31 July 2014

Sam Sloan and Gulf News

If you saw my post yesterday on my World Championship Blog, Zonal Clipping Update, C13-C16, you might have noticed

C14: I added a clipping from Polgar & Shutzman's 'Queen of the King's Game', documenting Polgar's exclusion from the [1987] Warsaw event in zone 3.

The heart of that clipping is a quote from Sam Sloan,

Before the FIDE General Assembly vote on whether to allow women to participate in the "men's" world championship, Sam Sloan continued his attacks in "Gulf News" [...]

The phrase 'continued his attacks' meant the second reference in the book to Sloan and Gulf News, where the first was his commentary on FIDE's infamous 1986 decision to award 100 additional rating points to all women except Susan Polgar, who was already the no.1 rated woman in the world.

Sam Sloan is no stranger to this blog. In 2008 I featured an hour-long video clip in a post titled Sam Sloan, Up Front and Personal. A year later, in You Be the Judge, I documented the status of the lawsuits involving Sloan, Polgar, and the USCF. Sloan's involvement with the Gulf News, however, was a fact I had hitherto managed to overlook.

On his own site, Anusha.com, Sloan explains the connection in WHY VOTE FOR SAM SLOAN?, an undated page which appears to have been written in 1996, when Sloan was an unsuccessful candidate for USCF President.

What really made me internationally famous as a chess journalist was the 1986 World Chess Olympiad in Dubai. There I got the chess column in the Gulf News and had the virtually unlimited opportunity to expound on the latest scandals in chess every day. This got me nearly arrested and deported several times, but the authorities finally decided that they couldn't touch me because my column was so popular.

In the next paragraph he discusses the 100 rating points.

The main thing for which I am remembered was exposing the deal to give every woman chess player in the world, except for Zsuzsa Polgar, 100 free rating points. This was a despicable deal which Don Schultz made with Campomanes and Krogius to keep Maya Chiburdanidze as the number one rated woman chess player in the world and to get Campomanes re-elected, even though Polgar was a far stronger chess player than Chiburdanidze. Eventually, my story was published in Chess Life in Larry Evans' column. (It would never have been published any where else in Chess Life.) It was also published in New in Chess magazine. Otherwise, to this day, only a handful of chess politicos would know about it. Don Schultz still says he did the right thing.

Gulf News continues today -- Gulf News, The Middle East's News homepage -- although Sam Sloan left long ago. Another page on his own site mentions that he was 'an accredited journalist from the Gulf News in Dubai' for the 1990 Manila Interzonal, which is the last reference I could find.

Why did Susan Polgar quote Sam Sloan in her 1997 book, then end up on the opposite side of lawsuits 12 years later? That is a question for another time.

29 July 2014

1928 Bad Kissingen

While preparing the eBay post 'The Silent Master' a few days ago, I had an alternative for the eBay auction that I finally chose. Pictured below, it was titled 'Spectacular c. 1920 Vintage Chess Masters Photograph with Raul Capablanca', started at US $800, and eventually sold for around $670, 'Best offer accepted'.

The description said only,

Vintage and original 4.75 x 5.5" photograph of several chess masters including the famous Raul Capablanca. Nice photo clarity. Very Good to Excellent condition overall, probably a one of a kind photo.

The lettering on the bottom right of the photo reads 'Hoffmann-Phot, Bad-Kissingen'. The Chessgames.com page for Bad Kissingen (1928) lists 12 masters. My best guess for the photo is Front row: Nimzowitsch, Capablanca, Tarrasch, Marshall; Back row: Euwe, Yates, Tartakower, Spielmann, Reti, Mieses, Bogoljubov; leaving Rubinstein unaccounted for. Did I get it right?

***

Later: 'Historical Photographs' on Roger Paige's Chess Site has a larger example of the same photo, which could be from the tournament book. The players are identified and match my guess.

28 July 2014

Kasparov TMER: Matching & Merging

As I noted in the previous post on the Kasparov TMER saga, Early Events, the next step was to merge the events listed in that post with the TMER index, Garry Kasparov's Tournament, Match, and Exhibition Record (1973-). Before you can do a merge, you have to do a match, and this is never as straightforward as it might seem. Different authors call the same event by different names and it's only in the details -- e.g. opponents and dates played -- that it becomes clear that they are discussing the same event. Even then, some guesswork is occasionally required.

As for the 'Early Events', I listed 31 in that post. This compares with 22 events on the TMER index. Of those, 17 events appear on both lists. This means there are 5 events on the index that are not mentioned by Kasparov in the early chapters of his book Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, Part I: 1973-1985. It also means there are 14 events in Kasparov's book that are not on my TMER index.

Of the 5 events on the index but not in the book, one ('1975 Chp. Azerbaijan') appears to be a fabrication. I originally noted this event in the December 1985 issue of Europe Echecs (p.7), but it isn't mentioned elsewhere. Out it goes. For the other four events I have games on file, but there is no mention of the corresponding event in Kasparov's book. All of the games are from 1977.

I compared the 1977 mystery games on my file with the games on Chessgames.com: Player: Garry Kasparov, Year: 1977. I found the games but found nothing explaining the events. More digging is needed. (NB: Chessgames.com has 56 games on file against my total of 52, but that discrepancy is for another time.)

Of the 14 events in the book but not on the index, one is a mistake on my part; the '1974 Tal simul' was one of the games played in the 'clock simuls vs. GMs, Moscow', aka the 'All-Union Tnmt of Pioneers Palaces'. The other 13 are additions to my index. I'll do that update for my next post in this series.

27 July 2014

'The Silent Master'

Here on Top eBay Chess Items by Price, the series of chess sets last seen in Chess and the Killer Klowns ends with the item pictured below. Titled 'Small Original NYC Central Park ALBERT GEORGE HANDELL Impressionist Oil Painting', it sold for US $610 after receiving 22 bids from nine bidders.

The description added,

Measuring 9" by 12" this mid 20th century American Impressionist Oil Painting is on canvas artist board. It is signed in the upper right hand corner "Al Handell." Albert George Handell (1937- ) was born in Brooklyn, New York and moved to Sante Fe in 1985. He studied art in New York City at the Art Students League and became known for his outdoor paintings.

This authentic Albert Handell impressionist oil painting depicts two gentleman playing chess, with two other people looking on. The bench and table are near the Chess and Checker House of Central Park. The condition is perfect without any restorations and it comes framed in its original 16" by 19" distressed wood frame.

For more about the artist, see his website Albert Handell ("The Silent Master").

25 July 2014

This One's for Alexandra

Titled: 'Don't Mess with the Chess Queen'; subtitled: 'Outfit - Vita's Boudoir - Chess Queen For the Month Of Games Event'


Dont Mess With The Chess Queen © Flickr user Pretty Parkin under Creative Commons.

The Flickr page notes, 'This photo is in 10 groups', most of them having something to do with Second Life. The Facebook page, Vita's Boudoir, says, 'Virtual clothing builds for Second Life avatars'.

24 July 2014

Embedded Tweets

Although I've used Twitter material before as a source of inspiration, e.g. in Danailov's Puzzles, I'm not a big fan. It's like walking into a huge room where thousands of people are talking at the same time and not being able to tell who really has something important to say.

A few months ago I noticed the possibility of embedding tweets in other content, copied the embed code of a tweet that I was particularly interested in, and promptly forgot about it. I found it again this week and decided to try it on this blog, mainly to remind myself why I noted it the first time. It turns out that the technique is no more difficult than embedding a Youtube video. For more, see Embedded Tweets on dev.twitter.com.

As for the content of this tweet, the Mig Greengard link leads to a page in Russian, while the two Ian Rogers links are to the two parts of the 'Foreign Correspondent' video. The Larisa Yudina material is why I noted the tweet in the first place.

22 July 2014

Alice and 'The Cat in the Hat'

Seen on Yahoo!...


Book-themed benches pop up around London

...The subtitle says,

Fifty open book-shaped benches decorated by prominent artists celebrate beloved literary gems. Treasure hunt for tourists

The link led to this Yahoo article: Take a Seat: London's BookBenches Are All Kinds of Artistic Cool

Sure, nothing beats a hammock for kicking back with a favorite book, but if you’re going to go bench, you can’t beat these new seats in London: 50 open-book-shaped benches decorated by prominent artists and illustrators in the style of some of the UK’s most enduring literary characters.

That's very nice, but what does the chess bench have to do with literature? Nimzovich's 'My System'? In Classic books fly off the shelves and on to the streets, TheGuardian.com explains (over another photo of the chess bench),

As titles from Alice Through the Looking-Glass to The Cat in the Hat are remade as public sculptures, author Mal Peet celebrates the joy of a paperback on a park bench.

Thanks, London! Thanks, Yahoo! Thanks, TheGuardian.com! Previously Seen on Yahoo!: Carlsen vs. Gates, The Aftermath.

21 July 2014

Kasparov TMER: Early Events

I finished the task started in my previous post, Garik Weinstein, identifying the early events in Kasparov's book Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, Part I: 1973-1985. The full list is shown below.

Next step: Merge this info with the index for Garry Kasparov's Tournament, Match, and Exhibition Record (1973-).

20 July 2014

Stavros Niarchos Chess

It's summer and it's hot outside, so let's have a video for this current episode of the 'Chess in School' series.


2014-06-27 Presentation of an Innovative Program introducing Chess to Schools in Greece (27:26) • '3rd Annual Stavros Niarchos Foundation International Conference on Philanthropy'

The description said,

Speakers: Yiannis Antoniadis - President, Association of Chess Players of Thessaloniki and Eva Polyzogopoulou - Program Coordinator, Education, Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

At the beginning of the clip, the moderator mentions a Kasparov speech from the 2013 conference. That speech can be found here: 2013-06-28 Keynote speech by Garry Kasparov.

18 July 2014

Brady on VOR America

A newly retired Dr. Frank Brady talks about the chess scene: past, present, and future.


David Kerans with Frank Brady at the World Open (7:18) • 'Brady discussed the prospects for sponsorship in chess, new dimensions of support in universities, the public's obsession with Bobby Fischer, and his own plans for the future.'

A few years ago, in Fischer's Best Games?, I ran a series on Brady's newest book on Fischer titled 'Endgame'.

17 July 2014

Chesscafe.com

What happened at Chesscafe? The site all but disappeared for five months with promises of a relaunch. The target for the relaunch was moved back several times, as recorded on the English Chess Forum in a thread titled Chesscafe.com.

The regular early February updates have been replaced by a message 'Look for a new column when we relaunch in May' [...] It seems the 'relaunch' date has been put back to June now. [...] Now it's July. [...] They don't specify a year.

I understood that the 'relaunch' would somehow involve a redesign, but when the site again started updating its columns earlier this month, the look hadn't changed. In any case, a redesign might require taking the site down for a few hours -- worst case a day or two -- but never for a few months. One sure way to kill a web site is by neglecting to update it.

As I wrote in The Best of ChessCafe and Chess History Cat Fight, the site has never been one of my favorites, but I would still be sorry to see it disappear completely.

15 July 2014

How Reliable Am I?

Have you ever overheard a conversation where people are talking about you? Seen on Wikipedia Talk...

Talk: List of World Chess Championships

It's a bit like lists of U.S. Presidents: it's common knowledge, and documented in dozens of books. We could add a link to http://www.mark-weeks.com..., but that just shifts the problem: another amateur historian who's put together the data from books. Rocksong 05:39, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

Talk: World Chess Championship 1984

Lies in article • This is a very bad article - perpetuating the myths and lies surrounding this championship match. Read for example what is written on Edward Winter's Chess notes. Kasparov asked for the match to be abandoned - so how could he then be extremely resentful of Campomanes decision? Abandoning the match improved his chances of winning. A real, reliable, citation is needed for the weight loss and health claims. I have [never] heard of Mark Weeks and have no idea why his website is being used as a reliable source.--ZincBelief (talk) 13:26, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

...I generally give more credibility to people who identify themselves, less to people who prefer to remain anonymous.

14 July 2014

Garik Weinstein

Continuing with the Kasparov TMER (*), Early Years and Early Games, I started to compare the events in Kasparov's book Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, Part I: 1973-1985 (must set a record for the number of times the author's name appears on the spine of a chess book) with the early events listed on my page Garry Kasparov's TMER (1973-). While I was working through the book, I discovered a passage related to Kasparov's name change (p.45). The 'tournament' mentioned in the first sentence is the 1975 Spartak Junior Championship, also seen in the 'Early Games' post.

'What's in a name?', indeed.

(*) TMER = Tournament, Match, and Exhibition Record

13 July 2014

Chess and the Killer Klowns

Here on Top eBay Chess Items by Price, you know things are slow when I feature a chess set. You know things are really slow when I feature two chess sets in a row. Last time we had Diderot Chess, and this time we have the summer doldrums.

The item pictured below was titled 'Custom-made horror movie chess table pieces -- Lugosi Chaney Killer Klowns monsters'. It sold for US $3500, 'Buy-It-Now'. Why would anyone pay four figures for a one-of-a-kind chess set without having any idea what it is really worth? Beats me, so there must be a story somewhere.

The description said,

One-of-a-kind, amazing homage to the horror genre. All the pieces are hand-crafted in the image of classic monsters such as Frankenstein, Dracula, Medusa, Godzilla, etc. The pawns are crafted in the image of Igor from "Young Frankenstein".

The board and accompanying coffin to hold pieces are adorned with classic characters and themes from various movies ("Killer Klowns from Outer Space", "Bride of Frankenstein", etc), most of them hand-painted or carved.

Coffin for holding pieces slides firmly in a space below the table top onto a ledge which has a painted fiery, satanic pentagram. The coffin is covered with printed marquee promos for various movies. Oak, poplar and Asian white woods were used in creating this painted table.

Officially titled 'Scary Monsters, Super Creeps', this is truly an amazing piece for horror film fans. Pieces range in height from 4 1/2" to 11" tall. The board is 37" in diameter. The coffin is 33" long, 13" across and 10 1/5" high.

In eBay's list of 'Top Chess Items by Price', which lists all items sold over the last three months, this monster mash is currently listed at no.2. Nos.1 & 3 are items I featured a few months ago in Capablanca Letters++. No.4 is the item from 'Diderot Chess'. That must be some sort of a hat trick for this blog series.

11 July 2014

Grounds for Chess Art

Before scrolling down, can you guess what technique was used to create this image? Photograph, digital drawing, something else?


Back to G4S! © Flickr user John under Creative Commons.

The description said,

Yesterday I returned to one of my favorite places in the world: Grounds for Sculpture. As the name implies, it's a large sculpture park, in Hamilton, NJ. I've only begun to edit the photos.

File it under 'chess sculpture'.

10 July 2014

Chess24.com

My previous post, The Start of the Scholastic Boom, reminded me of a topic that has been on my todo list for several months already: take a closer look at Chess24.com. Like most chess news addicts, I'm constantly on the prowl for new sources and this site has been on my radar since I bookmarked Carlsen: "Kramnik's play was too emotional" during the Candidates Tournament in March.

Why put it off for so long? Every time I visited the site -- usually in a hurry to do something else -- I was greeted with a signup screen and nothing called 'News'. In fact, it's under the link called 'Read', but even that page, Chess news from chess24, is not as straightforward as a person in a hurry would like. It turns out that you don't need to sign up to read the Chess24 news (although I did) and I added the link to the list of news sites I visit at least once a week.

The connection between my post on 'Scholastic Boom' and the home page Welcome to chess24.com! is Macauley Peterson. Next to his occasional comment on this blog that always goes straight to the core of an issue, I've mentioned his work in posts like Q: Who Makes the Best Chess News Videos?, FEB in May, and Preparing Today's Live Stream. Macauley was the CJA's 'Chess Journalist of the Year' in 2008, and on his Twitter account @Macauley64, now lists his occupation as 'Content Director for chess24, at Cisha GmbH in Hamburg, Germany'.

Again going back to March this year, thechessdrum.net announced Chess24.com launches Olympiad website!. If you go to www.tromso2014.com, you'll see that it resolves to a chess24.com address that tells us, '01.08 - 14.08.2014; The world's fourth largest sporting event'.

Joining Macauley in creating content on the site is Colin McGourty, author of, for example, an article titled Karpov prepares for Fischer. If you're familiar with his work, you might know that he was also known as 'mishanp', first on chessninja.com, later on his own site chessintranslation.com. This was followed by a stint on whychess.com. His specialty is translating Russian language material.

Chess web sites come and go. The Olympiad next month will likely be a make-or-break event for young chess24.com. A few years ago, whychess.com was an equally promising site. Now it is a phantom site endlessly repeating the latest news for the 2013 World Cup, also held in Tromso, nearly a year ago. Yes, chess24.com also offers online play, but so does chess.com, not to mention a host of smaller, well-respected play sites. I'll be following the new site regularly, both on its news page and on its social media offshoots:-

Here's wishing the entire team a successful and enduring run.

08 July 2014

The Start of the Scholastic Boom

When a subject catches my attention, I have a hard time getting it out of my mind. A recent example is my post on The USCF in Numbers, where I commented on USCF growth and noticed two periods that saw dramatic increases in USCF membership.

[USCF] growth has not been linear. There was a spurt from 11.202 members mid-1968 to 59.779 members in 1974, then a long, choppy decline, then another period of growth from 52.898 members in 1990 to a peak of 88.908 members in 2002. The last dozen years have seen the organization in decline again.

The early 1970s are known as the 'Fischer years', when the struggle of the American Champion to become World Champion was tracked by the mainstream press. [...] As for the growth in the 1990s and the subsequent decline, I have no ready explanation.

In a comment to the post, Macauley Peterson replied,

The growth in the 1990s was largely [due] to the tremendous boom in scholastic chess, which more than made up for the decline in adult memberships.

I contacted an acquaintance who was professionally involved with the USCF in the 1990s and asked him if Macauley's explanation was accurate. He replied,

I would like to think that stability at the top had something to do with the growth. Executive Director Al Lawrence's philosophy was simple: In order for the USCF to promote chess, you first have to promote the USCF. Macauley's remarks might be true for the latter half of the 1990s, but up until Al resigned [in 1996], adult membership grew along with other membership types.

He also commented on the subsequent decline in overall membership,

A steady decline in affiliates -- from about 2300 to less that 900 today -- meant fewer opportunities to cull new members. The decline in affiliates (clubs) and league play was due in no small part to the advent of on line play. USCF did not act quickly enough to the changing times. Members and former members now had an inexpensive option for getting their chess fix.

Al Lawrence, who was USCF Executive Director from 1988 to 1996, gave his own assessment in the August 1995 issue of Chess Life (p.3).

Since last April [1994], USCF total paid membership has gained over 8.200 new members [...] The future of chess, like the future of any activity depends on young people taking an interest. American youngsters are turning to USCF programs in ever increasing numbers. Scholastic Chess membership has gained 26% last year. Since 1990, it's up more than 700%! [...]

Adult membership has been steadily climbing since 1989, although the gains are not as dramatic as those of our recent school program. Nearly 48.000 adults are now dues-paying members of USCF.

A chart accompanying the article showed 82.430 members in 1995. The difference of more than 34.000 members must have been due in large part to scholastic memberships. No one knew it at the time, but scholastic members don't necessarily become adult members. A post I wrote last year, 2013 USCF Executive Board Election, included this quote from USCF President Ruth Haring.

Scholastic retention is one of the most urgent and least understood puzzles facing the organization (see chart).

Scholastic retention is one thing; a life-long appreciation for chess is another. Has the scholastic boom resulted in greater overall interest in the game? Perhaps it has, but how do you measure this?

07 July 2014

Kasparov TMER: Early Games

Continuing with Kasparov TMER: Early Years, where I identified seven early Kasparov games not on my TMER (*) file, I created the games and merged them with the other 93 games to make a PGN file mirroring the content of the book, Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, Part I: 1973-1985.

Are the seven games really new or have I simply fallen behind? I looked at Kasparov's games on Chessgames.com and found two of the seven. In his book, Kasparov identifies himself as 'G.Weinstein' in his early games. I checked if the other games were registered under that name, but found nothing.

Kasparov's talent shines through even his early games. What would you play in the following position?

G.Weinstein - B.Kantsler
Spartak Junior Championship, 1975

White to play

I'll add the answer in a comment.

(*) TMER = Tournament, Match, and Exhibition Record

06 July 2014

Chess Life for Kids

This fortnightly 'Chess in School' series, last seen in The Riddles of Chess (and Brain the Winner), is only exposing the peak of the iceberg. I was reminded of this when one of my About.com articles, Top 10 Ways to Lose at Chess, was indirectly included in the June 2014 issue of 'Chess Life for Kids'.

The cover of that issue is shown on the left. The question 'Where do YOU play chess?' on a photo by Lena Shaban is a call for other photos on the same subject to be used as future cover art for the magazine.

'Chess in School' is an evolution of the scholastic chess boom, which is itself a part, albeit a large part, of the increasing interest in chess for children. A page on the USCF's USchess.org site, About Chess Life for Kids Magazine explains,

Chess Life for Kids is the official publication of the United States Chess Federation (USCF) for age 12 and under. A subscription to this leading chess magazine is one of the benefits of Scholastic membersship in the USCF. Chess Life for Kids is a bi-monthly publication.

I'll take a closer look at this resource in a future post.

04 July 2014

Brain the Winner

Circumstances dictated a five week break between the previous edition of Video Friday, How to Hold Chess Pieces, and this current edition. Since my short list for this edition eventually reached 40 videos, I had some difficulty narrowing the choice to a single clip. In contrast to the choice in 'How to Hold', I decided to take a more highbrow route, although there were plenty of lowbrow choices available.


Brain the Winner in Chess (4:43) • 'Researchers and academicians alike are increasingly finding chess to be a brain feeder that can lift IQ levels, improve reading skills, enhance memory and concentration and, perhaps, in one's later years, stave off dementia and other chronic brain disorders.'

The explanation, by Franco Campanella, DO -- Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (I had to look it up) -- ties in nicely with another recent post, The Riddles of Chess.

03 July 2014

Treated Like a World Champion

In a recent post on my World Championship Blog, Zone 7 Details, 1969 & 1975, I quoted Bill Hook writing in 1975 about the Santo Domingo zonal held in July that year,

A surprise visitor was Florencio Campomanes of the Philippines, FIDE Deputy President, fresh from negotiations in Caracas for a possible Fischer - Mecking match.

Although I couldn't find any more about the match (why was the meeting in Caracas?), I did find a 1973 Fischer photo that doesn't yet seem to have been made available on the web. There are, however, similar photos in several places.

The photo caption said,

MANILA, OCT.16 -- PRESIDENTIAL CHESS -- World chess champion Bobby Fischer, right, and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, left, play ceremonial game of chess Tuesday, during the opening of the Philippines International Chess Tournament in Manila. In background from left are: Mrs. Imelda Marcos, wife of the president, and Christina Ford. (AP Wirephoto)

The Marcos encounter is mentioned in Frank Brady's Endgame, in a section listing offers that Fischer refused after becoming World Champion.

Bobby did accept one offer, but not for millions -- rather for $20.000. He was invited to be the guest of honor at the First Philippine International Chess Tournament in 1973, and in addition to the honorarium mentioned above, all of his expenses were paid. He stayed at the Tropical Palace resort on the outskirts of Manila for a month. At the tournament he made the ceremonial first move and played a mock game with President Marcos -- one that ended in a mock draw after eight moves.

Journalists asked Fischer why he'd accepted the offer to come to the Philippines on his first "official" visit when he'd turned down similar offers from other countries. "I was there in 1967," he said. "I was not yet World Champion but they treated me like a world champion."

Christina Ford is undoubtedly Cristina Ford, 'the second wife of Henry Ford II, chief executive officer of the Ford Motor Company [...] She was a friend of former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos', according to Wikipedia.

01 July 2014

July 1964 'On the Cover'

Last month's 'On the Cover' resulted in two blog posts: June 1964 'On the Cover' and The USCF in Numbers. What will this month's edition bring?


Left: 'On to Boston!'
Right: 'Doughty Dane'

Chess Life

[Back page ad] United States Open Chess Championship • Sheraton-Plaza Hotel, Boston, Mass., August 16-29 • Tournament Director: International Master George Koltanowski, Asst. Director: Robert Goodspeed • A 12-round Swiss Tournament, open to any player in the world. Entry fee: $20 • PRIZES: 1st Prize $1500 + Trophy + Title [...]

Chess Review

As the dust settles after the Interzonal Tournament at Amsterdam, Bent Larsen (our doughty Dane on the cover), who led most of the way, stands in a quadruple tie with Vassily Smyslov, Boris Spassky and Mikhail Tahl at the top of the 24 player field. Fifth and sixth are Leonid Stein and David Bronstein. But they rate no cigar (*).

Instead, Borislav Ivkov fills the fifth qualifying place for the Challengers Round of matches next year, and either Lajos Portisch or Samuel Reshevsky, who must play a match to settle the sixth qualifying place. These six then, along with seeded Mikhail Botvinnik and Paul Keres, contest matches next year to determine who is to take on World Champion Tigran Petrosian in 1966. [...]

(*) Stein and Bronstein actually scored better than even Ivkov but do not qualify under [the] FIDE rule that no more than three from any one country can do so. They may replace qualified Russians.

For the full crosstable, see 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal Tournament.