13 September 2016

1966 Piatigorsky Cup

A few days after posting about the 1966 Spassky - Larsen game from the 2nd Piatigorsky Cup, I discovered the following video.


Jacqueline Piatigorsky - Chess Renaissance Woman (32:45) • 'Through her love of the game, innovative ideas, and deep involvement in chess philanthropy, Jacqueline Piatigorsky revolutionized American chess.'

The description continued,

A talented player herself, Jacqueline created the Piatigorsky Foundation in 1961. The organization soon began sponsoring chess activities on the local, regional, national, and international levels. IM John Donaldson discusses how Jacqueline's efforts transformed chess in the United States, supporting chess efforts aimed toward women, youth, and underserved populations; her organization of international grandmaster tournaments; and her assistance of top American players, including Samuel Reshevsky and Bobby Fischer.

At about 20 minutes into the clip, the lecture turns to the 1966 Piatigorsky Cup. Along with other anecdotes, IM Donaldson mentions the tournament book.

In the contract the players received, there was a condition that all players must annotate both games. [...] On many moves you'll have both grandmasters annotating the game. There could be big differences of opinion and it makes for very interesting reading to have two strong players look at the games.

Two players didn't annotate all of their games. One was Donner, who annotated all but one game that was such a horrible, painful loss that he couldn't bear to see it again [Donner - Ivkov, round 17]. One other player only chose to annotate one game, because he thought he only played one good game in the tournament. That was Bobby Fischer.

The game was Fischer - Najdorf from round 16, which also appeared in Fischer's 'My 60 Memorable Games', along with Portisch - Fischer from the same tournament. A third player declined to annotate all of his games : Reshevsky annotated only six games, including two of his losses.

For more about the exhibit, see Jacqueline Piatigorsky: Patron, Player, Pioneer (worldchesshof.org)

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