|
Mikhail Tal
captured the Alekhine Memorial Tournament in Bled, coming on the heels of
his defeat and relinquishment of the World Chess
Championship earlier in the year to Mikhail Botvinnik.
A thrilling race
to the finish with
Bobby Fischer was the highlight
of the tournament, which took place in
the Grand Hotel Toplice from September 3rd to
October 3rd, 1961.
The only loss suffered by Tal in the
tournament was in the second round at the hands of
Fischer, who proudly scored 3½ out of 4 against the
"Russians". Actually he had played against a
Ukrainian, an Armenian, and two grandmasters from the
Baltic states. "They are all Russians to me!" Fischer
said during the days of the Cold War.
The final round was one of drama and excitement, as
Tal had a half point lead on Fischer and a full point
on Svetozar Gligoric. Fischer and
Gligoric were the only players still yet to be
defeated in the tournament and Tal had only been
victorious over the weaker players that were at the
bottom of the tournament standings. He had only
scored 2½ out of 6 against the 2nd through
7th place finishers, with zero wins against any of
them.
Tal also had the luxury of being the only player of
the three in contention to have the white pieces in the
final round. He fully utilized this advantage and defeated Miguel Najdorf in the final round.
Fischer had to settle for a draw with Borislav Ivkov
and Gligoric suffered his lone defeat of the tournament
at the hands of
Tigran Petrosian. The loss relegated him to a
tie for 3rd-5th place with Petrosian and Paul Keres.
|
