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 dist ...

in 1969;

Top players

Provisional FIDE top 10 by Elo rating - 1969 #

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 1 ...

2720 # Boris Spassky 2690 #

Viktor 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 ...

2680 # Mikhail Botvinnik 2660 #

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 ...

2650 #

Bent Larsen Jørgen Bent Larsen (4 March 1935 – 9 September 2010) was a Danish chess grandmaster and author. Known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play, he was the second strongest non-Soviet player, behind Bobby Fischer, for much of the 19 ...

2630 #

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 ...

2620 # Lajos Portisch 2620 #

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 ...

2610 #

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 in ...

2610

Chess news in brief

* Boris Spassky defeats

12½-10½ in Moscow, to become the tenth

World Chess Champion The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 matc ...

. In an otherwise close contest, it is generally believed that Spassky's greater ambition and superior tactical awareness give him the edge. In game 19, he wins against the defending Champion's Sicilian Defence in just 24 moves. *The World Junior Championship is held in Stockholm and the chess world witnesses the emergence of a future star in young

Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov ( rus, links=no, Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈkarpəf; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Che ...

. He takes the title by three clear points with 10/11, and enjoys a run of eight straight wins. Andras Adorjan leads the following pack and has his own moment of glory at the European Junior Championship at Groningen, where he is a clear winner. *At

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

in 1968, Professor

Arpad Elo Arpad Emmerich Elo ( Élő Árpád Imre; August 25, 1903 – November 5, 1992) was a Hungarian-American physics professor who created the Elo rating system for two-player games such as chess. Born in Egyházaskesző, Kingdom of Hungary, ...

(Milwaukee),

Folke Rogard Bror Axel Folke Per Rogard (6 July 1899 – 11 June 1973) was a Swedish lawyer, chess official, player and arbiter. He was born in Stockholm, with the surname Rosengren, and qualified as a lawyer with that name. After a family member was charged w ...

( FIDE President), Dr. Dorazil (Austria) and GM

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 ...

, formed a (FIDE) sub-committee charged with creating an internationally compatible rating system. Such a system could be used to judge the comparative strength of players and provide a fairer basis upon which 'master titles' would be awarded. Upon completion of their task, the newly conceived Elo rating system is used to make sense of the many game results collected from January 1966 to May 1969. The resulting, provisional 'world list' comprises the top 10 players (given above) and further includes ... Smyslov, Stein, Tal (all 2610); Olafsson, Kholmov (both 2600); Bronstein, Furman, Gligoric, Hort, Najdorf, Taimanov (all 2590); Gipslis, Krogius (both 2580); Evans, Lein, Reshevsky, Vasiukov (all 2570); Antoshin, Lutikov, Matulovic, Savon, Suetin, Unzicker, Zaitsev A. (all 2560) ... *Petrosian wins the 37th Soviet Championship after a (1970) play-off with

, both players having finished with 14/22. The tournament doubles up as a zonal qualifier for the next cycle of the World Championship. Fellow qualifiers are

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 t ...

and

Mark Taimanov Mark Evgenievich Taimanov (russian: Марк Евгеньевич Тайманов; 7 February 1926 – 28 November 2016) was one of the leading Soviet and Russian chess players, among the world's top 20 players from 1946 to 1971. A prolific ch ...

; they all progress to next year's

Interzonal Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by the World Chess Federation FIDE from the 1950s to the 1990s. They were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle and were held after the Zonal tournaments, and before the C ...

tournament.

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 ...

awaits an operation to remove a kidney and understandably struggles to finish 'off the pace', with 10½/22. *The winner of the Raach zonal tournament is

Wolfgang Uhlmann Wolfgang Uhlmann (29 March 193524 August 2020) was a German chess grandmaster. He was East Germany's most successful chess player, reaching the 1971 Candidates Tournament. During his career, Uhlmann played many of the top players of the time a ...

with 15½/21, a full two points clear of the field, which includes

Ulf Andersson Ulf Andersson (born 27 June 1951) is a leading Swedish chess player. FIDE awarded him the International Master title in 1970 and the Grandmaster title in 1972. Career At his peak, Andersson reached number four on the FIDE rating list. Tourname ...

, Jan Smejkal,

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 ...

and Lajos Portisch (all 13½/21). *

wins at Palma de Mallorca with 12/17, from Petrosian (11½/17). It's an impressive win for the Danish GM, given that the line-up also contains

Vlastimil Hort Vlastimil Hort (born 12 January 1944) is a German chess Grandmaster. During the 1960s and 1970s he was one of the world's strongest players and reached the 1977–78 Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship, but never qualified ...

and Boris Spassky. * Mikhail Botvinnik and Geller share victory at

Wijk aan Zee Wijk aan Zee ( literally ''Neighborhood at Sea'') is a village on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk, the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament (formerly called the Corus ...

with 10½/15, ahead of Portisch and

(both 10/15). *Korchnoi and Alexei Suetin are joint winners of the Capablanca Memorial in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

. Their score of 11/15, narrowly edges out

on 10½/15. *Lajos Portisch wins at

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

with 11½/15, at

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

(with Smyslov, 8/11) and at

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

(1969/70 edition), scoring 6/9, ahead of Hort, Gligoric and Uhlmann. * Jonathan Penrose extends his record number of British Championship wins to ten at

Rhyl Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the historic boundaries of Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at the mouth of the River Clwyd ( Welsh: ''Afon Clwyd''). To the we ...

in Wales. The Championships also feature exciting future prospects Michael Stean, winner of the Under-16 event and

Jonathan Speelman Jonathan Simon Speelman (born 2 October 1956) is an English Grandmaster chess player, mathematician and chess writer. Early life and education He was educated at Worcester College, Oxford, where he read Mathematics. Career A winner of the Br ...

, the winner at Under-14 level. *In America,

Samuel Reshevsky Samuel Herman Reshevsky (born Szmul Rzeszewski; November 26, 1911 – April 4, 1992) was a Polish chess prodigy and later a leading American chess grandmaster. He was a contender for the World Chess Championship from the mid-1930s to the mid-196 ...

is also making history. His U.S. Championship win echoes all the way back to 1936 when he won the first ever (tournament style) national championship. With this, his eighth win, he equals

's previous record achievement. *The Women's

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 an ...

, held in Lublin, is thoroughly dominated by the USSR team with a near perfect 26/28, ahead of Hungary (20½/28) and Czechoslovakia (19/28). *Ulf Andersson, at just eighteen years, wins his first Swedish Championship. * Ludek Pachman, Czechoslovak chess player, writer and

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...

is imprisoned for a considerable time on unspecified charges, following his constant campaigning against the Communist occupation of his homeland. CHESS magazine - Vol 35, Christmas 1969, p 113 At one point he goes on hunger strike and is dangerously close to death. Much later, he is allowed to immigrate to West Germany. *Publishers

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...

(New York) and Faber and Faber (London) release Bobby Fischer's ''

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 ''M ...

''. Reviewers hail it as one of the most important chess books in modern times. It is particularly praised for the candour of the commentary and the expert quality of the analysis. *The first ever

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

is contested in Japan. *U.S. magazines ''

Chess Life The monthly ''Chess Life'' and bi-monthly ''Chess Life Kids'' (formerly ''School Mates'' and ''Chess Life for Kids'') are the official magazines published by the United States Chess Federation (US Chess). ''Chess Life'' is advertised as the "most ...

'' and '' Chess Review'' merge to form ''Chess Life & Review''. It remains in this format from 1969 until 1980, when it reverts to ''Chess Life''. *The veteran Fritz Samisch, a much respected player in his day, participates at the Busum tournament and loses all fifteen of his games on time.

Births

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating o ...

, Indian GM, twice the World Champion in 2000 and 2007 - December 11 * Vassily Ivanchuk, Ukrainian GM and former European Champion and World Blitz Champion - March 18 * Susan Polgar, U.S./Hungarian GM and former Women's World Champion - April 19 * Alexei Dreev, Russian GM, twice the World Youth Champion at Cadet/Under 16 level - January 30 *

Jeroen Piket Jeroen Piket (born 27 January 1969) is a Dutch chess grandmaster. He is a four-time Dutch Chess Champion. Chess career Born in 1969, Piket earned his international master title in 1986 and his grandmaster title in 1989. He won the Dutch Chess ...

, Dutch GM (retired) and a four-time winner of the national championship - January 27 *

Gregory Serper Gregory Serper (russian: Григорий Юрьевич Серпер, translit=Grigory Yurievich Serper; born September 14, 1969) is a chess grandmaster. He was born in Tashkent, in the former Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union ...

, U.S./Soviet GM and former winner of the World Open - September 14 *

Thomas Luther Thomas Luther (born November 4, 1969, in Erfurt) is a German chess player and International Grandmaster of chess. In 2000 he was a member of the German team that won the silver medal in the 34th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul. Childhood and Youth He ...

, German GM and three times the national champion - November 4 *

Wu Shaobin Wu Shaobin (born 4 February 1969) is a Singaporean chess Grandmaster. He won the national Singaporean Chess Championship in 2003 and 2005. He is married to former Women's World Chess Champion Xie Jun. In 1998, Wu Shaobin became China's ...

, Chinese GM and winner of the championship of Singapore in 2003 and 2005 - February 4 *

Svetlana Matveeva Svetlana Vladislavovna Matveeva (russian: Светлана Владиславовна Матвеева; born 4 July 1969) is a Russian chess player holding the titles of International Master and Woman Grandmaster. In 1984, she tied for first w ...

, Russian WGM and IM. Many times the USSR and Russian Women's Champion - July 4 * Aaron Summerscale, English GM and British Rapidplay Champion in 2000 - August 26 * Ildikó Mádl, Hungarian WGM and IM. Former World and European Junior Girls' Champion - November 5 * Anjelina Belakovskaia, U.S./Ukrainian WGM and IM. Three times the U.S. Women's Champion - May 17 * Olav Sepp, Estonian IM and six times the winner of the national championship - May 5 * Stuart Rachels, U.S. International Master and a former national champion - September 26

Deaths

Alexander Tolush Alexander Kazimirovich Tolush (1 May 1910 – 3 March 1969) was a Soviet chess grandmaster. He was one of Boris Spassky's mentors. Tolush was born and died in Saint Petersburg (in 1969 called Leningrad). He earned the title of International Mast ...

, Soviet-Russian GM, renowned journalist and trainer of Spassky and Keres - March 3 *

Alexey Sokolsky Alexey Pavlovich Sokolsky (3 November 1908 Penza Governorate, Russian Empire – 27 December 1969 Minsk, USSR) was a Russian chess player of International Master strength in chess, a noted correspondence chess player, and an opening theoreti ...

, Soviet theoretician, former Correspondence Champion of the USSR - December 27 *

Kurt Richter Kurt Paul Otto Joseph Richter (24 November 1900 – 29 December 1969) was a German chess International Master and chess writer. Chess achievements In 1922, Richter for the first time won the Berlin City Chess Championship. In 1928, he tie ...

, German IM, theoretician, writer and former Champion of Berlin - December 29 * Joao de Souza Mendes, seven times the national champion of Brazil - July 10 * Walter Henneberger, Swiss Master and four times the national champion - January 15 * Leonids Dreibergs, Latvian-American Master, twice the winner of the Michigan Championship - April 6 * Otto Löwenborg, leading Swedish Master of the early 20th Century - December ?

Notes

References

*
Chess History & Chronology - Bill Wall
2009-10-20)
Olimpbase - Olympiads and other Team event information
{{chess 20th century in chess Chess by year