Sarajevo 1967

This cover image from "Chess Life" June 1967 caught my eye since it features Robert Byrne, Vladmir Savon and Leonid Stein.

The cover also displayed a crosstable from that event:

Notice that Ivkov and Stein shared first place (and $50,000).

Here are the two winners:

Robert Byrne, who shared 3rd-4th with Savon kept Stein from collecting the entire first prize:

Great game. Have you written about Leonid Stein previously? I heard he died young in 'mysterious' circumstances.

Stein died in Moscow of an apparent heart attack at age 38 in 1973. According to Wikipedia, he had a lifetime plus score against Tal, Spassky, and Keres, and an even score against Petrosian, Botvinnik, and Smyslov.

Another fantastic Soviet player. I've not seen many of his games but I remember a great sacrificial win with black vs Kroguis.

Wow! No Fischer! You expect Fischer to play in such a strong tournament.

Actually there seems to have been some controversy of Stein's heart failure.  Fischer attributed it to smoking and bad health habits, but Korchnoi claimed it was from the vaccinations he received in order to travel abroad to Brazil. 

After the tournament in Stockholm, where Stein earned his GM title, Fischer, who won the tournament wanted to play blitz with Geller, the second place winner, but Geller wasn't in the mood and suggested Stein who had finished tied for 6th-7th-8th. Stein agreed but Fischer would only play for a small bet and then arrogantly gave Stein the odds of needing only to win 2 out of 5 games to win the bet.  Stein won the first 3 games and pocketed the money  Fischer won none.   Fischer and Stein drew their individual game in Stockholm.

Lenya Stein's grave in Lviv:

'I specialize only in winning Soviet Championships' Not a bad day job!! Despite his reputation for dynamic attacking chess, Stein was seriously tough to beat, so great effort by Robert Byrne. Stein's win against Smyslov was a wonderful game. 

Stein is my favorite Soviet player. Exceptionally talented. He had some bad luck in Candidates tournaments.  He may have been the dark horse favorite in the upcoming Interzonal before his tragic death. Probably would have been rated behind Karpov and Korchnoi. Probably next on the pecking order with Polugaevsky. Unfortunately we will never know. Love that combination at the end of his win vs Smyslov.