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Chess Notebook 13 Dec 1959, Sun The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com
Chess Notebook By Lyman Burgess
Lost somewhere between the soup and the roast turkey was the report of John Curdo's venture into New Hampshire. John journeyed to Laconia Nov. 21 to give a simultaneous exhibition. He met 21 players and racked up a score of 19 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw! Burleigh Anderson, Nashua, city champion, was the winner, and Brad Bowker of Lochmere, New Hampshire champion, posted the lone draw.
Said John, “The turnout was good considering snow and the fact that there were only nine local players and the others came from as far as Nashua (60 miles away).”
This is overlooked week. Another lost item: Final results of the 1959 Candidates' Tournament, Bled, Zagreb and Belgrade. Yugoslavia—1. Tal, U.S.S.R, 20. 2. Paul Keres, U.S.S.R., 18½; 3. Petrosian, U.S.S.R, 15; 5-6, Fischer, U.S.A., and Gligoric, Yugoslavia, 12½; 7. Olafsson, Iceland, 10; 8. Benko, stateless, 8. Benko has been listed as “stateless” in all reports. Actually he makes his home in New York and hopes to become a citizen.
B. H. Wood's “Chess” had this to say concerning the second (Zagreb) stage of the tournament: “…the 1100 seats in the big Army hall being sold out long before each session; and (here) they were more noisy and excited, with their hum of comment and spontaneous bursts of applause for good moves until repeated appeals for silence began, though only after two or three days, to take effect.
“Another distraction for the players: The main hall was in such demand for other functions that games unfinished in the first five-hour session had to be resumed in a small room in another building some distance away. As barely 250 spectators could be accommodated there, big demonstration boards were set up outside the building in the town's main square—and crowds of 5000 to 6000 people gathered to watch them, seriously interfering with the traffic.”
In round 8 tournament winner Tal took the measure of Smyslov, former world champion and winner of the 1956 Candidates'.
Mikhail Tal vs Vasily Smyslov
Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates (1959), Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade YUG, rd 8, Sep-18
Caro-Kann Defense: Breyer Variation (B10) 1-0
In the final position black resigns because with only a bishop for a rook and a pawn and a poor position generally, his situation is hopeless.
Met League results for Dec. 4; Class A—Harvard Graduate School 2½, Cambridge 2½; Lithuanian 2½, Sylvania 2½; Harvard U. 2, Northeastern 2, with one game adjourned. Class B—C. T. Main Co. 5, Mt. Bowdoin 0; Quincy 5, Brandeis 0; Harvard B. I, 4. Harvard Club 1; Johnson Club 3. Brattle 2, Cambridge 3, Sharon 2; Harvard B. II 3; Lithuanian 2; two matches unreported. And in Class C the only result to hand is a forfeit: Checkmate Club 5, Cambridge 0.
