USSR against the rest of the world
USSR against the rest of the world were two team competitions in chess , where the best players in the dominant chess nation the Soviet Union competed against a world selection. The first competition took place in Belgrade in 1970 , a revenge in 1984 in London . Four games were played on 10 boards.
First competition 1970
The match was proposed by the Yugoslav Chess Federation at the 1969 FIDE Congress. The budget for the event, which took place in Belgrade from March 29 to April 5, 1970, was US $ 100,000 , a record for the time.
The Soviet Chess Federation took the competition very seriously. Each player received a comprehensive preparation dossier, and a training camp was held near Moscow. There was upset between the players about the order of the boards. Former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik wanted to play on the 4th board, but was only awarded board 8. The reigning world champion Boris Spassky later noticed that half of his Soviet team members no longer spoke to each other and that he himself felt very uncomfortable because of the pressure on him. The average age of the ten players was 43 years, some of them had already passed their prime. Nevertheless, the Soviet team, which, along with Spasski with four ex-world champions, had all titleholders of the last 22 years in their ranks, was the clear favorite.
The team boss of the world selection, ex-world champion Max Euwe , was able to persuade Bobby Fischer to participate after tough negotiations, who to everyone's surprise even renounced the top board in favor of Bent Larsen, although Fischer had the higher rating at that time . Larsen justified the trust placed in him with a 2½: 1½ on board 1, although he suffered a drastic defeat against Spasski in the second round . Fischer defeated ex-world champion Tigran Petrosjan on board 2 in a convincing manner 3-1. Nevertheless, the Soviet team managed a narrow overall victory with 20½: 19½ through successes on the middle and back boards.
| board |
.svg){kind=small} USSR
|
"Rest of the world" | Round 1 | round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Overall result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Boris Spasski Round 4: Leonid Stein |
Bent Larsen ( Denmark )
 |
½: ½ | 1-0 | 0: 1 | 0: 1 | 1½: 2½ |
| 2 | Tigran Petrosian |
Bobby Fischer ( USA )
 |
0: 1 | 0: 1 | ½: ½ | ½: ½ | 1: 3 |
| 3 | Viktor Korchnoi |
Lajos Portisch ( Hungary )
 |
½: ½ | ½: ½ | 0: 1 | ½: ½ | 1½: 2½ |
| 4th | Lev Polugayevsky |
Vlastimil Hort ( Czechoslovakia )
 |
0: 1 | ½: ½ | ½: ½ | ½: ½ | 1½: 2½ |
| 5 | Efim Geller |
Svetozar Gligorić ( Yugoslavia )
.svg){kind=small} |
1-0 | ½: ½ | ½: ½ | ½: ½ | 2½: 1½ |
| 6th | Vasily Smyslow |
Samuel Reshevsky ( USA ) Round 4: Friðrik Ólafsson ( Iceland )
 |
½: ½ | 1-0 | 0: 1 | 1-0 | 2½: 1½ |
| 7th | Mark Taimanow |
Wolfgang Uhlmann ( GDR )
 |
1-0 | 1-0 | ½: ½ | 0: 1 | 2½: 1½ |
| 8th | Mikhail Botvinnik |
Milan Matulović ( Yugoslavia )
|
1-0 | ½: ½ | ½: ½ | ½: ½ | 2½: 1½ |
| 9 | Mikhail Tal |
Miguel Najdorf ( Argentina )
 |
½: ½ | 0: 1 | 1-0 | ½: ½ | 2: 2 |
| 10 | Paul Keres |
Borislav Ivkov ( Yugoslavia )
|
½: ½ | 1-0 | ½: ½ | 1-0 | 3: 1 |
Second competition 1984
The second competition took place from June 24th to 29th, 1984 in London. This competition was originally supposed to take place in Belgrade, but had to be postponed and was announced at short notice. On the Soviet side, Polugajewski, Smyslow and Tal were still there from the 1970 team, Larsen as reserve player and Korchnoi, now playing for Switzerland, who won against his former home country. From the top ten players (Elo list from January to June 1984) Portisch, the only number 4 in the world, who canceled his participation because he was only supposed to play on board 7, was missing, but Spassky, who had lived in France for a long time, was still missing was a Soviet citizen, as was Hort, who had another obligation. Petrosyan was already badly affected by stomach cancer and had to cancel at the last moment, Yuri Rasuwajew moved up to the team for him.
The captain of the USSR was Nikolai Krogius , for the world selection HM Hasan from Indonesia, who also took over the lion's share of the sponsorship expenses. On the top boards, the Soviet players had advantages this time, world champion Anatoli Karpow and his later successor Garry Kasparov each won 2½: 1½. The best result of all players, however, achieved Alexander Beliavsky with a 3½: ½ on board 6, with Yasser Seirawan losing twice. In the end, the selection of the Soviet Union, which this time showed weaknesses on the back boards, again just won 21:19.
Russia versus the rest of the world in 2002
After the collapse of the Soviet Union , Russia competed against the rest of the world in 2002 . This also differed from the previous two competitions in that 10 rapid chess games per player were played according to the Scheveningen system instead of four games with tournament time . Some players from the former Soviet Union, such as Wladimir Hakobjan , Wassyl Iwantschuk , Boris Gelfand and Alexei Schirow , competed for the rest of the world this time . The Russian team had to admit defeat with 48:52, although they called on their stars Garri Kasparow and Vladimir Kramnik .
literature
- Vasja Pirc : The competition of the century , in: Schach-Echo , 28th year, April 2nd, 1970, pp. 113–122.
- Andrew Soltis : Soviet chess 1917–1991. McFarland, Jefferson 2000.
Web links
- Video without sound (part 2)
- 1970 tournament: games on chessgames.com (English)
- 1984 tournament: games on chessgames.com (English)