AVRO Tournament — Hilversum 1973
Efim Geller and László Szabó shared first at the 1973 AVRO Jubilee Tournament with 9½/14. The eight-player double round robin revived the AVRO tournament idea while celebrating two Dutch chess and broadcasting anniversaries.
AVRO returns to tournament chess
AVRO and the Royal Dutch Chess Federation organized the event for AVRO's fiftieth anniversary and the federation's centenary. The format echoed the famous 1938 AVRO tournament: eight invited players met twice in a fourteen-round competition on the stage of AVRO's Studio One.
The field balanced established grandmasters Geller, Szabó, Lev Polugaevsky and Borislav Ivkov with younger players Ljubomir Ljubojević, Ulf Andersson, Gyula Sax and Jan Timman.
Experience at the top
Geller and Szabó finished together on 9½, each with six wins, seven draws and one loss. Ljubojević was a point behind them on 8½, and Andersson placed fourth after drawing thirteen of his fourteen games.
All 56 games survive in this archive. A separately labeled Hilversum radio game and the later 1975 AVRO minimatches were different events and are excluded.
Final standings
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =1 | Geller, Efim P | 9½/14 | +6 -1 =7 | games |
| =1 | Szabo, Laszlo | 9½/14 | +6 -1 =7 | games |
| 3 | Ljubojevic, Ljubomir | 8½/14 | +4 -1 =9 | games |
| 4 | Andersson, Ulf | 6½/14 | +0 -1 =13 | games |
| =5 | Polugaevsky, Lev | 6/14 | +2 -4 =8 | games |
| =5 | Sax, Gyula | 6/14 | +2 -4 =8 | games |
| =5 | Ivkov, Borislav | 6/14 | +1 -3 =10 | games |
| 8 | Timman, Jan H | 4/14 | +1 -7 =6 | games |
Cross Table
| Rank | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Geller, Efim P | 01 | ½½ | ½½ | 1½ | 1½ | 1½ | 11 | |
| 2 | Szabo, Laszlo | 10 | 1½ | ½½ | ½1 | ½1 | 1½ | 1½ | |
| 3 | Ljubojevic, Ljubomir | ½½ | 0½ | ½1 | ½½ | ½1 | ½½ | 11 | |
| 4 | Andersson, Ulf | ½½ | ½½ | ½0 | ½½ | ½½ | ½½ | ½½ | |
| 5 | Polugaevsky, Lev | 0½ | ½0 | ½½ | ½½ | 01 | 1½ | 0½ | |
| 6 | Sax, Gyula | 0½ | ½0 | ½0 | ½½ | 10 | ½½ | ½1 | |
| 7 | Ivkov, Borislav | 0½ | 0½ | ½½ | ½½ | 0½ | ½½ | 1½ | |
| 8 | Timman, Jan H | 00 | 0½ | 00 | ½½ | 1½ | ½0 | 0½ |
Each cell shows the row player's recorded results against the column player. ● = same player.