Chess 11 Jun 1960, Sat The Montreal Star (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) Newspapers.com
Let's Play Chess
Madrid Zone Tournament Narrows to Six Players
By William Oaker
The Madrid Zonal Tourney, one of a number of events held to qualify players for the Inter-Zonal, next year, has narrowed down into a race between six players.
J. H. Donner, of the Netherlands, leads after 11 rounds in this 16-player event, with nine points. He is closely followed by A. Pomar, of Spain, with eight.
Bunched in a tie for third, fourth and fifth places are S. Gligoric, of Yugoslavia, A. O'Kelly de Galway, of Belgium, and L. Portish, of Hungary. They each have 7½. Alone in sixth place is L. Pachman, of Czechoslovakia.
Only three players may qualify from each zonal event.
Budapest was the scene of another Zonal Tournament, but just who the three qualifiers are, is not yet decided. Gideon Barcza, of Hungary, took clear first place with 10½ points, but 2nd to 5th places were tied between Matanovic and Bertok, of Yugoslavia, Bilek, of Hungary aand Kozma of Czechoslovakia. These four players will play a match-tourney to decide the second and third places and the eventual zonal qualifiers.
The Mar del Plata International will soon be getting under way, and has suffered a severe setback in that the four Soviet super stars who were invited have declined to take part.
World Champion Mikhail Tal, following his recent victorious title match has decided to take a holiday and to do some writing. Former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik, who was under the weather during his 21-game struggle with Tal, has decided to take it easy, and has also declined. Vassily Smyslov, also a former World Champion, is busy playing in an international event in Moscow, which incidentally he is leading. Tigran Petrosian, is considered the strongest threat to this big three, declined for reasons unknown.
Their places have been filled by Soviet Grandmasters M. Taimanov and Y. Averbakh.
It is a curious testimony to the bench strength of the Soviet Chess Players that although their four best players, and incidentally the four strongest players in the world, can withdraw from a tourney and be replaced by two lesser lights, neither of which rank next in line (that right belongs to Paul Keres) and still be considered the favorites to walk away with the event.
Their only serious threat now lies in United States Champion Bobby Fischer who has given good cause to be considered the strongest player outside of the Soviet Union. The question is, however, is the strongest chess player outside of Russia as good as the tenth ranked player inside Russia?
This tournament should throw considerable light on just how good are the 17-year-old's chances of realizing his intention of becoming champion of the world.
How Good Are You?
FEN 8/2p1p1p1/P1P1P1P1/1p6/8/3p4/pPpP1P2/k1K5 w - - 0 1
This one has striking similarities to our last puzzler. Carry on from what you learned from the last problem, only watch out. This one is much harder. You do not have to prove a checkmate, only a clean win.
