A former world champion visits, and Najdorf wins again

Mar del Plata 1947

March 1947 · Mar del Plata, Argentina
Najdorf won with 14/17

The tenth Mar del Plata international tournament drew a former World Champion to the Argentine coast: Max Euwe joined the settled European masters for the strongest field the event had yet assembled. Miguel Najdorf won it all the same — as he had every year since 1942 — scoring 14 out of 17, a half-point clear of Gideon Stahlberg.

Dates
March 1947
Venue
Mar del Plata, Argentina
Format
Single round-robin, 18 players, 17 rounds
Winner
Miguel Najdorf, 14/17
Runner-up
Gideon Stahlberg, 13½

The strongest field yet

By 1947 Mar del Plata had grown into one of South America's marquee events, and its tenth edition attracted Max Euwe, World Champion from 1935 to 1937, to the Atlantic resort. He joined the familiar cast of masters who had made their lives in the region after 1939 — Stahlberg, Eliskases and Pilnik among them — for a full eighteen-player round-robin.

Euwe, then in his mid-forties and a year from the match-tournament that would crown Botvinnik world champion, scored 10½ to share around fifth place. It was a respectable result against this company, but three and a half points adrift of the winner: the prize went, once again, to the local favourite.

Najdorf out in front

Najdorf finished on 14 out of 17 to win by a half-point from Stahlberg on 13½, with Eliskases third on 12 and Pilnik fourth on 11½. It was the last of his Mar del Plata titles from the war-shadowed years that had turned the tournament into his personal domain.

The dominance ended the next season: in 1948 Eliskases finally broke through to take first place, and thereafter the event passed to new hands — Rossetto in 1949, the young Gligorić in 1950 — as post-war chess reopened the wider world to Argentina's marooned masters.

18
Players
153
Games
14
Najdorf's score
10½
Euwe's score

Final Standings

14/17
Najdorf won with 14/17
# Player Score Record Games
1 Najdorf, Miguel 14/17 +12 -1 =4
2 Stahlberg, Gideon 13½/17 +11 -1 =5
3 Eliskases, Erich Gottlieb 12/17 +9 -2 =6
4 Pilnik, Hermann 11½/17 +7 -1 =9
5 Euwe, Max 10½/17 +7 -3 =7
6 Bolbochan, Julio 10½/17 +4 -0 =13
7 Rossetto, Hector 9/17 +6 -5 =6
=8 Bolbochan, Jacobo /17 +4 -4 =9
=8 Guimard, Carlos Enrique /17 +4 -4 =9
=8 Maderna, Carlos Hugo /17 +4 -4 =9
11 Marini, Luis /17 +2 -2 =13
12 Pizzi Possi, Tulio /17 +5 -9 =3
13 Michel, Paul /17 +1 -5 =11
14 Sanguinetti, Renato 6/17 +3 -8 =6
15 Cruz, Walter Oswaldo /17 +2 -8 =7
16 Luckis, Marcos 5/17 +1 -8 =8
17 Hounie Fleurquin, Carlos /17 +3 -11 =3
18 Iliesco, Juan Traian 4/17 +0 -9 =8

Cross Table

Rank Player 123456789101112131415161718
1 Najdorf, Miguel 1 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ½
2 Stahlberg, Gideon 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ½
3 Eliskases, Erich Gottlieb 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
4 Pilnik, Hermann ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1
5 Euwe, Max 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 0 1
6 Bolbochan, Julio ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½
7 Rossetto, Hector 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 1
8 Bolbochan, Jacobo 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½
9 Guimard, Carlos Enrique 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1
10 Maderna, Carlos Hugo ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 1 ½
11 Marini, Luis 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1
12 Pizzi Possi, Tulio 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 1
13 Michel, Paul 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½
14 Sanguinetti, Renato 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1
15 Cruz, Walter Oswaldo 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½
16 Luckis, Marcos 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½
17 Hounie Fleurquin, Carlos 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 0 1
18 Iliesco, Juan Traian ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0

Each cell shows the row player's per-game results against the column player (in round order). ● = same player.