March 1974 & 1999 'On the Cover'

This post marks the tenth anniversary of the first 'On the Cover' post, which was March 1964 'On the Cover' (March 2014). For the first five years the posts showed the covers of the two leading American chess magazines of the 1960s.

The series changed direction in November 1969 & 1994 'On the Cover' (November 2019), shifting to the format showing both 50 and 25 years ago. For last month's post, see February 1974 & 1999 'On the Cover' (February 2024).

Left: '?'
Right: 'Troop Inspection (c) Jon F. Buckley'

Chess Life & Review (50 Years Ago)

No, this in not a tennis magazine. But R. Byrne and Spassky did use the courts during their San Juan match. See the games [inside]; full analysis next month. Spassky photo by Betty Marshall; Byrne photo by Burt Hochberg.

The 'full analysis next month', in the April 1974 CL&R, was by Lubosh Kavalek a member of Byrne's team in San Juan. Once again, I'll quote the March 'The Editor's Page - News & Views' by Burt Hochberg for the full, contemporary picture of that cycle's Candidate matches. For the crosstables, see 1973-75 Candidates Matches (m-w.com).

Ex-World Champion Boris Spassky took the first step towards challenging current Champion Fischer by defeating Robert Byrne in Puerto Rico. Spassky won the third, fourth and sixth games, the other three being drawn.

The second match to finish was Karpov's rout of Polugaevsky. The match lasted eight games, Karpov winning the fourth, sixth and eighth, with the others drawn. Now Karpov must play Spassky in April.

Soviet veteran Victor Korchnoi undoubtedly took great satisfaction in his victory against Brazil's Henrique Mecking. This match, held in Augusta, Ga., went 13 games. The Russian won games five and seven, but Mecking scored in game 12. The young grandmaster's elation was short-lived, however, as Korchnoi took game 13 and the match.

In the last match to finish, Petrosian defeated Portisch, three wins to two. Petrosian had won games five and nine, but Portisch caught up with wins in the 10th and 12th games. Then Petrosian won the 13th. He will be faced with Korchnoi in April.

By the way, draws do not count in match scoring. The quarter-final matches require three wins for match victory, the semi-finals (in April) require four wins, and the final match will go to the player who first scores five wins. A match is won by the player who is leading after a certain number of games (16 in the quarters, 20 in the semis, 24 in the finals), but if a tie exists after the game limit, the match is decided by fervent praying, followed by tossing a coin.

Fifty years ago it was not acceptable to decide a match with a shorter time control than was used in the match games, i.e. rapid or blitz tiebreaks. Today it is the norm. 'Fervent praying', however, is still with us.

Chess Life (25 Years Ago)

Okay, it's a stretch, I admit. But when you read IM [now GM] Larry Kaufman's article "The Evaluation of Material Imbalances," you will see a connection to Jon Buckley's "Troop Inspection," our cover. The troops have been inspected, evaluated, and promoted (for the most part), so that you can make intelligent decisions over the board. • © 1998 Jon F. Buckley

Don't overlook the report on the Eastern Open. We're very lucky to have two games annotated by GM Lubomir Kavalek.

A black and white version of the 1999 CL cover illustrated the Kaufman article. I once featured the ground breaking Kaufman analysis in a series on Practical Evaluation (February 2013); see '2013-01-15: Kaufman's Material Imbalances * Kaufman 1999'

Buckley's artwork was also seen in August 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover' (August 2023). Will we see more in future 'On the Cover' posts?