The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, July 01, 1962 - Page 72, (★)
Petrosian Wins In Curacao Tourney 01 Jul 1962, Sun The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com
Petrosian Wins In Curacao Tourney
Tigran Petrosian of Moscow, 33-year-old grandmaster and part-time newspaperman, coasted to a close victory in the Candidates' Chess Tournament in Curacao. He drew his last four games to close with a total of 17½-9½.
Petrosian was the only one of the eight competitors who went through the grueling nine weeks of the tournament without a loss. He won eight games and drew 19.
As a result of this victory, Petrosian has earned the right to a match for the world championship with titleholder Mikhail Botvinnik of Moscow. This will be arranged for some time early in 1963.
The drama of the closing rounds was in the race between Petrosian and Paul Keres of Estonia, who at 48 was the oldest in the event, and who has been rated one of the world's best for a quarter of a century.
The two leaders were tied after 24 rounds, when Keres scored in an adjourned game against 19-year-old Bobby Fischer of Brooklyn, America's top ranking grandmaster. Draws in the 25th and 26th round by both Keres and Petrosian maintained the tight pace.
The break came when Keres face Pal Benko of New York, the second American in the tournament. Benko obtained an early advantage, should have won in the first session, but missed his way in a time scramble. He had enough left, however, to take the point in the second session.
In the final round Petrosian was paired with Dr. Miroslav Filip of Czechoslovakia and Keres with Fischer. Both games ended in draws, leaving Petrosian with the small but sufficient half-point margin.
Ewfim Geller of the Soviet Union is in third place with a score of 16-10. He has an adjourned game with Benko, in which the latter has a pawn plus with winning chances. Geller is assured of his position in any case.
Fischer, who started badly and was in the second division in the early weeks, wound up in fourth place with 14-13. he won eight games, as many as Petrosian, but lost seven. Fischer played hard to win in every game, whereas the Russians would occasionally run off quick draws to conserve energy.
Benko was the top performer of the final week. He defeated Korchnoi and Keres and has prospects against Geller. It was too late to advance him beyond the sixth slot. Benko's major problem is time pressure in the later stages of practically every game, and the resulting oversights.
The committee decided that the last seven games of former world champion Mikhail Tal of Latvia were to be canceled rather than forfeited to his opponents. Tal was forced to withdraw as a result of illness. Thus the official figures will show games actually played.
Following are the results, the final standings except for the Geller-Benko game, and games from the tournament:
