World Chess Championship 1960

Defending champion	Challenger
Mikhail Botvinnik	Mikhail Tal
8½	12½
Born 17 August 1911 48 years old	Born 9 November 1936 23 years old
Winner of the 1958 World Chess Championship	Winner of the 1959 Candidates Tournament
← 1958	1961 →

The 1960 World Chess Championship was played between Mikhail Botvinnik and Mikhail Tal in Moscow from March 15 to May 7, 1960. Botvinnik was the reigning champion, after winning the World Chess Championship 1958, while Tal qualified by winning the Candidates tournament. Tal won by a margin of 4 points.

1958 Interzonal tournament[]

An interzonal chess tournament was held in Portorož, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia, in August and September 1958. The top six finishers qualified for the Candidates Tournament.^[1][2]

Before the final round, the leaders were: (1st) Tal 13; (2nd-3rd) Gligoric, Petrosian 12½ (though Petrosian had the bye in the last round); (4th) Benko 12; (5th-6th) Fischer, Bronstein 11½; (7th-10th) Olafsson, Averbakh, Szabo, Pachman 11.^[2] In the final round Fischer had black against Gligoric; while Bronstein, Olafsson, Szabo and Pachman had relatively weaker opponents. Feeling he was forced to play for a win, Fischer played the risky but double-edged Goteborg variation of the Sicilian Najdorf. Later, while the Gligoric-Fischer game was in a critical position with Fischer having some advantage, Fischer saw that that Bronstein was unexpectedly losing to Cardoso. So Fischer accepted a draw, qualifying for the Candidates.^[3] Of the players on 11 points, only Olafsson won, joining Fischer in the last two qualifying positions.

1958 Interzonal Tournament

		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Total
1	Mikhail Tal (Soviet Union)	x	½	½	1	½	½	½	½	0	1	½	1	1	½	½	1	½	1	½	1	1	13½
2	Svetozar Gligorić (Yugoslavia)	½	x	½	½	0	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	½	½	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	13
3	Tigran Petrosian (Soviet Union)	½	½	x	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	1	½	½	½	½	0	1	1	1	½	1	12½
4	Pal Benko (stateless)	0	½	½	x	½	1	½	1	1	½	½	0	½	1	½	½	½	½	1	1	1	12½
5	Friðrik Ólafsson (Iceland)	½	1	½	½	x	1	0	1	½	1	½	½	½	½	0	1	0	0	1	1	1	12
6	Bobby Fischer (United States)	½	½	½	0	0	x	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	1	1	½	1	1	1	12
7	David Bronstein (Soviet Union)	½	½	½	½	1	½	x	½	½	½	1	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	0	½	1	11½
8	Yuri Averbakh (Soviet Union)	½	½	½	0	0	½	½	x	1	0	½	½	½	1	1	1	½	1	½	½	1	11½
9	Aleksandar Matanović (Yugoslavia)	1	½	0	0	½	½	½	0	x	1	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	½	1	½	1	11½
10	László Szabó (Hungary)	0	½	½	½	0	½	½	1	0	x	½	½	1	½	0	½	1	1	1	1	1	11½
11	Ludek Pachman (Czechoslovakia)	½	0	0	½	½	½	0	½	½	½	x	½	½	½	1	1	1	½	1	1	1	11½
12	Oscar Panno (Argentina)	0	0	½	1	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	x	½	1	½	½	1	½	1	½	½	11
13	Miroslav Filip (Czechoslovakia)	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	x	½	1	½	½	½	1	1	1	11
14	Raúl Sanguineti (Argentina)	½	½	½	0	½	0	½	0	½	½	½	0	½	x	1	½	1	1	½	1	½	10
15	Oleg Neikirch (Bulgaria)	½	0	½	½	1	½	½	0	½	1	0	½	0	0	x	0	½	1	1	½	1	9½
16	Bent Larsen (Denmark)	0	0	1	½	0	0	½	0	0	½	0	½	½	½	1	x	1	1	½	0	1	8½
17	James Sherwin (United States)	½	1	0	½	1	0	0	½	0	0	0	0	½	0	½	0	x	1	0	1	1	7½
18	Héctor Rossetto (Argentina)	0	0	0	½	1	½	½	0	½	0	½	½	½	0	0	0	0	x	1	½	1	7
19	Rodolfo Cardoso (Philippines)	½	0	0	0	0	0	1	½	0	0	0	0	0	½	0	½	1	0	x	1	1	6
20	Boris de Greiff (Colombia)	0	0	½	0	0	0	½	½	½	0	0	½	0	0	½	1	0	½	0	x	0	4½
21	Géza Füster (Canada)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	0	½	0	0	0	0	0	1	x	2

1959 Candidates Tournament[]

The 1959 Candidates Tournament was held in Yugoslavia in Bled, Zagreb, and Belgrade. The top two players from the previous tournament, Smyslov and Keres, were seeded directly into the tournament and joined by the top six from the interzonal. Mikhail Tal won, becoming the challenger in the 1960 championship match.

The tournament was notable in that the two top finishers, Tal and Keres, scored heavily against the bottom of the field. If only scores between the top four are taken into account, the results of the top four are quite similar (Tal 5½/12, Keres 6½/12, Petrosian and Smyslov both 6/12). But Tal and Keres scored heavily against the bottom four, with Tal scoring an incredible 14½/16, including winning all four of his games against Fischer.

Future World Champion Bobby Fischer was 16 years old at the time. He was the youngest Candidate in history until Magnus Carlsen qualified for the 2007 Candidates under a different system.

1959 Candidates Tournament

		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Score
1	Mikhail Tal (Soviet Union)	xxxx	0 0 1 0	= = = =	0 1 = 1	1 = 1 1	1 1 1 1	1 1 1 =	1 1 1 =	20
2	Paul Keres (Soviet Union)	1 1 0 1	xxxx	0 = = =	1 = = 0	= = 1 1	0 1 0 1	1 1 1 0	1 1 1 1	18½
3	Tigran Petrosian (Soviet Union)	= = = =	1 = = =	xxxx	= = 0 =	0 = = 1	1 1 = =	1 0 0 =	= 1 1 =	15½
4	Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union)	1 0 = 0	0 = = 1	= = 1 =	xxxx	0 = 1 0	= = 1 0	= 1 = 1	= 0 1 1	15
5	Svetozar Gligorić (Yugoslavia)	0 = 0 0	= = 0 0	1 = = 0	1 = 0 1	xxxx	0 1 = =	= = 1 0	= 1 = =	12½
6	Bobby Fischer (United States)	0 0 0 0	1 0 1 0	0 0 = =	= = 0 1	1 0 = =	xxxx	0 1 = 1	= 1 = 1	12½
7	Friðrik Ólafsson (Iceland)	0 0 0 =	0 0 0 1	0 1 1 =	= 0 = 0	= = 0 1	1 0 = 0	xxxx	0 0 = 1	10
8	Pal Benko (stateless)	0 0 0 =	0 0 0 0	= 0 0 =	= 1 0 0	= 0 = =	= 0 = 0	1 1 = 0	xxxx	8

1960 Championship match[]

The best of 24 game match was held in Moscow. In the event of a 12–12 tie, Botvinnik, the title holder, would retain the Championship.

Due to Tal's less impressive results against the very top players, including his three losses to Keres in the Candidates, Botvinnik was the favourite.^[4] However Tal won the match decisively, by a margin of 4 points.

World Chess Championship Match 1960

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Points
Mikhail Tal (Soviet Union)	1	½	½	½	½	1	1	0	0	½	1	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	1	½	½	12½
Mikhail Botvinnik (Soviet Union)	0	½	½	½	½	0	0	1	1	½	0	½	½	½	½	½	0	½	0	½	½	8½

Highlights[]

Game 6 is particularly famous, thanks to a speculative knight sacrifice by Tal on move 21. The audience became so excited that the game was moved to a back room due to the noise.^[4]

Botvinnik-Tal, Game 6

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Position after white's 21st move. Tal (black) now sacrificed a knight with the speculative 21...Nf4!?, and won in the ensuing complications.

See also[]

• World Chess Championship 1961

Notes[]

References[]

• Tal-Botvinnik 1960, by Mikhail Tal, Russell Enterprises, ISBN 978-1-888690-08-8