The Championships of 1963

     The 31st USSR Championship took place in Leningrad from Nov. 23 to De. 27, 1963.  It noticeably lacked the presence of the very strongest of the Soviet players: Smyslov, Botvinnik, Petrosian and Tal. 
     The number of draws -what the press called "non-combativeness" - was roundly critcized  by Aleander Kotov and Vasily Panov in the Soviet press.  Oddly, Petar Trifunivich, writing for the American chess press, ratioanally evaluated these crticisms as unfair.  First he noted that out in 190 games played,  101 draws, 56 White wins and 33 Black wins was a reasonable expectaion.  Given that the contestant pool, which consisted of all the best Soviet players minus those mentioned above, from such a strong chess nation as the USSR, was basically one comprised of those equal in ability, and at that level with so much at stake (the top 4 winners would be seeded in the upcoming Interzonal in Holland), draws were to be the most logical outcomes.
     Spassy went through the tournament with no defeats, but he was also the most criticized for his draws, winning only 5 of his 19 games. The final result left Boris Spassky, Ratmir Kholmov and Leonid Stein tied at 12-7.  In the play-off, Leonid Stein won the USSR Chapionship title.   Korchnoi, the previous title winner, it may be noted, only came in tenth.  Before the tournament, he had become seriously ill. Not only was he recovering from the illness, but he had also just given up smoking.

Bronstein won the Best Game Prize:

While Alexey Suetin won the Brilliancy Prize:

     The U.S. Championship, played in New York from Dec. 15. 1963 to Jan. 2, 1964, was one of the strongest U.S. championships ever, lacking only Bill Lombardy and Nicolas Rossolimo.  Even in that field, Fischer amazingly won every game for a clean sweep :

Fischer won the Brilliancy Prize for this game:

Hans Kmoch wrote:
In this game Black chooses a rare variation which has had a dubious evaluation.  He had obviously, however, reanalyzed it and come to the satisfactory conclusions on it.  At any rate, his surprised opponent is quickly outplayed, and Black's technique does the rest. A fine game of great originiality.

Fischer playing Dr. Anthony Saidy

Marcel Duchamp with his wife, Teeny

This wonderful photo shows Cleveland Amory, the famous author and journalist, Frank Brady, later author of 'Profile of a Prodigy,'  Frank Marshall's wife Carrie, the bust of Frank Marshall and Bobby Fischer at the Marshall club, receiving the U.S. Championship trophy for the 6th time.