Modern Chess Opening Theory as surveyed in Lugano 1970 Lieden 1970

[ii ad]+40+[ii ad] typescript pages with index. Octavo (8" x 6 1/2") bound in original publisher's stapled wrappers. The Chess Player number 109 (Lusis: 1560) First edition. Complete with all games. Condition: Corners bumped and rubbed, some light edge wear else a very good copy. Eight of the world's top non-Soviet players assembled in Lugano, Switzerland, for a peaceful double-round tournament from March 1-20, 1970. Using the estimated ratings from Chessmetrics, it was a Category XVI event with an average rating of 2632. Enjoying the scenery were: Robert Eugene Byrne, Jan Hein Donner, Svetozar Gligoric, Lubomir Kavalek, Bent Larsen, Fridrik Olafsson, Laszlo Szabo, Wolfgang Unzicker. Larsen may have been concentrating more on the board than the scenery, as he won his first five games to take a two-point lead. This looked to be insurmountable, as this was one of those events when having no weak players leads to conservative play. 67% of the games were drawn, and three players were unable to win a single game. Of the 19 decisive games, nearly half involved Larsen. He was able to make it interesting with a couple of losses in the second half, which allowed Olafsson to get within a half-point with three rounds to go. However, Olafsson took a quick draw with White in their twelfth round game, which essentially decided matters. In the last three rounds the only decisive game was Larsen's win over Byrne, consigning the American to fifth place. For Larsen, another in his great run of tournament wins around this time. Olafsson held onto an easy second, followed by Gligoric and Unzicker. The German deserves a special mention; after losing his first two games, his ascent to =3rd included wins over Larsen and Olafsson. The Leiden 1970 chess tournament was a double round robin between four contestants: Borris Spassky, Jan Donner, Bent Larson and Mikhail Botvinnik. Spassky finished first followed by Donner with a tie for the third position. Condition: Corners bumped, light edge wear else a very good copy.