Events in

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

in 1962:

Events

*March 8 – 5th Interzonal Tournament at

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

won by

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11� ...

(USA) with 17.5/22.

Tigran Petrosian Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (, ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing style, ...

(USSR) and Efim Geller (USSR) tied for 2nd–3rd with 15 points,

Victor Korchnoi Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ( rus, Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, p=vʲiktər lʲvovʲɪtɕ kɐrtɕˈnoj; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. H ...

(USSR) and

Miroslav Filip Miroslav Filip (27 October 1928 – 27 April 2009) was a Czech chess grandmaster. Filip was awarded the title of International Master in 1953, and the Grandmaster title in 1955. Filip represented Czechoslovakia in 12 consecutive Chess Olympiad ...

(Czechoslovakia) tied for 4th–5th with 14 points.

Pal Benko Pál C. Benkő ( hu, Benkő Pál; July 15, 1928 – August 26, 2019) was a Hungarian Americans, Hungarian-American chess player, author, and Chess composer, composer of Endgame study, endgame studies and chess problems. Early life Benko was ...

(USA) won the sixth and final qualifying position for the

Candidates Tournament The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The wi ...

in a three-way playoff with

Leonid Stein Leonid Zakharovich Stein (; November 12, 1934 – July 4, 1973) was a Soviet chess Grandmaster from Ukraine. He won three USSR Chess Championships in the 1960s (1963, 1965, and 1966), and was among the world's top ten players during that era. ...

(USSR) and

Svetozar Gligorić Svetozar Gligorić (Serbian Cyrillic: Светозар Глигорић, 2 February 1923 – 14 August 2012) was a Serbian and Yugoslav chess grandmaster and musician. He won the championship of Yugoslavia a record twelve times, and is consider ...

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 The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

rule that allowed no more than three players from the same federation to qualify. The Interzonal was originally scheduled to be played in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 1961, but difficulties obtaining

visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

s caused a delay while another site was found. * 5th Candidates Tournament in

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

won by

(USSR) with 17.5/27, a half point ahead of

Paul Keres Paul Keres (; 7 January 1916 – 5 June 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five ...

(USSR) and

Efim Geller Efim Petrovich Geller (russian: Ефим Петрович Геллер, uk, Юхим Петрович Геллер; 8 March 1925 – 17 November 1998) was a Soviet chess player and world-class grandmaster at his peak. He won the Soviet Champi ...

(USSR) tied for 2nd–3rd.

(USA) finishes fourth. The victory makes Petrosian the challenger in the 1963 World Championship against

Mikhail Botvinnik Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, ( – May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster. The sixth World Chess Champion, he also worked as an electrical engineer and computer scientist and was a pioneer in computer chess. Botvinnik ...

(USSR). *20 April – 20 May – The inaugural

Capablanca Memorial The Capablanca Memorial is a chess tournament that has been held annually in Cuba since 1962 in honor of José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera. At the time, it was the best paid tournament in the world. Since 1974 B and C tournaments have been held ...

chess tournament is held in Havana.

Miguel Najdorf Miguel Najdorf (born Mojsze Mendel Najdorf) (15 April 1910 – 4 July 1997) was a Polish–Argentinian chess grandmaster. Originally from Poland, he was in Argentina when World War II began in 1939, and he stayed and settled there. He was a ...

is first in a field of 22 players, followed by

Lev Polugaevsky Lev Abramovich Polugaevsky ( rus, Лев Абрамович Полугаевский, p=pəlʊɡɐˈjefskʲɪj; 20 November 1934 – 30 August 1995) was a Soviet chess player. He was awarded the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE i ...

and

Boris Spassky Boris Vasilievich Spassky ( rus, Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский, Borís Vasíl'yevich Spásskiy; born January 30, 1937) is a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 ...

and

Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov ( rus, Васи́лий Васи́льевич Смысло́в, Vasíliy Vasíl'yevich Smyslóv; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, who was World Chess Champion from 1957 to ...

Borislav Ivkov Borislav Ivkov (12 November 1933 – 14 February 2022) was a Serbian chess Grandmaster. He was a World championship candidate in 1965, and played in four more Interzonal tournaments, in 1967, 1970, 1973, and 1979. Ivkov was a three-time Yugos ...

, etc. *15 September – 10 October 10 – Thirty-seven teams compete at the

15th Chess Olympiad The 15th Chess Olympiad ( bg, 15-ата Шахматна олимпиада, ''15-ata Shahmatna olimpiada''), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and fe ...

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...

. The Soviet team featuring six grandmasters and led by World Champion

(Botvinnik,

, and

Mikhail Tal Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal; rus, Михаил Нехемьевич Таль, ''Mikhail Nekhem'yevich Tal' '', ; sometimes transliterated ''Mihails Tals'' or ''Mihail Tal'' (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet-Latvian chess player ...

) wins gold. Yugoslavia and Argentina take silver and bronze, respectively. The Olympiad featured the famous game between World Champion Botvinnik and 19-year-old American

. Playing the black side of a

Grünfeld Defence The Grünfeld Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 g6 :3. Nc3 d5 Black offers White the possibility of 4.cxd5, which may be followed by 4...Nxd5 and 5.e4, giving White an imposing central pawn duo. If Whi ...

, Fischer obtained a small advantage but was not able to convert the endgame into a victory. The endgame has been subjected to extensive analysis, starting during the adjournment when the Soviet team analyzed through the night in a successful attempt to save the game while Fischer looked for a win. In the decades following there has been much investigation of whether Fischer's advantage was ever large enough to force a win as Fischer claimed in ''

My 60 Memorable Games ''My 60 Memorable Games'' is a chess book by Bobby Fischer, first published in 1969. It is a collection of his games dating from the 1957 New Jersey Open to the 1967 Sousse Interzonal. Unlike many players' anthologies, which are often titled ''My ...

''. * The 1962 Women's World Chess Championship is held in Moscow. Twenty-year-old

Nona Gaprindashvili Nona Gaprindashvili ( ka, ნონა გაფრინდაშვილი; born 3 May 1941) is a former Soviet Union, Soviet and Georgia (country), Georgian chess player, and the first woman ever to be awarded the FIDE title Grandmaster (ch ...

(Soviet Union) goes undefeated in the match, beating incumbent champion

Elisabeth Bykova Elisaveta Ivanovna Bykova (or ''Elisabeth Bykova'', Russian: Елизаве́та Ива́новна Бы́кова; 4 November 1913 – 8 March 1989) was a Soviet chess player and twice Women's World Chess Champion, from 1953 until 1956, and a ...

(Soviet Union) by the score 9–2 to become the fifth and youngest Women's World Champion. * The first South African Open chess tournament is held in

Wilderness, Western Cape Wilderness is a seaside town on the Garden Route of the southern Cape in South Africa. It is situated a short distance to the east from the city of George, on the N2 down the Kaaiman's River Pass. The area around Wilderness has yielded significan ...

, and won by

Harry Golombek Harry Golombek OBE (1 March 1911 – 7 January 1995) was a British chess player, chess author, and wartime codebreaker. He was three times British chess champion, in 1947, 1949, and 1955 and finished second in 1948. He was born in Lambeth t ...

and Alberic O'Kelly. * One of the earliest junior international tournaments held at

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

under the sponsorship of tobacco firm T. Niemeyer. The event was later informally recognized as the European Junior Championship and later still, adopted by FIDE as the official contest. The boys U-20 event was won by Coenraad Zuidema (Netherlands). * Robert Abbot invents the chess variant

Baroque Chess Baroque chess is a chess variant invented in 1962 by Robert Abbott. In 1963, at the suggestion of his publisher, he changed the name to Ultima, by which name it is also known. Abbott later considered his invention flawed and suggested amendments ...

. *

Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis ...

invents

hexapawn Hexapawn is a deterministic two-player game invented by Martin Gardner. It is played on a rectangular board of variable size, for example on a 3×3 board or on a regular chessboard. On a board of size ''n''×''m'', each player begins with ''m'' p ...

, a small two-player game.

Births

Martin Kreuzer Martin Kreuzer (born 15 July 1962 in Ihrlerstein) is a German mathematics professor and chess player who holds the chess titles of International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster and FIDE Master. Kreuzer did his graduate studies in mathematics a ...

, German ICCGM, FM, and mathematics professor. *February 12 –

Nana Ioseliani Nana Ioseliani ( ka, ნანა იოსელიანი; born 12 February 1962) is a Georgian chess player. She was awarded by FIDE the Woman Grandmaster title in 1980 and the International Master title in 1993. Already in 1978 she was su ...

, Georgian IM and WGM, two time challenger for the Women's World Championship. *February 19 – Rogelio Antonio Jr., Filipino GM. *April 5 –

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov (russian: link=no, Кирса́н Никола́евич Илюмжи́нов, ; Kalmyk: Үлмҗин Кирсән, ''Ülmcin Kirsən'', ; born 5 April 1962) is a Russian business oligarch, administrator and po ...

, Kalmyk President of

since 1995. *April 10 – Alexander Huzman, Ukrainian born Israeli GM and trainer. *April 18 –

William Watson William, Willie, Bill or Billy Watson may refer to: Entertainment * William Watson (songwriter) (1794–1840), English concert hall singer and songwriter * William Watson (poet) (1858–1935), English poet * Billy Watson (actor) (1923–2022), Ame ...

, British GM and lawyer. *June 13 –

Paul Motwani Paul Motwani (born 13 June 1962) is a Scottish chess grandmaster. He was the first Scottish player to become a grandmaster. Chess career Born in Glasgow and raised in Dundee, he became World Cadet (Under 17) Champion in 1978, and won the firs ...

, Scottish GM. *July 31 – Agnieszka Brustman, Polish WGM. *August 17 –

Michael Wilder Michael Wilder (born August 17, 1962) 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 ...

, American GM and attorney. *August 25 –

Alexander Graf Alexander Graf (''né'' Nenashev; born 25 August 1962) is an Uzbekistani-German chess grandmaster. He was Uzbekistani Chess Champion in 1989 and German Chess Champion in 2004. Chess career He won the Uzbekistani Chess Championship in 1989. Ne ...

, Uzbek-German GM. *September 17 –

Xu Jun Xu Jun (; born September 17, 1962) is a Chinese chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1994, becoming the fourth from China. Born in Suzhou, Jiangsu, Xu was champion of China in 1983 and 1985. He has been a member ...

, Chinese GM. *October – Deen Hergott, Canadian IM, mathematician, and chess writer. *October 14 –

Jaan Ehlvest Jaan Ehlvest (born 14 October 1962) is an Estonian-American chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster by FIDE in 1987. Ehlvest was Estonian champion in 1986. Since 2006, he has represented the United States. He was ...

, Estonian/American GM.

Deaths

*February 25 –

Toma Popa Toma Popa (20 April 1908 — 25 February 1962), was a Romanian chess player, Romanian Chess Championship winner (1948). Biography From the mid-1930s to the end of the 1940s Toma Popa was one of the strongest Romanian chess players. In 1948, in B ...

(1908–1962), Romanian Chess Champion in 1948 *March 11 –

Viacheslav Ragozin Viacheslav Vasilyevich Ragozin (russian: Вячесла́в Васи́льевич Раго́зин; 8 October 1908 – 11 March 1962) was a Soviet chess player, writer and editor. He was world champion in correspondence chess and held the title ...

(1908–1962), 53, Soviet GM, International Arbiter, chess writer, and World Correspondence Chess Champion 1956–59. *April 3 –

Ernst Grünfeld ---- Ernst Franz Grünfeld (November 21, 1893 – April 3, 1962) was an Austrian chess player and writer, mainly on opening theory. He was among the inaugural recipients of the grandmaster title in 1950. Life and career Grünfeld was bor ...

(1893–1962), 68, Austrian GM and opening theorist,

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

of the

. *April 23 – Oskar Antze (1878–1962), German chess player. *April 25 – Leo Zobel (1895–1962), Czechoslovak Chess Champion in 1931 *May 4 – Josef Rejfiř (1909–1962), 52, Czechoslovak IM. *July 27 –

Roy Turnbull Black Roy Turnbull Black (February 14, 1888 – July 27, 1962) was an American chess player. Black was a judge by profession. His record against Capablanca was one win, one draw and three losses, beating Capablanca with black pieces in New York City in ...

(1888–1962), American chess player and judge who defeated Capablanca in 1911. *August 16 – Axel Cruusberg (1901–1962), Danish Olympian *October 9 –

Milan Vidmar Milan Vidmar (22 June 1885 – 9 October 1962) was a Slovenian electrical engineer, chess player, chess theorist, and writer. He was among the top dozen chess players in the world from 1910 to 1930 and in 1950, was among the inaugural recipien ...

(1885–1962), 77, Yugoslav/Slovene GM. *October 17 –

Edward Hymes Edward Hymes Jr. (December 4, 1908 – October 17, 1962) was an American bridge and chess player. Hymes was an attorney and was from New York City. At age 26, he joined the ACBL Laws Commission, which stipulates the rules of bridge. His main ...

(1908–1962), American chess player *October 25 – Abe Turner (1924–1962), 38, American chess expert, murdered at the offices of ''

Chess Review ''Chess Review'' was a U.S. chess magazine published from January 1933 to October 1969 (Volume 37 Number 10). 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 lat ...

''. *November 30 –

Ossip Bernstein Ossip Samoilovich Bernstein (20 September 1882 – 30 November 1962) was a Russian-French chess player and businessman. He was one of the inaugural recipients of the title Grandmaster (chess), International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. Biogra ...

(1882–1962), 80, Russian born French GM and a financial lawyer. *December – Menachem Oren (1901–1962), Polish-born Israeli chess player and mathematician. *November 18 –

Abram Gurvich Abram Solomonovich Gurvich ( Russian Абра́м Соломо́нович Гу́рвич) was a Russian composer of chess endgame studies. He was born in Baku on February 11, 1897, worked as literature and theatrical reviewer. His first chess stu ...

(1896–1962), Soviet chess problem composer *December 27 –

Pál Réthy Pál Réthy (28 January 1905, Deva – 27 December 1962, Budapest) was a Hungarian chess master. Born in Deva, Transylvania (then Austria-Hungary, now Romania), he lived in Hungary after World War I. He took 7th at Vienna 1926 (Rudolf Spielmann w ...

(1905–1962), Hungarian chess Olympian in 1935

References

{{Reflist 20th century in chess Chess by year