A former World Champion ties for first

Sarajevo 1966 (Bosna)

March–April 1966 · Sarajevo, SFR Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina)
First place shared by Ćirić and Tal — 11/15

Sarajevo's Bosna international of 1966 was headed by a former World Champion. Mikhail Tal, the "Magician from Riga", shared first place with the Yugoslav master Dragoljub Ćirić — both finishing on 11/15 in a sixteen-player field, a point clear of Borislav Ivkov and Luděk Pachman.

Dates
March–April 1966
Venue
Sarajevo, SFR Yugoslavia
Format
Single round-robin, 16 players (15 rounds)
Winners
Tal & Ćirić, 11/15 (shared)

The Magician comes to Sarajevo

Mikhail Tal, World Champion in 1960–61 and still among the most feared attacking players alive, was the star attraction of the 1966 Bosna tournament. It was a sixteen-player single round-robin over fifteen rounds and 120 games, with an international field that also brought in the Czechoslovak grandmaster Luděk Pachman, the veteran Soviet grandmaster and author Alexander Kotov, East Germany's Wolfgang Pietzsch and Bulgaria's Nikolay Minev, alongside the Yugoslav contingent of Borislav Ivkov, Milan Matulović, Dragoljub Janošević and Dragoljub Ćirić.

Tal and Ćirić on eleven

Tal duly contended for first — but he had to share it. The home player Dragoljub Ćirić matched him step for step, and the two finished level on 11/15. Ivkov and Pachman took third and fourth on 10, with Pietzsch and Matulović a further point back on 9. A shared first alongside a visiting former World Champion ranked among the finest results of Ćirić's career.

16
Players
120
Games
15
Rounds
11
Winning score

Final Standings

11/15
First place shared by Ćirić and Tal — 11/15
# Player Score Record Games
=1 Ciric, Dragoljub M 11/15 +9 -2 =4
=1 Tal, Mihail 11/15 +9 -2 =4
=3 Ivkov, Borislav 10/15 +6 -1 =8
=3 Pachman, Ludek 10/15 +6 -1 =8
5 Pietzsch, Wolfgang 9/15 +7 -4 =4
6 Matulovic, Milan 9/15 +6 -3 =6
7 Janosevic, Dragoljub 8/15 +5 -4 =6
8 Minev, Nikolay Nikolaev 8/15 +3 -2 =10
9 Kotov, Alexander /15 +4 -4 =7
10 Jansa, Vlastimil /15 +3 -3 =9
11 Mestrovic, Zvonimir 7/15 +4 -5 =6
12 Honfi, Karoly 6/15 +3 -6 =6
13 Bogdanovic, Rajko /15 +2 -6 =7
14 Damjanovic, Mato 5/15 +2 -7 =6
15 Gasic, Bozidar 3/15 +1 -10 =4
16 Ong, Yok Hwa /15 +1 -11 =3

Cross Table

Rank Player 12345678910111213141516
1 Ciric, Dragoljub M 0 0 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 Tal, Mihail 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 1 1 1
3 Ivkov, Borislav 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1
4 Pachman, Ludek ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1
5 Pietzsch, Wolfgang 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1
6 Matulovic, Milan 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1
7 Janosevic, Dragoljub ½ 1 0 0 1 1 ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½ ½ 0 ½
8 Minev, Nikolay Nikolaev ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 0 1 ½ 1 ½
9 Kotov, Alexander 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1
10 Jansa, Vlastimil ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½
11 Mestrovic, Zvonimir 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1
12 Honfi, Karoly 0 0 1 ½ ½ 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1
13 Bogdanovic, Rajko 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 1
14 Damjanovic, Mato 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 1
15 Gasic, Bozidar 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0
16 Ong, Yok Hwa 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 1

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