Piatigorsky Cup

The Piatigorsky Cup was a triennial series of double round-robin grandmaster chess tournaments held in the United States in the 1960s. Sponsored by the Piatigorsky Foundation, only two events were held. The Piatigorsky Cups were the strongest U.S. chess tournaments since New York 1927.

Jacqueline Piatigorsky (née Rothschild) was married to cellist Gregor Piatigorsky. One of the strongest woman chess players in the U.S. and a regular competitor in the U.S. Women's Chess Championship, she designed the cup and was the primary organizer of the tournament. The prize funds were among the largest of any chess tournament up to that time. Every player was guaranteed a prize and all traveling and living expenses were paid.

Los Angeles 1963

The First Piatigorsky Cup was held in The Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles in July 1963. The tournament field of eight included players from five countries. The Soviet representatives Paul Keres and World Champion Tigran Petrosian finished equal first to share the cup with a score of 8.5/14, receiving more than half of the $10,000 prize fund ($3000 for first). Since dollars brought back to the USSR were exchanged by the Soviet government for rubles at an unfavorable rate, Keres and Petrosian were reported to have bought automobiles (Ramblers) with their winnings. Keres won the most games in the tournament (six), but lost twice to Samuel Reshevsky. The Cup was Petrosian's first tournament since winning the 1963 World Championship match with Mikhail Botvinnik and was one of two first prizes he shared in his six-year reign as champion. He was the first reigning champion to play in an American tournament since Alexander Alekhine at Pasadena 1932. After losing in the second round to Svetozar Gligorić, Petrosian was never in danger the rest of the tournament.

The remainder of the tournament field included two Americans, Reshevsky and Pal Benko, two Argentinians, Oscar Panno and Miguel Najdorf, and two Europeans, Gligorić (Yugoslavia) and Friðrik Ólafsson (Iceland). U.S. Champion Bobby Fischer declined an invitation after his demand for a $2000 appearance fee was refused by the tournament organizers.

Gligorić led halfway through the tournament with 4.5/7, but he scored only three draws in the last seven games and finished fifth behind Najdorf and Ólafsson. Petrosian finished the strongest, with 5/7 in the second half. Before the last round, Petrosian led with 8 points, followed by Keres with 7.5 and Najdorf and Ólafsson with 7. Both Petrosian and Keres had Black in the final round. Petrosian drew his game against Reshevsky, but Keres beat Gligorić to result in a tie for first place with 8.5 points each.

Isaac Kashdan served as tournament director and edited a tournament book published in 1965, with the annotations mostly by Reshevsky.

References

*citation | last=Brady | first=Frank | author-link= Frank Brady (writer)|Frank Brady | year=1973 | title=Bobby Fischer, Profile of a Prodigy | publisher=Dover (1989 reprint) | isbn=0-486-25925-0 | pages=69–70, 100–107
*citation | editor-last=Kashdan | editor-first=Isaac | editor-link=Isaac Kashdan | year=1968 | title=Second Piatigorsky Cup | publisher=Dover (1977 reprint) | isbn=0-486-23572-6
*citation | editor-last=McClain | editor-first=Guthrie | year=1963 | month=July | journal=The California Chess Reporter | title=The Piatigorsky Cup Grandmaster Tournament | volume=XIII | issue=Number One | url=http://www.chessdryad.com/articles/ccr/art_26.htm | accessdate=2007-07-05
*citation | last=Pachman | first=Luděk | author-link=Luděk Pachman | year=1975 | title=Decisive Games in Chess History | publisher=Dover (1987 reprint) | isbn=0-486-25323-6 | pages=187–190, 220–223
*citation | last=Soltis | first=Andrew | author-link=Andrew Soltis | editor-last=Golombek | editor-first=Harry | editor-link=Harry Golombek | year=1977 | title=Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess | publisher=Batsford | contribution=Piatigorsky Cup | pages=239–240 | isbn=0-517-53146-1
*citation | last=Sunnucks | first=Anne | author-link=Anne Sunnucks | year=1970 | title=Encyclopaedia of Chess | publisher=St. Martin's Press | place=New York | id=LCCN|78|1|06371 | pages=357–359
*citation | last=Whyld | first=Ken | author-link=Ken Whyld | year=1986 | title=Chess, The Records | publisher=Guinness | isbn=0-85112-455-0 | pages=46, 48 (crosstables)

External links

* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1000130 Games of the Second Piatigorsky Cup, 1966] , at chessgames.com