Piatigorsky Cup - Santa Monica 1966

Santa Monica 1966

The second and final tournament in the series was held in July and August 1966 at the Mirimar Hotel, Santa Monica. The field was increased from eight players to ten and the prize fund was doubled to $20,000 (first prize: $5000, second: $3000, third: $2500, fourth: $2000, fifth: $1750, sixth: $1500, seventh: $1300, eighth: $1150, ninth: $1050, tenth: $1000). This time all invited players accepted, including Fischer. With the increased tournament field, eight countries were represented. Although Soviet-U.S. tension over the Vietnam War seemed to threaten Soviet participation in the event, the Soviet Chess Federation sent World Champion Tigran Petrosian and challenger Boris Spassky. Petrosian and Spassky had finished a World Championship match in the spring in which Petrosian retained his title. The remainder of the field included Bobby Fischer and Samuel Reshevsky (U.S.A), Bent Larsen (Denmark), Lajos Portisch (Hungary), Wolfgang Unzicker (West Germany), Miguel Najdorf (Argentina), Borislav Ivkov (Yugoslavia), and Jan Hein Donner (Netherlands).

Interest in the tournament was unusually high for a chess event in the United States, with over 500 spectators attending most sessions. The 17th round game between tournament leaders Spassky and Fischer drew over 900 spectators, with many turned away. Positions of the games in progress were displayed to the crowds using a novel projection system devised by Jacqueline Piatigorsky rather than the usual wall boards.

Spassky jumped out to an early lead with wins over Unzicker, Ivkov, and Fischer. At the halfway point he was tied with Larsen for first with 6/9. Petrosian fell out of contention early, after a loss in the third round to Portisch and another loss in the seventh round after Larsen made a queen sacrifice. Fischer lost three games in a row in the second week of play (rounds 6, 7, and 8) and was next to last with 3½/9 at the halfway point. Fischer then won four straight games (all before adjournment), drew one, then won two more to catch up to Spassky with two rounds remaining. Spassky had defeated Fischer in the eighth round, but they met for the second time in the penultimate round. Although Fischer had the advantage of the white pieces, Spassky used the Marshall Defense to the Ruy Lopez to draw easily in 37 moves. In the final round tied with 10½ points each, Spassky defeated Donner while Fischer drew with Petrosian, making Spassky the tournament winner by half a point, as he was the only player to be undefeated. Fischer and Larsen won the most games (seven each), but Fischer could not overcome his slow start. Larsen was tied for the lead as late as round 11, but although he defeated Petrosian in both their games his four losses (including three in rounds 12 to 15) dropped him to third place. Sharing the fourth and fifth prizes, Portisch and Unzicker were the only other players with a plus score. World Champion Petrosian's sixth place finish was a disappointment, but he may have still been feeling the strain of his recent World Championship match with Spassky, who was eight years his junior.

The tournament book Second Piatigorsky Cup (1968) edited by the tournament director Isaac Kashdan was unusual in that it featured notes by most of the participants. Seven players annotated all of their games, Fischer provided notes for one of his games (against Najdorf).