1962 in chess
Encyclopedia
Events
- March 8 – 5th Interzonal Tournament at StockholmStockholmStockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
won by Bobby FischerBobby FischerRobert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
(USA) with 17.5/22. Tigran PetrosianTigran PetrosianTigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else...
(USSR) and Efim Geller (USSR) tied for 2nd–3rd with 15 points, Victor Korchnoi (USSR) and Miroslav FilipMiroslav FilipMiroslav Filip was a Grandmaster of chess from the Czech Republic. Filip was awarded the title of International Master in 1953, and the Grandmaster title in 1955...
(Czechoslovakia) tied for 4th–5th with 14 points. Pal BenkoPál BenkoPal Benko is a chess grandmaster, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems.- Early life :Benko was born in France but was raised in Hungary. He was Hungarian champion by age 20. He emigrated to the United States in 1958, after defecting following the World Student Team...
(USA) won the sixth and final qualifying position for the Candidates TournamentCandidates TournamentThe Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship...
in a three-way playoff with Leonid SteinLeonid SteinLeonid Zakharovich Stein was a Soviet chess Grandmaster from Ukraine. He won three USSR Chess Championships in the 1960s , and was among the world's top ten players during that era.- Early life :...
(USSR) and Svetozar GligorićSvetozar GligoricSvetozar Gligorić is a Serbian chess grandmaster. He won the championship of Yugoslavia a record twelve times, and is considered the best player ever from Serbia...
after all tied for 6th–8th with 13.5 points. Although Stein scored the most points in the playoff, he was barred from qualifying for the Candidates Tournament by a FIDE rule that allowed no more than three players from the same federation to qualify. The Interzonal was originally scheduled to be played in the NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
in 1961, but difficulties obtaining visaVisa (document)A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
s caused a delay while another site was found. - 5th Candidates Tournament in CuraçaoCuraçaoCuraçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...
won by Tigran PetrosianTigran PetrosianTigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else...
(USSR) with 17.5/27, a half point ahead of Paul KeresPaul KeresPaul Keres , was an Estonian chess grandmaster, and a renowned chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s....
(USSR) and Efim GellerEfim GellerEfim Petrovich Geller was a Soviet chess player and world-class grandmaster at his peak. He won the Soviet Championship twice and was a Candidate for the World Championship on six occasions...
(USSR) tied for 2nd–3rd. Bobby FischerBobby FischerRobert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
(USA) finishes fourth. The victory makes Petrosian the challenger in the 1963 World ChampionshipWorld Chess Championship 1963At the World Chess Championship 1963 Tigran Petrosian narrowly qualified to challenge Mikhail Botvinnik for the World Chess Championship, and then won the match to become the ninth World Chess Champion...
against Mikhail BotvinnikMikhail BotvinnikMikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while...
(USSR). - October 10 – 15th Olympiad15th Chess OlympiadThe 15th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between September 15 and October 10, 1962, in Varna, Bulgaria.-References:* OlimpBase...
in VarnaVarnaVarna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
won by the USSR team with 31.5 points. Yugoslavia earns the silver medal with 28, and Argentina the bronze with 26.
Births
- Martin KreuzerMartin KreuzerMartin Kreuzer , is a German Grandmaster of Correspondence Chess and a Mathematics professor.Kreuzer did his undergraduate studies in Mathematics at the University of Regensburg, located on the Danube River in Bavaria. He moved to the United States and completed his doctorate at Brandeis University...
, German ICCGM, FM, and mathematics professor. - February 12 – Nana IoselianiNana IoselianiNana Mikhailovna Ioseliani is a Georgian woman chess player. She has held the FIDE Woman Grandmaster title since 1980, and the International Master title since 1993....
, Georgian IM and WGM, two time challenger for the Women's World Championship. - February 19 – Rogelio Antonio Jr., Filipino GM.
- April 5 – Kirsan IlyumzhinovKirsan IlyumzhinovKirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov is a Kalmyk multi-millionaire businessman and politician. He was the President of the Republic of Kalmykia in the Russian Federation from 1993 to 2010, and he has been the President of FIDE , the world's pre-eminent international chess organization, since 1995...
, Kalmyk President of FIDE since 1995. - April 10 – Alexander HuzmanAlexander HuzmanAlexander Huzman is an Israeli Chess Grandmaster and trainer., his Elo rating was 2596, making him the # 9 player in Israel and the 188th-highest rated player in the world...
, Ukrainian born Israeli GM and trainer. - April 18 – William WatsonWilliam Watson (chess player)William Nicholas Watson is an English chess player who holds the title Grandmaster.Watson was British Rapidplay Chess Champion in 1992 and British Chess Champion in 1994. Boris Spassky once famously described his style of play as that of a drunk with a machine gun...
, British GM and lawyer. - June 13 – Paul MotwaniPaul MotwaniPaul Motwani is of Scottish/Indian descent and was Scotland's first chess Grandmaster . Born in Glasgow but growing up in Dundee , he became World Cadet Champion in 1978, and won the first of his seven Scottish Championship titles that year...
, Scottish GM. - July 31 – Agnieszka BrustmanAgnieszka BrustmanAgnieszka Brustman is a female Polish chess master.-Biography:Brustman played on the Polish team in nine Women's Chess Olympiads...
, Polish WGM. - August 17 – Michael WilderMichael WilderMichael Wilder is an American chess grandmaster and a J.D graduate of the University of Michigan. FIDE awarded him the grandmaster title in 1988. He won the 1988 U.S. Chess Championship. He also tied for third in the 1987 U.S. Championship and tied for first at the 1987 London Open. Mr...
, American GM and attorney. - August 25 – Alexander GrafAlexander GrafAlexander Graf is an Uzbekistani-German chess grandmaster. In 2000 he moved to Germany and took his father's name. He took bronze in the 2003 European Individual Chess Championship. In 2004 he won the German Chess Championship.-External links:*...
, Uzbek-German GM. - September 17 – Xu JunXu JunXu Jun is a Chinese chess Grandmaster. In 1994, he became China's fourth Grandmaster.He was champion of China in 1983 and 1985. He has been a member of the Chinese Olympiad Team, a five times winner of the Asia Team Championship 1983–2003, the 1987 3.3 Zonal Champion, the 1998 Champion of...
, Chinese GM. - October – Deen HergottDeen HergottDeen Hergott is a Canadian International Master of Chess. By profession, he is a mathematician, computer programmer, and chess journalist.- Early years :...
, Canadian IM, mathematician, and chess writer. - October 14 – Jaan EhlvestJaan EhlvestJaan Ehlvest Jaan Ehlvest Jaan Ehlvest (born 14 October 1962 is a chess player, who was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1987 and was named Estonian sportsman of the year in 1987 and 1989...
, Estonian/American GM.
Deaths
- March 11 – Viacheslav RagozinViacheslav RagozinViacheslav Vasilyevich Ragozin was a Soviet chess Grandmaster, an International Arbiter of chess, and a World Correspondence Chess Champion. He was also a chess writer and editor.- Biography :...
(1908–1962), 53, Soviet GM, International Arbiter, chess writer, and World Correspondence Chess Champion 1956–59. - April 3 – Ernst GrünfeldErnst Grünfeld----Ernst Franz Grünfeld , an Austrian grandmaster and writer specializing in opening theory, was for a brief period after the First World War one of the strongest chess players in the world....
(1893–1962), 68, Austrian GM and opening theorist, eponymEponymAn eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
of the Grünfeld DefenceGrünfeld DefenceThe Grünfeld Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:-History:The first instance of this opening is in an 1855 game by Moheschunder Bannerjee, an Indian player who had transitioned from Indian chess rules, playing black against John Cochrane in Calcutta, in May 1855: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4...
. - May 4 – Josef RejfiřJosef RejfírJosef Rejfiř was one of Czechoslovakia's strongest chess players before World War II.Rejfiř represented Czechoslovakia at all five Chess Olympiads from 1928 to 1935....
(1909–1962), 52, Czechoslovak IM. - July 27 – Roy Turnbull BlackRoy Turnbull BlackRoy Turnbull Black was an American chess player. Black was a judge by profession. Although his record against Capablanca was one win, one draw and three losses, he beat Capablanca with black pieces in New York in 1911:...
(1888–1962), American chess player and judge who defeated CapablancaJosé Raúl CapablancaJosé Raúl Capablanca y Graupera was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. One of the greatest players of all time, he was renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play...
in 1911. - October 9 – Milan VidmarMilan VidmarMilan Vidmar was a Slovene electrical engineer, chess player, chess theorist, philosopher, and writer. He was a specialist in power transformers and transmission of electric current.- Biography :...
(1885–1962), 77, Yugoslav/Slovene GM. - October 25 – Abe TurnerAbe TurnerAbe Turner was an American chess master. He had a chess rating over 2400 and played several times in the U.S. Chess Championship. He was best known as a blitz chess hustler, and was one of few masters who had a winning record against Bobby Fischer. The games were when Fischer was 14, which was the...
(1924–1962), 38, American chess expert, murdered at the offices of Chess ReviewChess ReviewChess Review is a U.S. chess magazine that was published from January 1933 until October 1969 . Until April 1941 it was called The Chess Review. Published in New York, it began on a schedule of at least ten issues a year but later became a monthly...
. - November 30 – Ossip BernsteinOssip BernsteinOssip Samoilovich Bernstein was a Russian chess grandmaster and a financial lawyer.-Biography:...
(1882–1962), 80, Russian born French GM and a financial lawyer. - December – Menachem OrenMenachem OrenMieczysław Chwojnik, later known as Dr. Menachem Oren – 1 December 1962, Tel Aviv, Israel) was a Polish-born Israeli chess master and mathematician....
(1901–1962), Polish-born Israeli chess player and mathematician.