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Chess 02 Mar 1961, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
No Comeback for Smyslov
Some of the Russian grandmasters who were not among the four qualifiers for the interzonal tournament must have wished that they were inhabitants of South America (three qualifiers), Central America, or Canada (one qualifier each), where they would certainly have furthered their world championship ambitions.
As it was, the casualties in the Russian championship included Smyslov, Bronstein, and Boleslavsky, who were Botvinnik's strongest rivals for the title ten years ago. While Bronstein and Boleslavsky's results were no surprise in view of their recent indifferent form, Smyslov was expected to qualify. Last autumn he spoke of his determination to regain the world championship, but his run of draws in Moscow mark a lack of zest for the game. In chess, as elsewhere, it is hard for ex-champions to make a comeback.
Petrosian's first place was a convincing one, and already it seems that the 1963 world title challenge lies between him, Fischer and Keres.
