The Hungarian Botvinnik | Portisch vs Fischer | Palma de Mallorca Interzonal (1970)

The 1970 Interzonal was held in Palma de Mallorca from November 9-December 12, and was the last Interzonal held as a one-section round robin. With the tournament swelling to 24 players and further expansion on the way, future changes were inevitable. The following players vied for six slots in the candidates matches to be held in 1971: William G Addison, Miroslav Filip, Robert James Fischer, Efim Geller, Svetozar Gligoric, Vlastimil Hort, Robert Huebner, Borislav Ivkov, Eleazar Jimenez Zerquera, Bent Larsen, Milan Matulovic, Henrique Mecking, Dragoljub Minic, Renato Naranja, Oscar Panno, Lev Polugaevsky, Lajos Portisch, Samuel Reshevsky, Jorge Alberto Rubinetti, Vasily Smyslov, Duncan Suttles, Mark Taimanov, Wolfgang Uhlmann, Tudev Ujtumen..

Ujtumen from Mongolia, about as outside as an outsider could get, actually held the lead by himself after round 3. However, reality and Robert J. Fischer set in, as the American quickly soared to a dominating position. The other contenders didn’t worry about it too much; after all, you only had to finish in the top six to qualify for the Candidates, and there was even a seventh spot open for a reserve. So they played it safe, while Fischer kept working hard.

At the quarter pole following round 6, Fischer had 5.5 points and a 1.5 point lead on Geller, Gligoric, Larson, Panno, and Ujtumen. But then came a bad stretch: he managed to draw lost positions in round 7 and 8, but Larsen didn’t let him off the hook in round 9. By now the lead had vanished, as Geller joined Fischer at the top with 6.5.

That led to the critical round 12 encounter between the leaders, Geller holding a half-point lead and playing the White pieces. Any normal grandmaster, when Geller offered an early draw, would have accepted to get an easy half-point closer to qualification. Fischer, hungry for a win after five rounds without one, refused.

Geller played inaccurately and lost a pawn, reaching a difficult rook ending. Eventually, a hallucination and a final mistake sealed his fate, and Fischer took the lead. The rest was a matter of technique: Fischer won two more in a row, took a couple of draws for a breather, then started his famous streak with full points in his last seven games.

Read more here http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=79415

Read more about events before 1970 Instrzonal tournament http://graeme.50webs.com/chesschamps/us/1969.htm

Lajos Portisch vs Robert James Fischer
Palma de Mallorca Interzonal (1970), Palma de Mallorca ESP, rd 10, Nov-22
Benoni Defense: Classical Variation. General (A70)

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. d5 ed5 5. cd5 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Bf4 d6 8. Qa4 Bd7 9. Qb3 Qc7 10. e4 O-O 11. Be2 a6 12. e5 de5 13. Be5 Qc8 14. O-O Bg4 15. h3 Bf3 16. Bf3 Nbd7 17. Bd6 Re8 18. a4 Ne5 19. Be5 Re5 20. Rad1 Rb8 21. d6 b5 22. ab5 ab5 23. Rfe1 Re1 24. Re1 Bf8 25. Nb5 Qd7 26. Be2 Bd6 27. Bc4 Bf8 28. Rd1 Qe7 29. Qd3
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
If you realllly enjoy my content, you’re welcome to support me and my channel with a small donation via PayPal, Bitcoin, Litecoin or Nano.

Link to PayPal donation https://www.paypal.me/agadmator
Bitcoin address 12VEbMQPyLzBoZzw9yuNofph4C9Ansc4iZ
Litecoin address LbSuZuBffDCNmr5CSZbY7W2zM83w4ZvnC7
Nano address xrb_383y7ofu5wsyfr9o8rh93aqaq8aixpdcbaud5iubydukz5moiadsirmuzgoq

Check out some of the books I enjoy https://www.amazon.com/ideas/amzn1.account.AFWWCIBWCL5PGEPL73FDWK632F7Q/2QAGBMLVXE7MG

Check out ALL my videos here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYgd5ZLdHz8&list=PLDnx7w_xuguFTxcfiM11bB1JchtHclEJg

Steemit: https://steemit.com/@agadmator/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/agadmatoryoutube
Twitter: https://twitter.com/agadmator
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agadmator/
Lichess: https://lichess.org/@/agadmator
Chess.com: agadmator
League of Legends: agadmator (EUNE, my friend is using my EUWE account for a couple of years now)
Blizzard: agadmator #2992
Check out my Hearthstone channel here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDKefsd8PMI0FXHwPi5yscg

Check out the SUBSCRIBERS VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-xa0SkpIiA

Send your photos and videos here:
subscribers.videos.agadmator@gmail.com

Send your own games here:
subscribers.games.agadmator@gmail.com

#agadmator #bobbyfischer #bobbyfischerstory

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *