All the players in the picture above played in the tournament listed below. Can you name all the players in the picture? Which tournament is this and what year was it held? (Can you do it without Googling it?)
1 Tolush 14
2 Petrosian 13
3 Smyslov 12½
4 Spassky 12
5 Boleslavsky 12
6 Szabó,L 12
7 Barcza 11½
8 O’Kelly de Galway 11
9 Szabo,S 11
10 Sliwa 10½
11 Filip 9½
12 Ciocaltea 9½
13 Sajtar 8½
14 Milev 8
15 Barda 8
16 Stoltz 7
17 Radulescu 6
18 Golombek 6
19 Troianescu 5
20 Reicher 3
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Soviet Championship 1955?
Bucharest 1953. Players in picture, from left to right: Don’t know, Smyslov, Petrosian, don’t know, Spassky.
It surely wouldn’t have been a Soviet Championship, half or more of the field are not Russian. It can’t be a Candidates’ tournament, since Tolush won and he never won a CT.
Far right is a (very young) Boris Spassky; I suspect this is the Russian delegation. Smyslov is, I think, 2nd from left and Petrosian would be in the middle as he was small and dark. That leaves Tolush and Boleslavsky as the other two. But Boleslavsky was out of favor with the Soviet chess machine after the early 50’s, so this had to be from the early 50’s.
If I had to guess, it would be (L to R) Boleslavsky, Smyslov, Petrosian, Tolush, and Spassky.
Bucharest 1953.
In picture are Spassky, Tolush, Petrosian, Smyslov, Boleslavsky.
Spassky, at 16, beat Smyslov in their game – this was a sensation.
Also a surprise was Tolush’s win of the event – ahead of the fancied Smyslov and Petrosian. Smyslow won the Candidates later that year.
We did this once before.
Left to right: ?, Smyslov, Petrosian, ?, Spassky.
Romania, 1953
Boleslavsky, Smyslov, Petrosian and Spassky are easy to recognize. I guess the fifth (second from the right) is Tolush, but I have never seen his photo.
Dogs playing Poker.