17 -10
Fischer    001½0½1 10½110½ ½½1½0½0 11½-½½½  14 -13
Korchnoi   ½½½½111 ½½½½010 000½11½ ½0½0½1-  13½-13½
Benko      101½½0½ 010½½0½ ½1½½00½ 0½-1½10  12 -15
Tal        000½1½0 0½10001 ½0½½½0½ -------   7 -14
Filip      ½10½00½ 00½0100 0000½00 ½½½½-0½   7 -20


See all the games played at Curacao


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