Oscar Panno
Notable Games

Oscar Panno

19 celebrated games · 884 in the full archive
Player Index ◈ Biography 884 CURATED GAMES

Notable Games

  • 1952 Juarez, CF vsPanno, Oscar 0-1 Sicilian Defense: Classical Variation 37 moves Buenos Aires Buenos Aires 1952 — the earliest game in an archive of nearly nine hundred wins that runs to 2008, and Panno is seventeen. A Classical Sicilian with Black: 18...Nxc2 19.Qxc2 Bxb5 wins the pair of bishops for a knight, and the knight tour 30...Nc5 31.b4 Nd7 33...Ne5 34...Ng4 35...Qe5 leaves White with nothing to move.
  • 1953.07.14 Panno, Oscar vsOlafsson, Fridrik 1-0 King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Classical Main Line 35 moves World U20-ch02 Final A Final group of the World Junior Championship, Copenhagen 1953 — the tournament Panno won, at eighteen. Friðrik Ólafsson, a study player here and Iceland's first grandmaster, is beaten in thirty-five: 24.Ndf5 Bxf5 25.Nxf5 puts the knight on f5 for good, and 30.Ne7+ Rxe7 31.Bxe7 wins the exchange with everything hanging.
  • 1953.07.15 Panno, Oscar vsIvkov, Borislav 1-0 Nimzo-Indian Defense: Normal Variation, Bernstein Defense 24 moves World U20-ch02 Final A The next day at the same championship, Borislav Ivkov — also a study player here, and the reigning World Junior Champion, the man Panno was taking the title from. Twenty-four moves: 22.Rb5 offers the rook on an open file, and 22...Nb4 23.Bxb4 Rxb5 24.Bc3 wins the queen, which has nowhere on the long diagonal to go.
  • 1953.07.17 Panno, Oscar vsLarsen, Bent 1-0 Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation, Nimzowitsch Line 83 moves World U20-ch02 Final A Two days later, Bent Larsen — a study player here too, and eighteen years old. Eighty-three moves of rook and pawns against bishop, and Panno wins it by walking the king from f3 to f6 across twenty moves while the rook shuffles: 72.Ke4, 75.Kd6, 77.Kc7, 81.Kf6, and 83.Rd8.
  • 1954.04 Panno, Oscar vsNajdorf, Miguel 1-0 Semi-Slav Defense: Romih Variation 40 moves Zonal-7 South America South American Zonal 1954 against Miguel Najdorf — twice a Candidate, the great figure of Argentine chess, and the man whose name is on the most-played Sicilian of all. Panno takes the h-file with 21.h4 and 22.Bxg6 hxg6, trades every rook down it, and the passed d-pawn arrives at 40.d6+.
  • 1955.09.05 Panno, Oscar vsSpassky, Boris Vasilievich 1-0 Zukertort Opening 33 moves Interzonal-03 Gothenburg Interzonal 1955 against an eighteen-year-old Boris Spassky, in the year Spassky became the world's youngest grandmaster — and it ends with both rooks thrown at the king. 27.Rbxb7 Nxe4 28.Nxe5 fxe5 29.Bxe4 Bxe4, then 30.Rxg7+ Kh8 31.Rxh7+ Kg8 32.Rh8+ Kxh8 33.Qxe5+.
  • 1955.09.12 Panno, Oscar vsPachman, Ludek 1-0 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense 43 moves Interzonal-03 The same Interzonal a week later — Ludek Pachman, also a study player here, in the tournament that sent Panno to the Candidates at twenty. Forty-three moves: the rooks come off at 25.Rd3 Rxd3 26.Bxd3, the bishop is worth more than the knight on an open board, and 41.Rc1 Qd4 42.Qxd4 exd4 43.Rd1 wins the pawn that holds it together.
  • 1956.03.27 Panno, Oscar vsPilnik, Hermann 1-0 English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Sicilian 40 moves Candidates Tournament Candidates Tournament, Amsterdam 1956 — Panno at twenty was the youngest player in the field, and this is the other Argentine in it, Hermann Pilnik. 22.Nd5 cxd5 23.exd5 gives the knight for the centre, 24.dxe6 Rxe6 25.Bxb7 cashes it in, and 38.Ne6 and 39.b5 finish.
  • 1956.04.24 Filip, Miroslav vsPanno, Oscar 0-1 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation 42 moves Candidates Tournament The same Candidates, with Black against Miroslav Filip, later a Candidate again in 1962. The queens are gone by move seven and Panno wins a pure ending: 40...Bxc5 takes the pawn the whole game has been about, and the bishop pair with 41...a6 42.Bd3 Bd4 leaves the knight and bishop unable to hold the queenside.
  • 1958.03.22 Larsen, Bent vsPanno, Oscar 0-1 Sicilian Defense: Richter-Rauzer Variation, Neo-Modern Variation 30 moves Mar del Plata International-21 Mar del Plata 1958 with Black against Larsen. Panno gives the exchange on b3 to open the file at the white king: 20...Rxb3 21.axb3 Qa1+ 22.Kd2 Qxb2, and after 23.Qxh7 the checks run out for White while Panno's do not — 29.Nxe5 Bh6+ 30.Kd3 Rxe5.
  • 1958.08.19 Panno, Oscar vsBenko, Pal C 1-0 Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Rio Gambit Accepted 41 moves Interzonal-04 Portorož Interzonal 1958 against Pál Benkő, later a Candidate and one of the great endgame composers. Queens come off on move eight in a Berlin, and Panno converts a rook ending by pure king activity: 28.Kf4, 34.Ke4, 37.Kd5, and 41.Ke6 with the black rook tied to the h-pawn.
  • 1962.04.08 Penrose, Jonathan vsPanno, Oscar 0-1 Sicilian Defense: Classical Variation 94 moves Mar del Plata International-25 Mar del Plata 1962 with Black against Jonathan Penrose, ten times British Champion — ninety-four moves, the longest game in the archive. Rook and bishop against rook for the last thirty: Panno walks his king from a6 all the way to h4 while the white rook checks, and 93.Kh2 Kg4 94.Rf1 Kh4 finally builds the mating net.
  • 1963.07.03 Panno, Oscar vsReshevsky, Samuel Herman 1-0 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Closed Variation 63 moves Piatigorsky Cup-01 First Piatigorsky Cup, Los Angeles 1963 against Samuel Reshevsky, the dominant American player of the previous twenty years. Panno's king walks into the open to escape perpetual check — 45.Kb4, 54.Ka5, 59.Kb5 — and once 58.Ne8 Ra8+ 59.Kb5 Rxe8 60.Qxe8+ trades the rook off, 62.Bc5 Qb3+ 63.Bb4 blocks the last check.
  • 1966.11.12 Panno, Oscar vsHort, Vlastimil 1-0 King's Indian Defense: Averbakh Variation, Benoni Defense 30 moves Olympiad-17 Final A Havana Olympiad 1966 against Vlastimil Hort, later a Candidate. Thirty moves: 21.Ng5+ hxg5 22.hxg5+ Kg8 23.gxf6 gives the knight to open the h-file and win the defender, and after 27.Be7 Bh7 28.Qxd4 cxd4 29.Bxd6 the bishops simply take everything.
  • 1972.12.02 Panno, Oscar vsKorchnoi, Viktor Lvovich 1-0 Caro-Kann Defense 42 moves Palma de Mallorca Gran Torneo-08 Palma de Mallorca 1972 against Viktor Korchnoi, later twice a World Championship challenger. Panno gives up a rook for the initiative — 38.Bg2 Rxd2 39.Nxd2 Qf4 — and gets it straight back: 40.Nf1 Nxe1 41.Rxe1 Qf5 42.Rxe4 leaves the black knight on f3 and the h-pawn both lost.
  • 1973.08.12 Panno, Oscar vsPolugaevsky, Lev 1-0 Réti Opening 43 moves Interzonal-09b Leningrad Interzonal 1973 against Lev Polugaevsky, three times a Candidate. Queens come off on move eleven and the a-pawn decides it: 33.Rxa6 Re3 34.Rd6 Rxh3 lets Black have the kingside, and 36.a5, 37.a6, 40.a7 with 43.Rh1 stops the black h-pawn one square short.
  • 1976.06.26 Spassky, Boris Vasilievich vsPanno, Oscar 0-1 Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation, Modern Variation 36 moves Interzonal-10b Biel Interzonal 1976 with Black against Spassky, twenty-one years after Gothenburg and now a former World Champion. Spassky sacrifices on f7 — 17.Bxf7+ Kg7 — and Panno's king simply walks: 22...Kh6, 24...Kg7, 25...Kh6, and once 32.Qd4+ Qf6 33.Qxf6+ Kxf6 trades the queens the extra material is decisive.
  • 1988 Panno, Oscar vsGulko, Boris F 1-0 Modern Defense: Geller's System 41 moves Vina del Mar Viña del Mar 1988 against Boris Gulko — a study player here, and the only person ever to have won both the Soviet and the United States championships. Panno takes the e5 pawn with 29.Ncxe5 and holds everything: 34.Rxa7 Ng5 35.g4 Rxe5 36.Bxe5 wins the exchange, and 39.Qe5 forces the queens off into a won ending.
  • 2008.03.16 Mekhitarian, Krikor Sevag vsPanno, Oscar 0-1 Sicilian Defense: Godiva Variation 48 moves Villa Martelli Fischer Memorial Fischer Memorial, Villa Martelli, March 2008 — the last game in the archive, fifty-six years after the first, with Panno at seventy-two. He takes the whole white queenside apart: 42...Bxc4 43.bxc4 Bxg5 44.Nce2 Bxf4 45.Nxf4 Nxc4, and 46...Na3+ 47.Kb2 Rxc2+ 48.Ka1 b3 finishes.
EXPLORE ALL 884 GAMES