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Portisch pulls clear of a three-way chase

Vidmar Memorial 1973

3–26 April 1973 · Ljubljana & Portorož, Yugoslavia (Slovenia)
Portisch won with 12½/17
▦ 153 GAMES

For its second running, the Milan Vidmar Memorial doubled in size and split between Ljubljana and the coastal resort of Portorož. Eighteen players went the full seventeen rounds, but the tournament turned into a personal exhibition by Hungary's Lajos Portisch, who finished a point and a half clear of a bunched group of three — Jan Smejkal, Svetozar Gligorić and Miguel Quinteros — in a result that fit neatly into one of the most consistent stretches of his long Candidates career.

Dates
3–26 April 1973
Venue
Ljubljana & Portorož, Yugoslavia
Format
18-player single round-robin, 17 rounds
Winner
Lajos Portisch, 12½/17
Runners-up
Jan Smejkal, Svetozar Gligorić & Miguel Quinteros, 11 each

◈A bigger second edition

Four years after Albin Planinc's shock win launched the series, the second Vidmar Memorial grew to eighteen players and moved between two Slovenian venues, Ljubljana and the Adriatic resort town of Portorož. The field mixed Yugoslavia's leading names — Gligorić, Bruno Parma, Aleksandar Matanović, Borislav Ivkov, and the returning 1969 champion Planinc, this time a mid-table finisher on 9 — with Czechoslovakia's Jan Smejkal, Hungary's István Csom, Argentina's Miguel Quinteros, Soviet players Alexey Suetin and Yuri Razuvaev, Bulgaria's Kiril Radulov, and Italy's Stefano Tatai and Romania's Victor Ciocâltea.

◈Portisch's runaway

Lajos Portisch was in the middle of the most productive period of his career, a run of results that would carry him into the 1974 Candidates matches against Tigran Petrosian. In Ljubljana and Portorož he simply outpaced the field, finishing on 12½ from 17 — a point and a half ahead of a bunched trio on 11: Smejkal, Gligorić and Quinteros. It was the kind of dominant, low-drama first place that had become Portisch's signature: methodical, positionally sound, and very hard to catch once he pulled ahead.

18
Players
17
Rounds
153
Games
12½
Winning score

◈Final Standings

12½/17
Portisch won with 12½/17
# Player Score Record
1 Portisch, Lajos 12½/17 +8 -0 =9 games →
2 Smejkal, Jan 11/17 +7 -2 =8 games →
=3 Gligoric, Svetozar 11/17 +6 -1 =10 games →
=3 Quinteros, Miguel Angel 11/17 +6 -1 =10 games →
5 Csom, Istvan 10½/17 +6 -2 =9 games →
6 Suetin, Alexey S 9½/17 +5 -3 =9 games →
7 Parma, Bruno 9½/17 +3 -1 =13 games →
8 Planinc, Albin 9/17 +4 -3 =10 games →
=9 Ivkov, Borislav 9/17 +3 -2 =12 games →
=9 Matanovic, Aleksandar 9/17 +3 -2 =12 games →
11 Razuvaev, Yuri S 9/17 +2 -1 =14 games →
12 Radulov, Ivan 8/17 +1 -2 =14 games →
13 Minic, Dragoljub 7½/17 +1 -3 =13 games →
14 Barle, Janez 7/17 +4 -7 =6 games →
15 Tatai, Stefano 6/17 +1 -6 =10 games →
16 Ciocaltea, Victor 5½/17 +0 -6 =11 games →
17 Osterman, Rudolf 4/17 +2 -11 =4 games →
18 Puc, Stojan 4/17 +1 -10 =6 games →

Cross Table

Player 123456789101112131415161718
1 Portisch, Lajos ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 Smejkal, Jan ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1
3 Gligoric, Svetozar ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1
4 Quinteros, Miguel Angel ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1
5 Csom, Istvan 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1
6 Suetin, Alexey S 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1
7 Parma, Bruno ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1
8 Planinc, Albin ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 1
9 Ivkov, Borislav ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1
10 Matanovic, Aleksandar ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1
11 Razuvaev, Yuri S ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½
12 Radulov, Ivan ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½
13 Minic, Dragoljub 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½
14 Barle, Janez 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1 0
15 Tatai, Stefano 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½
16 Ciocaltea, Victor 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½
17 Osterman, Rudolf 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ ½
18 Puc, Stojan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½

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

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