USSR vs the rest of the world match, Belgrade 1970
1st Draft, 06/06/1999
Insight and feedback
appreciated for future drafts!
The
match in the context of Russian chess player statistics
Board 1
Board 2
Overall match result
Match highlights
Credits
The Soviet machine had churned out many World Champions. In the top row of the above picture, Petrosian sits with his hands clasped, followed by Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Botvinnik, and Vassily Smyslov.
The USSR vs the rest of the world match, Belgade, March 29 1970 to April 5 1970
The match in the context of Russian chess player statistics :-
| 1922 | 1,000 registered chessplayers |
| 1924 | The Russian state took over control of chess with the formation of the All-Union Chess Section of the Supreme Council for Physical Culture |
| 1929 | 150,000 players |
| 1934 | 500,000 players |
| 1966 | 3,540,000 players |
| 1970 | USSR vs Rest of World match |
| 1990's | over 5 million |
Background to Board order on Boards 1 and 2
The Danish Grandmaster Bent Larsen had demanded to play board one for this match. Bobby Fischer who had emerged from idleness for over a year and a half, obliged to this demand.
Larsen vs Spassky
Larsen vs Stein (reserve)
Bobby Fischer beat Petrosian with 2 wins and 2 draws.
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(372) Fischer,R - Petrosian,T [B13]
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(373) Fischer,R - Petrosian,T [B15]
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(783) Petrosian,T - Fischer,R [A37]
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(784) Petrosian,T - Fischer,R [D90]
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Generated with ChessBase 7.0
| Board | USSR | Rest of the World | ||||||||
| 1 | Spassky * | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | Larsen (Denmark) | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Petrosian | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | Fischer (USA) | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ |
| 3 | Kortchnoi | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | Portisch (Hungary) | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ |
| 4 | Polugayevsky | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | Hort(Czech) | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ |
| 5 | Geller | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | Gligoric (Yugoslavia) | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ |
| 6 | Smyslov | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | Rehevsky (USA) | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0* |
| 7 | Taimanov | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | Uhlmann (E. Germany) | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 |
| 8 | Botvinnik | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | Matulovic (Yugoslavia) | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ |
| 9 | Tal | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | Najdorf (Argentina) | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ |
| 10 | Keres | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | Ivkov (Yugo) | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 |
| Totals | 5½ | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4½ | 4 | 6 | 5 | ||
| USSR wins | 20½ | - |
19½ | |||||||
The rest of World team was in rating order except Larsen/Fischer
* substitutes: Stein for Spassky, Olafsson for Reshevsky
2nd reserves
USSR : Bronstein
Rest of the World: Darga (W. Germany)
USSR had white on odds in Rd1 alternating thereafter
The crucial point for the final overall result was Portisch giving a draw to a
completely lost Korchnoi. Fischer had something to say about it at the time (!)
Back to index
rec.games.chess.misc, a very powerful resource for any chess webmaster! :-
Many thanks to rdc on rec.games.chess.misc who retrieved the match results
from BCM 1970 issue!
Many thanks to George Szasvari for point about crucial final overall result!
