The 1969 World Chess Championship was played between Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky in Moscow from April 14 to June 17, 1969. This was the second consecutive time Petrosian and Spassky played for the world title. Spassky reversed the previous result; winning the world title and becoming the tenth World Chess Champion.
The 1967 Interzonal Tournament was played in Sousse, Tunisia in October and November. The first six placegetters qualified for the Candidates, along with Boris Spassky and Mikhail Tal who were seeded into the Candidates matches as finalists of the previous tournament.
A major controversy occurred when Bobby Fischer, who was leading the tournament with seven wins and three draws in ten rounds, abandoned the event over a dispute with the organisers. Because Fischer withdrew before he had played half his games, the results of his games were not included in his opponents' totals.
Bent Larsen went on to win, with Korchnoi, Geller, Gligorić, and Portisch taking the next four places.
There was a three-way tie for sixth place among Samuel Reshevsky, Vlastimil Hort, and Leonid Stein, who played a round-robin playoff to determine the final place in the Candidates matches. In the event of a tie, the player with the best Sonneborn-Berger tie break from the Interzonal would qualify. [1] The playoff ended in a three-way tie, so Reshevsky qualified.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | Total | Tie break | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | - | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 15½ | |
| 2 |  | 1 | - | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 14 | 136.00 |
| 3 | | ½ | ½ | - | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 135.75 |
| 4 |  | ½ | ½ | ½ | - | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 135.00 |
| 5 |  | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | - | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13½ | |
| 6 |  | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | - | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 13 | 129.75 |
| 7 |  | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | - | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 120.25 |
| 8 | | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | - | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 13 | 117.00 |
| 9 | | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | - | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 12½ | |
| 10 | | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | - | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 12 | |
| 11 | | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | - | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 103.50 |
| 12 |  | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 11 | 102.50 |
| 13 | | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | - | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 10 | 93.75 |
| 14 | | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | - | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 90.00 |
| 15 |  | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | - | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 9½ | |
| 16 | | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | - | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |
| 17 | | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | - | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 8 | |
| 18 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | - | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 7½ | |
| 19 |  | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6½ | 61.00 |
| 20 |  | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | - | 0 | 1 | 6½ | 54.50 |
| 21 |  | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | - | ½ | 4 | |
| 22 |  | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | - | 3½ |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | - | ==== | ==== | 4 |
| 2 | | ==== | - | =0=1 | 4 |
| 3 | | ==== | =1=0 | - | 4 |
Spassky won the Candidates Tournament – as he did in the 1966 cycle – earning the right to challenge Petrosian for the World Championship a second time.
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||||
| Sukhumi, June 1968 | |||||||||||||||
| | 5½ | ||||||||||||||
| | 2½ | Malmö, July 1968 | |||||||||||||
| | 5½ | ||||||||||||||
| Porec, May 1968 | | 2½ | |||||||||||||
| | 4½ | ||||||||||||||
| | 5½ | Kiev, Sep 1968 | |||||||||||||
| | 6½ | ||||||||||||||
| Belgrade, Apr–May 1968 | | 3½ | |||||||||||||
| | 3½ | ||||||||||||||
| | 5½ | Moscow, June–July 1968 | |||||||||||||
| | 4½ | ||||||||||||||
| Amsterdam, May 1968 | | 5½ | |||||||||||||
| | 2½ | ||||||||||||||
| | 5½ | ||||||||||||||
Larsen and Tal contested a third place playoff in the Dutch town of Eersel in March 1969, which Larsen won 5½–2½.
The match was played as best of 24 games. If it ended 12-12, Petrosian, the title holder, would retain the Championship.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 12½ |
| 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 10½ |
Spassky won.
Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. Spassky played three world championship matches: he lost to Tigran Petrosian in 1966; defeated Petrosian in 1969 to become world champion; then lost to Bobby Fischer in a famous match in 1972.
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet Armenian Grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost impenetrable defensive playing style, which emphasized safety above all else. Petrosian is credited with popularizing chess in Armenia.
Mikhail Tal was a Soviet Latvian chess player and the eighth World Chess Champion.
Leonid 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.
Jørgen Bent Larsen was a Danish chess grandmaster and author. Known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play, he was the first Western player to pose a serious challenge to the Soviet Union's dominance in chess. He is considered to be the strongest player born in Denmark and the strongest from Scandinavia until the emergence of Magnus Carlsen.
Samuel Herman Reshevsky 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 1960s: he tied for third place in the 1948 World Chess Championship tournament, and tied for second in the 1953 Candidates Tournament. He was an eight-time winner of the US Chess Championship, tying him with Bobby Fischer for the all-time record.
This is a timeline of chess.
Robert Eugene Byrne was an American chess grandmaster and chess author. He won the U.S. Championship in 1972, and was a World Chess Championship Candidate in 1974. Byrne represented the United States nine times in Chess Olympiads from 1952 to 1976 and won seven medals. He was the chess columnist from 1972 to 2006 for The New York Times, which ran his final column on November 12, 2006. Byrne worked as a university professor for many years, before becoming a chess professional in the early 1970s.
Oscar Roberto Panno is an Argentine chess Grandmaster. Panno was the first top world chess player born in South America.
Efim Petrovich Geller was a Soviet Ukrainian 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. He won four Ukrainian Championship titles and shared first in the 1991 World Seniors' Championship, winning the title outright in 1992.
The Candidates Tournament 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 winner of the Candidates earns the right to a match for the World Championship against the incumbent World Champion.
Lajos Portisch is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname, the "Hungarian Botvinnik". One of the strongest non-Soviet players from the early 1960s into the late 1980s, he participated in twelve consecutive Interzonals from 1962 through 1993, qualifying for the World Chess Championship Candidates' cycle a total of eight times. Portisch set several all-time records in Chess Olympiads. In Hungarian Chess Championships, he either shared the title or won it outright a total of eight times. He won many strong international tournaments during his career. In 2004, Portisch was awarded the title of 'Nemzet Sportolója', Hungary's highest national sports achievement award.
Borislav Ivkov is 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.
At 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. The cycle is particularly remembered for the controversy surrounding the Candidates' Tournament at Curaçao in 1962, which resulted in FIDE changing the format of the Candidates Tournament to a series of knockout matches.
The Piatigorsky Cup was a triennial series of double round-robin grandmaster chess tournaments held in the United States in the 1960s. Sponsored by the Piatigorsky Foundation, only two events were held, in 1963 and 1966. The Piatigorsky Cups were the strongest U.S. chess tournaments since New York 1927.
The 1966 World Chess Championship was played between Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky in Moscow from April 9 to June 9, 1966. Petrosian won.
The 1975 World Chess Championship was not played due to a dispute over the match format. Champion Bobby Fischer was to play Anatoly Karpov in Manila, commencing June 1, 1975. Fischer refused to play the then-standard "Best of 24 games" match, and after FIDE was unable to work out a compromise, forfeited his title instead. Karpov was named World Champion by default on April 3, 1975.
Events in chess in 1971;
Events in chess in 1973:
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi was a Soviet and Swiss chess grandmaster and writer. He is considered one of the strongest players never to have become World Chess Champion.
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