Douglas Griffin
@dgriffinchess
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Former chessplayer (1979-1995). Writer on Soviet chess history; translator of Russian-language chess literature. Published by Chess Informant, Quality Chess.
Insch, Scotland
Joined August 2013
NEWS: My translation of Levenfish's memoir, 'Selected Games & Reminiscences' is today published by @QualityChess as 'Soviet Outcast'. Details:. (Drawing of Levenfish is via A. Kentler at ) #chess
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The 2021 World Championship Challenger, Ian Nepomniachtchi, pictured with the 12th World #Chess Champion, Anatoly Karpov. (Photo via )
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55 years old today - the 15th World Champion, @vishy64theking. Pictured here, at age 19, at Wijk aan Zee 1989. (📷:) #chess
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Pictured in conversation at Wijk aan Zee, January 1989 - the 19-year-old grandmaster from India, future World Champion @vishy64theking. (📷:) #chess
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The 13-year-old Garry Kasparov - already USSR Under-18 champion - pictured in play at the Khalilbeyli Memorial tournament in Baku, Soviet Azerbaijan, May-June 1976. (Photo credit: V. Kalinin, Novosti Press.) #chess
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Genuinely astonishing. 2750+ rated player plays 46.Rxg5+ here. With 19 minutes remaining on his clock.
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Viktor Korchnoi, pictured in play v. Anatoly Karpov in their 1981 World Championship match in Merano, Italy. (Photo credit: J. Cooke, Corbis.) #chess
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Anatoly Karpov, pictured, at age 18, on his return to the USSR after having become World Junior Champion. (📷: Novosti Press.) #chess
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Kragerø, Norway, 5th August 2013. In preparation for his first World Championship match v. Vishy Anand, Magnus Carlsen is pictured in training with a certain Ian Nepomniachtchi. (📷M. Friedman, Getty Images.) #chess
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12-yr-old @kasparov63 faces World Champion Anatoly Karpov in a simultaneous display. Leningrad, 1975. (Photo: B. Kaufman.) @sovietvisuals
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16-year-old Garry Kasparov, pictured in play for the Azerbaijan SSR in the 7th USSR People's Spartakiad, Moscow, July 1979. (📷: Yu. Somov.) #chess
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Exactly half a century ago, one of the greatest #chess events of the 20th century was about to get under way in Belgrade. The 1st round of the USSR v. Rest of the World match took place on 29th March 1970.
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#FIDEWorldCup winners:. 2005 - Aronian.2007 - Kamsky.2009 - Gelfand.2011 - Svidler.2013 - Kramnik.2015 - Karjakin.2017 - Aronian.2019 - Radjabov. All of them born in the USSR. The run had to come to an end eventually; this year, with the defeat of Karjakin in the final, it did.
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Moscow, 28th March 1974. Yuri Averbakh (the oldest living GM - 99 years old today) faces @Kasparov63 (who would go on to become the youngest World #Chess Champion in history) in a clock simultaneous display in the traditional GMs v. Young Pioneers' team event. (📷B. Dolmatovsky.)
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World Cup Winners:.2005 - Levon Aronian.2007 - Gata Kamsky.2009 - Boris Gelfand.2011 - Peter Svidler.2013 - Vladimir Kramnik.2015 - Sergey Karjakin.2017 - Levon Aronian.2019 - Teimour Radjabov. All of them born in the Soviet Union. It casts a long shadow on #chess, still.
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Found hidden in the Noord-Holland archive: a photo from the 1977 Women's event at Wijk aan Zee, of, I believe, the young @PiaCramling (🇸🇪)!.Born in 1963 in Stockholm, she would go on to become Women's World #1, & (in 1992) the 5th woman to gain the FIDE Grandmaster title.
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'Grandmaster discussion' - a photo from the Novosti Press archives. The circumstances of this one are not clear, but it features Lev Polugaevsky, Anatoly Karpov, Vasily Smyslov and Mikhail Botvinnik. USSR, 1975. (📷: B. Kaufman.) #chess
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India's 2nd team defeats top seeds USA 3:1. Still recall seeing young @vishy64theking at the Lloyds' Bank Masters in London, 38 yrs ago in Aug 1984. Back then it was a novelty to witness such an obviously exceptional talent from India 🇮🇳. How times have changed. #ChessOlympiad.
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"Pupils of the #chess school at the Tbilisi Palace of Young Pioneers". USSR, 1988. (📷: B. Kaufman, Novosti Press.)
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Four world #chess champions (three past, one future). (Image found online; with no details of who took the photo, or where. Perhaps during the Aeroflot Open, Moscow, February 2004?!)
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The top of the FIDE rating list, January 1990. 2800 Kasparov.2730 Karpov.2680 Timman.2665 Ivanchuk.2645 Salov, M. Gurevich.2640 Beliavsky.2635 Short.2630 Andersson.2625 Korchnoi, Ljubojević.etc. One wonders what 2800 would be in today's money. .
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Viktor Korchnoi faces 12-year-old Garry Kasparov in a clock simultaneous display, Leningrad 1975. (Source: unknown.) #chess
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Via the Associated Press Archive, footage of the 1st game of the most famous match of them all - Spassky v Fischer, Reykjavík 1972. #chess
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A famous photo, but always worth revisiting. 14th Olympiad, Leipzig (East Germany), 1st Nov 1960. Grandmaster Bobby Fischer faces World Champion Mikhail Tal on top board of the USA v. USSR match in the 5th round of the 'A' final. (📷: Bundesarchiv.) #chess
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In advance of his 57th birthday tomorrow, a photo of the 12-year-old @Kasparov63, 13th World #Chess Champion, facing Viktor Korchnoi in a clock simultaneous display given by the (then!) Soviet grandmaster in Leningrad on 12th November, 1975. (Photo: N. Naumenkov / TASS.)
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16-year-old Anatoly Karpov, pictured at the European Junior (Under-20) Championship in Groningen, 27th December 1967. Karpov, who took 1st place in the event, is wearing his 'USSR Master of Sport' badge. (Photo credit: J. de Nijs / ANEFO, via ) #chess
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Tigran Petrosian and his trainer Isaac Boleslavsky. Moscow, 1963. (📷V. Un Da-sin, TASS.) #chess
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FIDE Interzonal tournament, Petropolis (Brazil), August 1973. Local grandmaster Henrique Mecking ('Mequinho') is pictured in play v. his Soviet counterpart Efim Geller in the adjourned session of the 12th round. The game was drawn. (📷: Veja São Paulo.) #chess
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The 13th World #Chess Champion, @Kasparov63, pictured in a restaurant in his home city of Baku. Photo taken in June, 1982, according to the archives. (📷D. Donskoi, Novosti Press.)
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Boris Spassky, pictured in Reykjavík at the time of his 1972 World Championship match v. Bobby Fischer. (Photo credit: J. Cooke / Sports Illustrated.) #chess
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Bobby Fischer’s scoresheet from the 1st game of his 1971 Candidates’ Quarter-final v. Mark Taimanov. As reproduced in Kažić, ‘International Championship Chess’ (Batsford, 1974).
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Mikhail Tal, pictured in play v. Garry Kasparov in the 5th round of the Moscow Interzonal tournament, 5th September 1982. (Photo: D. Donskoi / Novosti Press) #chess
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Five World Champions - Mikhail Tal, Mikhail Botvinnik, Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov & Vasily Smyslov. Pictured in Moscow, 9th May 1987. (Photo source: ) #chess
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Moscow, USSR. August 1983. Ex-World Champion Mikhail Tal is pictured in play in the traditional open blitz championship, held in Sokolniki Park. (📷: A. Fedorov, ) #chess
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Moscow, USSR, 1987. Ex-World #Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov and Natalya Bulanova are pictured before their marriage ceremony. (📷: D. Donskoi, Novosti Press.)
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One of the great World Championship photos -.Viktor Korchnoi, pictured in play v. Anatoly Karpov in their 1981 World Championship match in Merano, Italy. (📷: J. Cooke, Corbis.) #chess
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Iceland, 1972. Bobby Fischer is pictured being fitted for a made-to-measure suit. (One of a large collection of images of Fischer by the renowned photographer Harry Benson.) #chess
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The 16-year-old Hungarian grandmaster Péter Lékó, pictured with his mother at Wijk aan Zee in January 1996. In 2004 he missed becoming World Champion by the narrowest of margins, drawing the 14th-game title match v. Russia's Vladimir Kramnik. (📷:) #chess
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A photo of a frail-looking Mikhail Tal (1936-1992) taken, according to the archive, in 1991. The ex-World Champion was still mentally sharp, however - in 1992 he was famously still able to defeat Garry Kasparov in a blitz tournament in Moscow. (📷A. Yakovlev, TASS.) #chess
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Moscow, 4th April 1983. In the 2nd round of the 50th USSR Championship, Mikhail Tal is seen in play v. Tigran Petrosian. On the left, Oleg Romanishin faces Efim Geller, on the right, Anatoly Karpov is seen in play v. Georgiy Agzamov. (Photo: D. Donskoi / Novosti Press.) #chess
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Guess Ding Liren showed today that he didn’t become World Champion by accident. #DingGukesh.
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World Champion Alexander Alekhine, pictured on arrival in New York, 20th March 1929. (📷 Gamma-Keystone Collection.) #chess
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World #Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov in demonstration game at XVII Congress of Komsomol. USSR, 1978. (Photo: V. Rodionov) @sovietvisuals
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Anyone else's heart sink when they read the words "The influence of becoming the [World] champion is so minor compared to streaming", coming from one of the participants in the Candidates' tournament?!.
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@CitiusMag @adowniebrazil I was in Mexico City with work in 2015. To get to the University, we were driven past the Olympic Stadium - it was only when I saw the famous Diego Rivera mural that I realised what I was looking at. Such a historic place - Fosbury, Beamon, the Black Power salute. .
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It's a bit depressing that a YouTube video with the title "Biggest CHEATING SCANDAL in Chess History" has had over 1.1 million views in 5 days, when thus far there has been zero evidence of any cheating actually having taken place.
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Soviet grandmaster Anatoly Karpov, pictured in play during one of his most famous games, his win v. Unzicker (BRD) in the 3rd round of the 'A' final at the 21st Olympiad, Nice, 18th June 1974. (Photo: G. Giribaldi.) #chess
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Been thinking about this clip a lot since I saw it the other day. So extraordinarily poignant. That shake of the head and wry smile.
Probably the last footage of a genius. The great Mikhail Tal in 1992. I am deeply touched 😥.#Chess.Source: Youtube / Mister Chess
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Pictured in Baku in February 1978, the 14-year-old Garry Kasparov. At that time he was fresh from winning the Sokolsky Memorial tournament in Minsk with 13/17, exceeding by 3½ points the norm for the title of Soviet Master of Sport. (Photo credit: M. Chianurov, TASS.) #chess
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Hidden away in the Dutch regional photo archives: some shots of the young @vishy64theking in action at Wijk aan Zee, v. Vitaly Tseshkovsky & Viktor Korchnoi, in 1989 & 1990, respectively. (📷via ) #chess
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Wijk aan Zee, 12th January 1990. @vishy64theking is pictured prior to the start of his opening-round game v. Rini Kuijf, which he won in only 24 moves. (Photographer: unknown, via ) #chess
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Ex-World Champion Mikhail Tal, pictured in play in the international tournament in Leningrad, July 1977. (Photo: N. Naumenkov / TASS.) #chess
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Manuel Aaron, on stage at the closing ceremony of the #ChessOlympiad in Chennai this evening.
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50 years ago tomorrow - 23rd January 1973. Round 7 in the Hoogovens tournament at Wijk aan Zee; Mikhail Tal (USSR) v. Hein Donner (Netherlands). Cigarettes, analogue clocks, and not a sponsor's logo in sight. (📷: B. Verhoeff / ANEFO, via ) #chess
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#Chess history was made today. Here is a graphical representation of the age at which each of the 18 World Champions first gained the title. #DingGukesh.
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RIP Jonathan Penrose 1933-2021. Winner of ten British Championships between 1958 and 1969, he famously defeated reigning World Champion Mikhail Tal at the Leipzig Olympiad in 1960. (Photos via ) #chess
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Garry Kasparov, playing chess in the park in Baku, USSR. June 1982. (📷D. Donskoi, Novosti Press.)
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Moscow, April 1975. Anatoly Karpov is pictured at a press conference in the Soviet capital after he was declared the 12th World #Chess Champion by @FIDE_chess president Max Euwe, following Bobby Fischer's refusal to take part in the title match. (📷Bettmann Collection.)
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A quarter of a century ago at Wijk aan Zee - January, 1998. 1st-2nd place was shared by @vishy64theking (🇮🇳) & Vladimir Kramnik (🇷🇺) - the latter is pictured here in play v. Jan Timman (🇳🇱). (📷via ) #chess
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Tilburg (Interpolis), 1st November 1991. The 12th-round meeting between @vishy64theking & @Kasparov63. The Indian grandmaster defeated the World Champion in a dramatic game, but it wasn't enough to stop Kasparov from taking 1st place in the event. (📷: Stadsarchief Breda.) #chess
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Bobby Fischer, pictured in a New York City book store in 1962. The book he is holding is the 1960 publication 'Shakhmaty' by I. L. Maizelis. Fischer could read Russian and paid very close attention to the Soviet #chess press. (📷C. Mydans, via LIFE Magazine.)
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Mikhail Tal, pictured in play v. Garry Kasparov in the 5th round of the Moscow Interzonal tournament, 5th September 1982. The game, an early example of the 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 gambit line in the Semi-Slav Defence, was drawn in 24 moves. (Photo: D. Donskoi / Novosti Press) #chess
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Two portraits of the 10th World #Chess Champion, Boris Spassky, taken at the press conference in Reykjavík, 30th June 1972, prior to his title match v. Bobby Fischer. (📷J. Cooke, Sports Illustrated.)
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"International Grandmaster Garry Kimovich Kasparov checks the mail at his home.".Baku, USSR, October 1986. (📷: B. Kaufman, Novosti Press.) #chess
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One of the most famous games of the 20th century. Siegen (West Germany), 20th September 1970. The 19th @FIDE_chess Olympiad. In round 6 of final group 'A', Boris Spassky faces Bobby Fischer on top board of the USSR v. USA match. (📷 via ) #chess
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FIDE tie-break, 1983 style. The Smyslov-Hübner Candidates' Quarter-final match was famously decided by a spin of the roulette wheel when the score remained tied after the 14th game. Smyslov (seated, centre) went through; Hübner could not bear to be present. #chess
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Leningrad, USSR, 1978. In the background, right - World #Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov. (📷: D. Donskoi, Novosti Press.)
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50 years ago. The @FIDE_chess rating list of July 1971:.1 Fischer 2760.2 Spassky 2690.3 Korchnoi 2670.4 Larsen 2660.5= Petrosian 2640.5= Polugaevsky 2640.7= Portisch 2630.7= Botvinnik 2630.9= Smyslov 2620.9= Tal 2620.
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Grandmaster Timman arriving at the tournament venue in quintessentially Dutch fashion. 👏.(📷: H. Gielen, via ) #chess
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An early photo of the 14th World #Chess Champion, Vladimir Kramnik. (Photo from Kramnik family archives.)
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Has been said before (e.g. by @ddtru), but Vasily Smyslov's collections of his best games are just incredibly instructive. His annotations place the emphasis on plans & ideas, with only occasional deep variations. Always get a wonderful sense of harmony playing through them.
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". I experienced a severe shock, on seeing front of me a living legend - Mikhail Tal!" - @Kasparov63, on his meeting, still aged only 10 yrs old, with the ex-World Champion in the All-Union Tournament of Pioneers' Palaces. Moscow, 25th March 1974. (📷D. Donskoi, Novosti Press.)
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Grandmaster Garry Kasparov (left), cycling with a friend in his home city of Baku, USSR, July 1982. (📷: D. Donskoi, Novosti Press.) #chess
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Tbilisi, December 1978. The 46th USSR Championship final. In conversation, ex-World Champion Mikhail Tal and, at the chessboard, the 15-year-old debutant, and future World Champion @Kasparov63. (Photo source: ) #chess
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Hungary's Richard Rapport quietly continues his advance towards the top of the FIDE rating list. He still has time on his side too (screen capture from @2700chess).
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Ulf was lamenting the demise of post-game analyses with one's opponent. Here is a photo by Boris Dolmatovsky from the Moscow Interzonal tournament of 40 years ago - Velimirović & Andersson examine their game, as Geller, Kasparov, Ivkov & Tal look on.
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Tigran Petrosian, Viktor Korchnoi & Evgeny Vasiukov analysing the opening game of Tal-Botvinnik World Championship match, Moscow 1961. (Photographer: unknown, via ITAR-TASS archive.) #chess
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FIDE Rating list, 30 yrs ago - with the players' ages indicated. 1 Kasparov 2775 (26).2 Karpov 2755 (38).3 Short 2660 (24).4 Ivanchuk 2660 (20).5 Korchnoi 2655 (58).6 Salov 2645 (25).7 M. Gurevich 2640 (30).8 Andersson 2635 (38).9 Timman 2635 (37).10 Ljubojevic 2635 (38). #chess.
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I bought this map of the USSR while in the Soviet Union in 1988. It seems so very long ago. @sovietvisuals
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Portorož (Yugoslavia), 6th August 1958. Géza Füster faces 15-year-old Bobby Fischer in the 2nd round of the @FIDE_chess Interzonal. It was at this tournament that Fischer became a grandmaster, by qualifying for the 1959 Candidates' tournament. (📷:) #chess
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One of the pages from the young Garry Kasparov's notebooks from his time at the Botvinnik school. All done by hand, including pieces stamped on the diagram in ink. The analysis is of the game Keres-Bondarevsky, (USSR Absolute Championship, Leningrad/Moscow 1941).
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1985 & 1986. We didn't know how lucky we were. The 2 best players in the world, in peak form, & managing to produce some of the finest games in World Championship history (and of #chess in general). Also the subject of one of the greatest books ever, written by @Kasparov63.
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40 years ago today, in Moscow, the first Karpov-@Kasparov63 match for the World Championship got under way in the Hall of Columns in the House of Unions in central Moscow. It would only come to an end - unresolved, the following February. (📷: D. Donskoi, Novosti Press.) #chess
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Two rare colour images from one of the strongest Soviet Championships of them all - the 41st (Moscow, 1973). Taken during the 13th round (played 20th October) - Karpov v. Polugaevsky & Sveshnikov v. Petrosian. (Photo credits: V. Savostianov, TASS.) #chess
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World Chess Champion Mikhail Botvinnik (1911-1995), shovelling snow outside his dacha at Nikolina Gora, Moscow oblast, USSR, February 1963. (📷Yu. Abramochkin, Novosti Press.) #chess
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Idlewild Airport, New York, September 1958. 15-year-old Bobby Fischer is pictured on his return from the Interzonal tournament in Portorož, Yugoslavia, at which he qualified for the FIDE Candidates' tournament - thereby gaining the grandmaster title. (📷 Pictorial Parade) #chess
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After winning the 1963 US Championship with an unprecedented (& unrepeated) perfect score of 11/11, Bobby Fischer is presented with a cake. On the 'board', the position after 19.Rf6! from his win v. Benko, which features in 'My 60 Memorable Games'. (Photo credit: unknown.) #chess
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The 17th Olympiad, Havana 1966. 'A' final, Rd. 2. The match between the USA & the USSR teams; on the top 2 boards Bobby Fischer & Robert Byrne face Boris Spassky & Mikhail Tal, respectively. (📷: Novosti Press.) #chess
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Moscow, 1st September 1972. Five World #Chess Champions in a single photo: Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Mikhail Botvinnik, Boris Spassky & Anatoly Karpov. (Photo: V. Velikhanzhin, TASS.)
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FIDE rating list, January 1977:.1 Karpov 2690.2-4 Korchnoi, Petrosian, Mecking 2645.5 Portisch 2625.6-8 Hort, Polugaevsky, Tal 2620.9-10 Larsen, Ljubojević 2615.11 Spassky 2610.12 Hübner 2600. Only 12 players > 2600! #chess.
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José Raúl Capablanca, pictured, according to the archive ( entry, in Berlin in August 1928. #chess
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Baku, USSR, 12th November 1985. Newly-crowned World #Chess Champion @Kasparov63 is met by fans on his return to his native city, after having defeated Anatoly Karpov in their match in Moscow by the score 13:11 (+5,-3,=16). (📷: B. Kaufman, Novosti Press.)
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