March 8 - 5th Interzonal Tournament at Stockholm won by Bobby Fischer (USA) with 17.5/22. Tigran Petrosian (USSR) and Efim Geller (USSR) tied for 2nd-3rd with 15 points, Victor Korchnoi (USSR) and Miroslav Filip (Czechoslovakia) tied for 4th-5th with 14 points. Pal Benko (USA) won the sixth and final qualifying position for the Candidates Tournament in a three-way playoff with Leonid Stein (USSR) and Svetozar Gligorić after all tied for 6th-8th with 13.5 points. Although Stein scored the most points in the playoff, he was barred from qualifying for the Candidates Tournament by a FIDE rule that allowed no more than three players from the same federation to qualify. The Interzonal was originally scheduled to be played in the Netherlands in 1961, but difficulties obtaining visas caused a delay while another site was found.
October 10 - 15th Olympiad in Varna won by the USSR team with 31.5 points. Yugoslavia earns the silver medal with 28, and Argentina the bronze with 26.
Births
Martin Kreuzer, German ICCGM, FM, and mathematics professor.
February 12 - Nana Ioseliani, Georgian IM and WGM, two time challenger for the Women's World Championship.
February 19 - Rogelio Antonio Jr., Filipino GM.
April 5 - Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Kalmyk President of FIDE since 1995.
April 10 - Alexander Huzman, Ukrainian born Israeli GM and trainer.