by Carlos García Hernández

In the waters off the Caribbean island of Curaçao lie hidden lost treasures in fleets of sunken pirate ships. But other compelling secrets remain on the island: What really happened in 1962 when the Candidate tournament for the World Chess Championship was played there?

The polemic seems to have no end, but Grand Master Jan Timman (from Holland) has attempted to clarify the issue in his latest book: “Curaçao 1962, the Battle of Minds that shook the International Chess World.”

In this tournament the eight strongest world champion candidates met, with the winner getting the opportunity to play against the world Champion Michail Botvinnik for the world title. The problems began as Bobby Fischer blamed the Soviet players of fixing the tournament. Fischer alleged that the Soviets were playing for draws against each other and only playing good chess against him, who was theoretically the strongest candidate. Their goal–in Fischer’s opinion–was to play against the 52‑year‑old Botvinnik who was not playing as strongly as in his prime.

Tigran Petrosian won the tournament, while Fischer placed a disappointing fourth. Petrosian went on to easily defeat Botvinnik in the fight for the world championship.

We will probably never know what really happened, but Timman’s book is with no doubt an important document about this tournament. To present the book the Dutch Grand Master organized a new tournament inCuraçao. This time the contenders were the Dutchman and the Cuban champion Lázaro Bruzón.

They played eight games from the eleventh to the seventeenth of June. The first four were rapid games and the result was a clear 3.5 to 0.5 points in favor of Timman, but the four last games were played under the classic time standards and the score this time was 2.5 to 1.5 points for Bruzón.

Today we present the sixth game, when the Cuban reaches a very elegant victory through an atypical variation of the French opening. Accredited by the Chess Federation of Madrid in Spain.