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Chess by Isaac Kashdan 02 Feb 1969, Sun The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com
Fischer Tops List Of USCF Ratings
The annual rating list of the U.S. Chess Federation appeared in the January issue of Chess Life, the official publication of the federation.
Bobby Fischer, though no longer U.S. champion, still heads the list by a wide margin, as he has for some years. His current mark is 2745, down somewhat from the 2762 of a year ago, which was the highest rating ever established in the history of the U.S. rating system.
Fischer did not participate in any American tournaments last year, but showed his good form by convincing victories in three international master events, in Skopje and Vincovci, Yugoslavia, and in Netanya, Israel.
The loss of a few rating points evidently indicates that Fischer's strong performance was still not up to the extraordinary mark he had established in prior years.
Second on the current list is a foreigner, Bent Larsen of Denmark, who joined the USCF to enter and win the U.S. Open Championship in Aspen, Colorado last summer. His rating of 2668 was earned mainly in international tournaments, in which he has been highly successful in the last two years.
Current U.S. champion Larry Evans is in third place with a rating of 2628, a good advance over the 2593 he had the year before. Evans won the title by the fine score of 8½-2½ last July, but Fischer did not participate.
Former champion Samuel Reshevsky, one of the oldest of the active players, maintained his position near the top with a rating of 2593, up a few points from last year's 2585.
Reshevsky was the only American to qualify for the series of matches to determine a challenger for the world championship. He was eliminated by Victor Korchnoi of the USSR.
Other leaders, with little relative change in the standings, are: Pal Benko, 2588; Robert Byrne, 2550; William Lombardy, 2545; Donald Byrne, 2499; Arthur Bisguier, 2494, and Bernard Zuckerman, 2464.
Mikhail Tal vs Bukhuti Gurgenidze
USSR Championship (1968/69), Alma-Ata (Almaty) URS, rd 12, Jan-19
Caro-Kann Defense: Gurgenidze Counterattack (B15) 1-0
Lev Polugaevsky vs Viacheslav Osnos
USSR Championship (1968/69), Alma-Ata (Almaty) URS, rd 10, Jan-15
Sicilian Defense: Richter-Rauzer. Classical Variation (B63) 1-0
Anatoly S Lutikov vs Yuri N Sakharov
USSR Championship (1968/69), Alma-Ata (Almaty) URS, rd 11, Jan-18
Sicilian Defense: Paulsen. Normal Variation (B45) 1-0
Igor V Platonov vs Vitaly Tseshkovsky
USSR Championship (1968/69), Alma-Ata (Almaty) URS, rd 13, Jan-21
Nimzo-Indian Defense: Normal. Bronstein (Byrne) Variation (E45) 1-0
Triantafyllos Siaperas vs Anthony Heyns
Lugano Olympiad Final-C (1968), Lugano SUI, rd 13, Nov-06
French Defense: Tarrasch. Closed Variation (C05) 1-0
