Tournament of Legends ( seniors )

Gligoric, Kaplan, Suttles, Byrne, Hort, Evans, Portisch, Larsen, Campos Lopez, Smith, Karpov, Saidy, Mecking, Browne, Keres, & Petrosian, Karpov,

The tournament was sponsored by George W. ("Bill") Church Jr., head of the Church's Fried Chicken chain; in the 1980s the company also sponsored a U.S. Grand prix, won many times by Igor Ivanov.  Combining some of the world's best with the strongest North American players, the event was held at the Hotel Hilton Palacio del Rio from November 19 to December 10, 1972.  The strongest player in the world (who incidentally was also North American), newly-crowned World Champion Bobby Fischer, did not play; he felt the prize-fund was insufficient, but expressed satisfaction with the playing conditions.

 

The average rating of 2524 might not seem all that strong by today's standards, but one must allow for the rating inflation that has occurred in the past thirty-five years.  In the July 1972 ratings list the six highest players were Robert Fischer (2785), Boris Spassky (2660), Tigran Petrosian (2645), Lev Polugaevsky (2645), Viktor Korchnoi (2640), and Lajos Portisch (2640).  By comparison, in the lastest FIDE list there are now twenty-two players above 2700, and a player with a rating of 2640 would be in eightieth(!) place.  Of the eight "international" players at San Antonio, two were former or future world champions, while all the rest had taken part in candidates' competitions.  In this context Suttles' excellent result stands out, ahead of Mecking and Larsen and two points clear of the next North American competitor.  He was especially ruthless on the bottom of the field and only lost two games, to his bête noir, Gligoric, and to the rising young Soviet star Karpov.  It says much about Suttles' style that both these losses were with the White pieces, whereas with Black he scored plus three.  All(!) his games with Black were various variations of the Pirc Defence, an opening which had hitherto been regarded with more than a little suspicion, but which achieved respectability through the efforts of Suttles (along with Botvinnik and others).  As a result of this tournament Suttles was finally awarded the title of grandmaster, recognition which had previously been denied him on more than one occasion because of chess politics.

 

Overall there was a three-way tie for first between Portisch, Petrosian, and Karpov.  After ten rounds Keres and Karpov were in the lead with 8 points each, but Keres fell off the pace in the last five rounds, only achieving three draws.  After round fourteen Karpov and Petrosian shared the lead, with Portisch a half-point behind.  In the last round the two leaders, both having White, agreed to short draws with Mecking and Suttles in nine and ten moves respectively; this allowed Portisch to join them by dispatching Larsen.

 

Karpov, Anatoly - Browne, Walter [A30] Church's Fried Chicken It San Antonio (2), 20.11.1972

This game has found its way into anthologies as a classic example of the exploitation of a single opening idea (control of d5)

1.c4 c5 2.b3 Nf6 3.Bb2 g6 4.Bxf6 exf6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.g3 Nc6 7.Bg2 f5 8.e3 0-0 9.Nge2 a6 10.Rc1 b5 11.d3 Bb7 12.0-0 d6 13.Qd2 Qa5 14.Rfd1 Rab8 15.Nd5 Qxd2 16.Rxd2 b4 17.d4 Rfd8 18.Rcd1 cxd4 19.exd4 Kf8 20.c5 Na7 21.Ne3 Bxg2 22.Kxg2 dxc5 23.dxc5 Rxd2 24.Rxd2 Rc8 25.Nd5 Rxc5 26.Nxb4 a5 27.Nd5 Rc6 28.Ne3 Rc5 29.Nf4 Bh6 30.Rd5 Rxd5 31.Nfxd5 Bxe3 32.Nxe3 Ke7 33.Nc4 Nc6 34.Kf3 Ke6 35.Ke3 Kd5 36.a3 Ke6 37.Kd3 Kd5 38.f3 h6 39.Kc3 h5 40.Kd3 f6 41.f4 g5 42.Ne3+ Ke6 43.h4 gxh4 44.gxh4 Ne7 45.Kc4 Ng6 46.Ng2 Kd6 47.Kb5 Kd5 48.Kxa5 Ke4 49.b4 Kf3 50.b5 Kxg2 51.b6 Nf8 52.Kb5 Nd7 53.a4 Nxb6 54.Kxb6 Kf3 55.a5 Kxf4 56.a6 Ke3 57.a7 f4 58.a8Q f3 59.Qe8+ 1-0

 

Evans, Larry - Suttles, Duncan [B06] Church's Fried Chicken It San Antonio (4), 23.11.1972

1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Be3 c6 5.Qd2 b5 6.0-0-0 Nd7 7.f3 Nb6 8.h4 h5 9.Nh3 a5 10.Nf2 b4 11.Nb1 Rb8 12.g4 hxg4 13.fxg4 Nf6 14.Be2 Nxg4 15.Nxg4 Bxg4 16.Rdg1 Bh5 17.b3 a4 18.Bxh5 Rxh5 19.Rg5 axb3 20.axb3 Rxg5 21.hxg5 Nd7 22.Rf1 Kf8 23.Qd3 Qe8 24.Qc4 c5 25.dxc5 dxc5 26.Re1 Qc8 27.Rf1 Ne5 28.Qxc5 Qa6 29.Rf2 Nd3+ 30.cxd3 Rc8 31.Qxc8+ Qxc8+ 32.Kd1 Qa6 33.Ke2 Qa2+ 34.Nd2 Bc3 35.Rh2 Kg7 36.Rh4 e5 37.Rh1 Bxd2 38.Bxd2 Qxb3 39.Ke3 Qb2 40.Rc1 b3 41.Rc8 Qa1 42.Bc3 Qc1+ 43.Ke2 b2 44.Bxe5+ 0-1

 

Kaplan, Julio - Suttles, Duncan [B08] Church's Fried Chicken It San Antonio (6), 26.11.1972

1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Be2 0-0 6.0-0 Bg4 7.Be3 Nfd7 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Bxf3 Nc6 10.Be2 e5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.Na4 Nf6 13.Bd3 Nd4 14.c3 Ne6 15.Nc5 Nxc5 16.Bxc5 Re8 17.Qc2 Qd7 18.Rad1 Qc6 19.Be3 a6 20.Qb3 Re7 21.Bc4 Rb8 22.f3 Nh5 23.Rf2 b5 24.Bf1 Bf8 25.Rfd2 Re6 26.Qd5 Kg7 27.Qxc6 Rxc6 28.a3 Nf4 29.Rd8 Rxd8 30.Rxd8 Ne6 31.Rd2 Nc5 32.c4 bxc4 33.Bxc4 Nxe4 34.Bd5 Rc1+ 0-1

 

Suttles, Duncan - Keres, Paul [A13] Church's Fried Chicken It San Antonio (7), 27.11.1972

How to draw with arguably the strongest player never to challenge for the world championship - move your queen a third of the time.

1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nbd7 6.0-0 a6 7.Nc3 c5 8.Ne5 Rb8 9.Nxd7 Qxd7 10.Qxc4 b5 11.Qf4 Bd6 12.Qg5 0-0 13.d3 Bb7 14.Bxb7 Rxb7 15.Qh4 Rc8 16.a4 Be7 17.axb5 axb5 18.Qh3 h6 19.Qg2 b4 20.Ne4 c4 21.dxc4 Rxc4 22.Ra8+ Rc8 23.Rxc8+ Qxc8 24.Nxf6+ Bxf6 25.b3 Rd7 26.Qf3 Bc3 27.Qe4 Qa6 28.Qc2 Qb5 29.Rd1 Qf5 30.Rd3 Kh7 31.e4 Qb5 32.Rxd7 Qxd7 33.Be3 Qb5 34.Kg2 g6 35.Qd1 h5 36.Qd6 Qb7 37.Kf3 1/2-1/2

Portisch, Lajos - Karpov, Anatoly [E55] Church's Fried Chicken It San Antonio (9), 30.11.1972

Karpov has occasionally come a cropper on the Black side of IQP positions - this was one such occasion.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 c5 5.Bd3 0-0 6.Nf3 d5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Nbd7 9.Qe2 cxd4 10.exd4 b6 11.d5 Bxc3 12.dxe6 Bb4 13.exd7 Qxd7 14.a3 Bd6 15.Rd1 Qc7 16.h3 Bb7 17.Be3 Rae8 18.Rac1 Qb8 19.Bb5 Re7 20.Bc6 Bxc6 21.Rxc6 Bc5

22.Rxf6 gxf6 23.Nd4 Bxd4 24.Rxd4 Qe5 25.Qf3 Kh8 26.Rd5 1-0

 

Portisch, Lajos - Keres, Paul [D41] Church's Fried Chicken It San Antonio (11), 03.12.1972

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.g3 Nc6 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.d4 d5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Bg5 f6 12.Rc1 Bb6 13.Bd2 Bg4 14.Qb3 Kh8 15.e3 d4 16.exd4 Bxf3 17.Qxf3 Nxd4 18.Qh5 Qd7 19.Rce1 Rfe8 20.Bxb7 Rxe1 21.Bxa8 Ne2+ 22.Kg2 Nxg3 23.hxg3 Qxd2 24.Qf7 h6 25.Bd5 Kh7 26.Qg8+ Kg6 27.Bf7+ Kg5 28.Qxg7+ Kf5 29.Bh5 Ke6 30.Bg4+ f5 31.Bxf5+ Kxf5 32.Qf7+ 1-0

 

Campos Lopez, Mario - Suttles, Duncan [B07] Church's Fried Chicken It San Antonio (12), 04.12.1972

1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.c3 Nf6 5.Nbd2 0-0 6.Be2 Nbd7 7.0-0 e5 8.Re1 b6 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.a4 Bb7 11.Qc2 a5 12.b3 Nc5 13.Bc4 Ne8 14.b4 axb4 15.cxb4 Nd7 16.Ba3 Nd6 17.Bb3 b5 18.a5 Nb8 19.Rac1 Na6 20.Qd3 Rc8 21.h3 Qe7 22.Nh2 Kh8 23.f4 Rfd8 24.Qe2 exf4 25.e5 Nf5 26.Ndf3 c6 27.Ng4 Ng3 28.Qf2 Rd3 29.Rb1 c5 30.Bc1 Bxf3 31.gxf3 Nxb4 32.Nf6 Rd4 33.Bxf4 Nf5 34.Rbd1 Rxf4 35.Rd7 Bxf6 36.Rxe7 Bxe7 37.Re4 c4 38.Qb2 Rxf3 39.Bd1 Bc5+ 0-1

Portisch, Lajos - Larsen, Bent [A70] Church's Fried Chicken It San Antonio (15), 10.12.1972

1.d4 e6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 exd5 4.cxd5 d6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Nf3 Bg7 7.Bf4 Nf6 8.Qa4+ Bd7 9.Qb3 Qc7 10.e4 0-0 11.Be2 Nh5 12.Be3 Na6 13.Nd2 f5 14.exf5 gxf5 15.Bxh5 f4 16.0-0 fxe3 17.fxe3 Nb4 18.Nce4 a5 19.Ng5 a4 20.Qc4 h6 21.Ne6 Bxe6 22.dxe6 d5 23.Bf7+ Kh8 24.Qh4 Qe5 25.Nf3 Qxe3+ 26.Kh1 Nd3 27.Rae1 Nxe1 28.Rxe1 Qd3 29.Qh5 a3 30.b3 Bc3 31.e7 Kg7 32.exf8Q+ Rxf8 33.Bxd5 Bxe1 34.Qe5+ Rf6 35.Qe7+ 1-0