Havana 1952

Incomplete record. This archive holds 214 games of this event; the others are missing, and the number played is not established.

Cuba marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Republic with one of the strongest international tournaments held in the Americas, gathering masters from the United States, Argentina, Europe and the host nation at the Capablanca Chess Club in Havana. Miguel Najdorf and Samuel Reshevsky finished level at the top on 16½/20, a point and a half clear of Svetozar Gligorić — a result reached against a backdrop of political upheaval and personal tragedy that shadowed the entire event.

◇An international at the Capablanca Club

Staged to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Cuban Republic, the tournament drew a genuinely international field to Havana. From the United States came Samuel Reshevsky, reigning U.S. Champion Larry Evans, Israel Horowitz and Edward Lasker; from Argentina, Miguel Najdorf and Erich Eliskases; from Europe, Svetozar Gligorić, Nicolas Rossolimo and the Spanish and Yugoslav contingents; and the strongest Cuban players filled out the field alongside them.

The event was originally intended to seat twenty-three players, but two Mexican entrants — General Manuel Soto Larrea and Captain José Joaquín Araiza — were recalled by their government early in the play and had to withdraw. Their results were annulled from the official table, leaving twenty-one players in the final standings, each contesting a single round-robin of twenty games.

◇Najdorf and Reshevsky share the top

At the front, Najdorf and Reshevsky pulled away from the field and could not be separated, each finishing on 16½/20 to share first prize. Gligorić took clear third on 15, with Evans and Eliskases tied for fourth on 14, Rossolimo sixth on 12½, the Cuban Juan González de Vega seventh on 11½, and Horowitz eighth on 10½.

For Najdorf it was part of the run of tournament wins that made him one of the world's leading grandmasters in these years, and Reshevsky's share confirmed him as the strongest American of the time. The two were natural rivals, and they split first place.

◇A coup and a death

The tournament was played in the middle of real turmoil. Cuba's president, Carlos Prío Socarrás, who had backed the event, was overthrown when Fulgencio Batista seized power on March 10, 1952, while the games were still going on.

There was tragedy at the board as well. The veteran Cuban master Quesada, a former national champion, died of a heart attack just before the seventeenth round; the assembled masters attended his funeral together. With five rounds still to play, his remaining games were forfeited by default, and the surviving portion of his score stands in the record as the event completed its final stretch under a cloud.