The 1973 U S Championship International Madrid 1973

46 pages with tables and diagrams. Octavo (8 1/4" x 5 1/23") bound in original publisher's stapled wrappers. First edition. With the reverberations of the Fischer Boom still resounding in their ears, the Powers That Were in USCF-Land decided it might be time to move the US Closed Championship out of New York where it had been played exclusively since 1936 (except for the small blip of South Fallsburg, 1948). As always, the issue was funding, but the El Paso Chess Club (with the help of the local Jaycees and the Hotel Paso del Norte) got everything together and brought together the following group from September 9-26, 1973, for a little chess and a trip or two across the border to Juarez for the dog races: Pal Benko; Arthur Bisguier; Walter Shawn Browne; Donald Byrne; Larry Melvyn Evans; Lawrence C Gilden; John A Grefe; George Francis Kane; Andrew Karklins; Lubomir Kavalek; William E Martz; Edmar J Mednis; James Tarjan. A new site brought new players to the fore, as the recently-eligible Lubomir Kavalek and little-regarded John Grefe sprinted out in front, Grefe winning six games in a row at one point. When they met in round 10 Grefe actually had a 1.5 point lead, but Kavalek had an extra game to play due to the bye. Kavalek vs J Grefe, 1973 went Kavalek's way, but he was only able to draw in round 11 when Grefe had the bye, leaving the two players tied going into the last two rounds. Both took quick draws with White in round 12. The last round saw them both playing Black, Kavalek against Karklins and Grefe against Benko. Kavalek seemed to have the easier task, but when the games were adjourned his position was drawn (though difficult) while Grefe had an easy win against Benko. After adjournment Grefe duly converted his point, and didn't have long to wait. Almost immediately afterward, with a perpetual check in hand, Karklins miscalculated a line he thought was winning for him and handed the game to Kavalek, resulting in co-champions. Madrid, Spain was the host to a category XII international tournament from November 26th to December 15th, 1973. 12 grandmasters and 4 masters were invited to participate in the round robin event, including (in order of ELO): Anatoli Karpov (2660), Lajos Portisch (2650), Vlastimil Hort (2590), Oscar Panno (2585), Ljubomir Ljubojevic (2565), Wolfgang Uhlmann (2560), Ulf Andersson (2555), Vladimir Tukmakov (2545), Semyon Furman (2540), Walter Shawn Browne (2535), Albin Planinc (2525), Ricardo Calvo-Minguez (2470), Julio Kaplan (2455), Silvino Garcia-Martinez (2450), Arturo Pomar-Salamanca (2430), and Juan Manuel Bellon-Lopez (2400). 1973 was a significant year for young Karpov. After placing second in Budapest and tying for first with Viktor Korchnoi at the Leningrad Interzonal he added this tournament win, and the Chess Oscar at year's end. Both tournaments with all scores unannotated. Condition: Some edge wear else very good.