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World Chess Championship 1966

The 1966 World Chess Championship was played between Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky in Moscow from April 9 to June 9, 1966. Petrosian won.

1964 Interzonal Tournament

An interzonal tournament was held in Amsterdam in the Netherlands in May and June 1964. Originally, 5 spots in the Candidates tournament were on the line, but since ex-champion Mikhail Botvinnik declined to take part, 6 players qualified.

1964 Interzonal Tournament
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Total Tie break
1 Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union) - ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 17 179.00
2 Bent Larsen (Denmark) ½ - 1 ½ 0 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 17 178.00
3 Boris Spassky (Soviet Union) ½ 0 - ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 17 172.25
4 Mikhail Tal (Soviet Union) ½ ½ ½ - ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 17 171.00
5 Leonid Stein (Soviet Union) ½ 1 ½ ½ - 0 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 16½
6 David Bronstein (Soviet Union) ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 - ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 16
7 Borislav Ivkov (Yugoslavia) ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ - ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 15
8 Samuel Reshevsky (United States) ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ - ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 14½ 144.25
9 Lajos Portisch (Hungary) 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ - ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 14½ 138.00
10 Svetozar Gligorić (Yugoslavia) 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ - ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 0 1 1 1 14
11 Klaus Darga (West Germany) 0 0 1 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ - 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 13½
12 Levente Lengyel (Hungary) 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 1 - ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 13
13 Ludek Pachman (Czechoslovakia) ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ - ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 ½ ½ 12½
14 Larry Evans (United States) 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ - 1 ½ 0 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 10
15 Georgi Tringov (Bulgaria) ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 - ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 9½
16 Pal Benko (United States) ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ - ½ 0 1 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 9
17 Héctor Rossetto (Argentina) ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 1 0 ½ - ½ ½ ½ 0 1 0 1 8 82.00
18 Alberto Foguelman (Argentina) ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 1 ½ - 0 0 1 1 0 1 8 76.50
19 István Bilek (Hungary) 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 - ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 8 72.75
20 Oscar Quiñones (Peru) 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 1 ½ - ½ 1 ½ 1 7
21 Yosef Porath (Israel) 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 0 0 ½ - 0 ½ ½ 5½
22 Francisco José Pérez (Cuba) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 1 5
23 Bela Berger (Australia) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 - 0 4½
24 Zvonko Vranesic (Canada) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 - 4

Since FIDE rules only allowed a maximum of three players from the same nation to qualify from the interzonal, Stein and Bronstein were ineligible. Instead Ivkov qualified. The sixth and final place in the Candidates Tournament was decided in a 3 game playoff in which Portisch beat Reshevsky 2½-½.

1965 Candidates matches

After the controversy surrounding the previous Candidates tournament, the 1965 tournament was the first to be played as a knock-out series of matches.

Two players were seeded directly into the tournament: Mikhail Botvinnik (loser of the last championship match) and Paul Keres (2nd place in the 1962 Candidates). Botvinnik declined, and his place was taken by Efim Geller, who finished 3rd in the 1962 Candidates.

  1st Round
 Semifinals
 Final
                           
  Riga, Apr 1965
   Boris Spassky 6  
   Paul Keres 4     Riga, May-June 1965
     Boris Spassky 5½  
Moscow, Apr 1965    Efim Geller 2½  
   Vassily Smyslov 2½
   Efim Geller 5½     Tbilisi, Nov 1965
     Boris Spassky 7
  Bled, June-July 1965      Mikhail Tal 4
   Bent Larsen 5½  
   Borislav Ivkov 2½     Bled, July-Aug 1965
     Bent Larsen 4½
Bled, June-July 1965    Mikhail Tal 5½  
   Lajos Portisch 2½
   Mikhail Tal 5½  

Spassky won, earning the right to challenge champion Petrosian for the title.

Larsen and Geller played a third place playoff in Copenhagen, Denmark in March 1966. Larsen won 5-4.

1966 Championship match

The match was played as best of 24 games. If it ended 12-12, Petrosian, the holder, would retain the Championship.

World Chess Championship Match 1966
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Points
Tigran Petrosian (Soviet Union) ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 0 ½ 12½
Boris Spassky (Soviet Union) ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 11½

Petrosian retained his title.

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