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Boris Spassky held
off a late charge from
Bobby
Fischer to win the 2nd Piatigorsky Cup in Santa
Monica, California. The event took place in the
Starlight Ballroom of the Miramar Hotel from July 17th
to August 15th, 1966. The prize money was twice
that of the inaugural tournament and the number of
participants was increased from eight to ten, with the
same double round-robin format of play. The
$20,000 purse was enough to lure Fischer to the
tournament, as he had previously chosen not to
participate in the 1st Piatigorsky Cup in 1963.
The
United States was represented by Fischer and Samuel
Reshevsky. The Soviet Union sent current world
champion
Tigran
Petrosian and Spassky, the recent runner-up
to the crown. The following players rounded out
the cast: Bent Larsen, Miguel Najdorf, Jan
Donner, Borislav Ivkov, Lajos Portisch,
and Wolfgang Unzicker.
After
the first eight rounds, Spassky was leading the
tournament with a score of 5 1/2 out of 8.
Larsen was running a close second just half a point
behind. Fischer was surprisingly struggling and
was tied for last place with Ivkov with a dismal score
of 3 out of 8. The next eight games told a
dramatically different story. Spassky was still
leading, but only managed one victory and seven draws in
this stretch. Fischer, on the other hand, had one
of the most impressive runs in tournament history;
winning six games (none going to adjournment) and
drawing two. His impressive 7 out 8 points over
this part of the tournament took him from a tie for last
place to a tie for first with Spassky.
With
only two games left, Spassky and Fischer were due to
face each other in the next round. This created an
excitement around the tournament and although 900 people
got in to see the game, several people had to be turned
away. A first for a chess tournament on American
soil. Fischer had the white pieces and opened with
his usual King's pawn opening. The game quickly transformed into a closed variation of the Ruy
Lopez and was fiercely contested, but
neither player could gain a substantial advantage and
the result was a 35-move draw.
Still
tied going into the final round, Fischer had the black
pieces against Petrosian and Spassky had the white
pieces against Donner (tied for last place).
Fischer could only manage a draw with his favorite
King's Indian Defense. Spassky overwhelmed Donner
in an unusual variation of the Ruy Lopez and won the
overall tournament by a half point over Fischer.
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