Soviet Cheating in FIDE Competition: 1952 Stockholm Interzonal

There is a discussion in the Reuben Fine wikipedia entry concerning why he declined to participate in the 1948 FIDE Championship match-tournament.  He was, at the time, working on his doctorate at the University of Southern California (in Los Angeles).  However, in 1947 he played a training match with Herman Steiner of Hollywood (a strong master and US Champion, which Fine won 5-1.  My statements about his motivations echo the recollections of GM Larry Evans - a top young US player at the time.

Btw - Steiner wrote the chess column for the Los Angeles Times then, and stated that the match was intended as a "tune up" for Fine's participation in the 1948 event.

The watch results were 4 wins an 2 draws in favor of Fine.

I'm sorry, but Larry Evans wasn't exactly known for being careful with facts or corrobating evidence. Furthermore, there was no evidence of Soviets throwing games against each other at the time. No qualification tournaments had yet been played at that stage. Just give it a rest, it's a big load of cobblers. A conspiracy theory without foundation. Reuben Fine had given up professional chess to pursue a career in academia at least a couple of years earlier, and for that reason he decided not to play in the 1948 World Championship Tournament. Kenneth Harkness wrote the following in Chess Review #12/1947 in an article entitled 'World Championship Forecast': 'Our own Reuben Fine could bring home the bacon. If he could work up the flaming enthusisam that swept him to victory, with Keres, at AVRO in 1938, Fine could finish on top. However, the No.2 player of the Uniled States has been out of master competition for a long time. It may be too much of a handicap.'

Dr.Fine won the Dec 1948 "New York Invitational" against mostly international grandmaster competition with the fantastic score of 7 wins, 2 draws, and 0 losses.

He finished ahead of Najdorf, Euwe, and Pilnik.

During WW2 (1939 to 1945), international tournaments, outside of fascist regimes, virtually ceased.  Fine made some money by giving simuls and doing analysis of axis submarine operations forthe Navy..  Fine was still an active, top flight player though.  He won another tournament in 1951.

Fine didn't win the Wertheim Memorial in 1951, the only tournament he played that year. He played in it as a tribute to the former president of the Manhattan Chess Club who had passed away. Fine finished fourth, behind Reshevsky, Najdorf and Euwe. 

Fine did an amazing job to finish fourth! He had a full time practice that he continued during the tournament. Hans Kmoch marveled at his performance considering he was exhausted for the entire event. This was his last professional tournament. 

There's a nice review of the tournament at chessgames.com:

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=81227

That's right.  Fine lost to the top two finishers (Reshevsky and Nadjorf), and won or drew the rest.  My mistake.

JamieDelarosa: The point isn't whether Fine had successes beyond the mid-1940s, he obviously did. The point is that he retired as a chess professional to pursue a career as a psycholoanalyst. His results on his few outings after retirement from professional chess is a clear indication of an outstanding talent.

I think the reason Fine did not play in 1948 was closer to what Evans maintained.  Fine did not want to spend the time to prepare when the odds were stacked in favor of the Soviets.

I am not a "sir."

I just go where the evidence takes me

Does the evidence take you to the realization that the best players in the world in 1952 were Soviets? If you aren’t there, you’re not following the evidence.

Evans was quite simply wrong on the subject, as can be seen from Fine's chess activity in 1946 and 1947. He hardly played at all.

The evidence points to, of course, that Fine began preparation for the World Championship match-tournament with a training match match versus Herman Steiner in Los Angeles (where both lived/studied).

Evans avers that Fine told him why he soured on the proposed competition - Soviet chicanery.  I think history has shown that Fine's instincts were correct.

Yes, Fine began preparations for the match tournament, but he didn't abandon it because he had a hunch that the Soviets would cheat. He declined to participate because he had already decided to focus on his career. He sent the following telegram withdrawing from the WC 1948 event within weeks of it scheduled start: 'Professional duties make it impossible for me to get away in time to play in the tournament'. Those are not the words of someone who had faith in his own preparation and chess powers anymore.

Let's cut the crap here. From the end of World War II and until Bobby Fischer came of age, the Soviets were completely dominant. Yes, there were players like Reshevsky, Najdorf, Ståhlberg, and then Gligoric, Larsen etc., but they were never quite good enough (although I personally think that Fine would have stood a better chance than Reshevsky, had he not retired from pro chess). They didn't lose out because of Soviet cheating and prearranged draws, they lost out because the Soviets were better chess players. They were better prepared in the openings, had a better understanding of middlegame structures, and played the endgame better, a finer perception of dynamics and tactics, greater positional understanding - simply put, they worked harder on their chess. Fischer ate, slept and lived chess, imbibed all the Soviet chess knowledge, and then beat them because he became the best player in the world by virtue of his own talent and tenacity - but he did it with the knowledge of the Soviets as a rock-solid foundation. When he failed at the Candidates at Curação in 1962, he did so less because of the drawing pact between Petrosian, Geller, and Keres, and more due to his own immaturity. He was obviously already one of the world's best that point, but he simply didn't understand the importance of a proper tournament strategy for such a long and evenly matched event. At that point he was not yet strong enough to go all out in every game.

Sometimes I wish this site had a like button. Well said, @bonthecat!

Thanks, SmyslovFan!

Im searching photos from 1967 Sousse Interzonal tournament. I found only 2 online

I believe there is a lot of corruption in Chess especially this app. Can't wait to leave it for good. Player suppression is a real thing. There are very good GM level players being suppressed