The 1962 Candidates' Tournament in Curaçao was one of the fiercest chess battles of all time. At the height of the Cold War, eight players contested the right to challenge World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik. The format of the tournament was a gruelling quadruple round-robin. Twenty-eight games were to be played on the tropical island, in a contest that lasted two months.

The air trembled with drama and intrigue. One of the favourites, the brilliant Mikhail Tal,was taken to hospital after 21 rounds and had to withdraw. Three other players from the Soviet Union, Keres, Petrosian, and Geller, were making suspiciously short draws when playing each other. The two American players came to blows over the services of the second they were supposed to share. Bella Kortchnoi, whose husband took an early lead in the tournament, was a puppet in the hands of the scheming Rona Petrosian, the wife of the later winner. And one of the favourites was a lanky 19-year-old boy from Brooklyn, Bobby Fischer, who openly accused the Soviets of collusion and was later proven right.

In the end, Tigran Petrosian was the winner and went on to become the new World Champion the following year. But such was the impact of Fischer's accusations that this was the last time such a battle was organised. Henceforth the challenger to the highest crown was determined in a series of matches. Curaçao 1962 was the last Candidates' Tournament.

In Curaçao 1962, Jan Timman returns to this clash of giants and takes a fresh look at the games. Timman describes the course of the tournament and annotates the most important games (including 16 of Fischer's!) in his usual lucid and instructive style. Curaçao 1962 revives a tradition of great tournament books, such as Alekhine's New York 1927 and Bronstein's Zurich 1953.

List of Content

007 Preface

011 Prelude

016 The Players

025 Combine

034 The Course of the Tournament - Part I

035 Round 1

042 Round 2

050 Round 3

053 Round 4

057 Round 5

062 Round 6

066 Round 7

070 Cross table first Part

075 The Course of the Tournament - Part II

076 Round 8

079 Round 9

082 Round 10

087 Round 11

093 Round 12

097 Round 13

102 Round 14

109 Cross table second Part

110 Six days in St. Martin

113 The Course of the Tournament - Part III

114 Round 15

119 Round 16

125 Round 17

134 Round 18

138 Round 19

145 Round 20

155 Round 21

163 Cross table third Part

164 The Course of the Tournament - Part IV

165 Round 22

170 Round 23

178 Round 24

180 Round 25

189 Round 26

192 Round 27

196 Round 28

203 Cross table fourth Part and final standings

205 Epilogue

208 Index of Games

209 Index of Openings

210 Index of Names

215 Index of Photographs