Two games played by Palle Ravn
I was browsing through some older issues of Norsk Sjakkblad and in 1/1958, p. 27 [in pdf], I've found the following...
Not knowing Norse, my very first thought was that this Palle Ravn was some popular Norwegian actor, starring in a new chess movie of 1958 under the title Jarleslaget! Of course silly thought that proved to be wrong. Jarleslaget was a tournament in Norway that Ravn won. But isn't it a little uncommon photo for an older chess magazine, reminding a little of James Dean?!? Anyway...
Palle Ravn [1928-2012] was a strong Dane chess player of the fifties. Danish champion of 1957 and friend of Bent Larsen, seems starting his chess career in Paris of the early '50s, where he was working as a freelance correspondent but also studying. Playing chess on money at the cafes was an other source of income, and one notable opponent of this kind, but also friend, seems to be Tristan Tzara, the Dadaist famous writer. In Paris Ravn encountered Tartakower at least two times, of course with no positive results. He won the Danish championship of 1957, in the absence of Bent Larsen, and one of his successes of the time was a win vs Portisch within Reykjavik 1957. He also participated with the colours of Denmark as 1st reserve in the 13th Chess Olympiad of 1958 in Munich. Afterwards his chess career seems to stop, related somehow, at least regarding the same timing, with his break-up and divorce with the talented Dane dancer Hanne-Marie Petersen. [main source for these info from At Kunne Uden At Ville by Lars Grahn in Skakbladet 4/2017, p. 48, in pdf]
Bent Larsen, commenting the Ravn-Petrosian 1958 game in Skakspilleren II [found in Grahn's article], wrote on Ravn:
But Palle Ravn was never afraid of the strongest opponents. It amused them to play against him, and he played better against people like Petrosian and Spassky than against unknown opponents from Mongolia or France.
[=Men Palle Ravn var aldrig bange for de allerstærkeste modstandere. Dem morede det ham at spille imod, og han spillede bedre mod folk som Petrosjan og Spasskij end mod ukendte modstandere fra Mongoliet eller Frankrig.]
Paris 1955 vs Scherbakoff
This tournament played in Paris on Oct 1955, was probably Tartakower's last one, few months before he was found dead. It was possibly played within Le cercle d'échecs Caissa, but not sure. The only tourney report I've found is in Tidskrift för Schack.
Tartakower won with 7, while Ravn, Popel and Scherbakoff tied with 6.5. Georges Scherbakoff was a player of Russian origin in Paris of the 1950s. A brilliant game by Ravn.
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Munich 1958 vs Petrosian
Ravn showed some excellent performance against Petrosian. And it seemed that it could be a very interesting endgame [4 minors vs 2 rooks + bishop], if time wouldn't press the players. The game has been analyzed by Larsen, as it's already written, but also by Igor Yanvarev in Староиндийская в исполнении Тиграна Петросяна [Old Indian played by Petrosian], 2010.
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....thanx for reading
