World Chess Championship 1951 - 1950 Candidates Tournament

1950 Candidates Tournament

The 1950 Candidates tournament was held in Budapest, Hungary in April and May 1950. The players who finished second through fifth in the 1948 championship tournament (Smyslov, Keres, Reshevsky, and Euwe) were seeded directly into the tournament, along with Reuben Fine, who had been invited to the 1948 tournament but had to withdraw for health reasons. Reshevsky, Euwe, and Fine all declined to take part. The remaining two (Smyslov and Keres) were joined by the top eight finishers from the Interzonal.

1950 Candidates Tournament

		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Score	Tie break
1	David Bronstein (Soviet Union)	xx	= =	0 1	= 1	1 1	1 =	0 1	= =	1 =	= 1	12	103.00
2	Isaac Boleslavsky (Soviet Union)	= =	xx	1 =	= =	= =	1 =	= =	= 1	= 1	1 1	12	101.25
3	Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union)	1 0	0 =	xx	= =	1 =	= 1	0 1	= 1	= =	= =	10
4	Paul Keres (Soviet Union)	= 0	= =	= =	xx	= =	1 0	1 =	= =	= 1	= =	9½
5	Miguel Najdorf (Argentina)	0 0	= =	0 =	= =	xx	= =	= =	1 1	= 1	= =	9
6	Alexander Kotov (Soviet Union)	0 =	0 =	= 0	0 1	= =	xx	= 1	1 0	1 0	1 =	8½
7	Gideon Ståhlberg (Sweden)	1 0	= =	1 0	0 =	= =	= 0	xx	= =	= =	= =	8
8	Andor Lilienthal (Soviet Union)	= =	= 0	= 0	= =	0 0	0 1	= =	xx	1 0	= =	7	63.00
9	László Szabó (Hungary)	0 =	= 0	= =	= 0	= 0	0 1	= =	0 1	xx	1 0	7	61.75
10	Salo Flohr (Soviet Union)	= 0	0 0	= =	= =	= =	0 =	= =	= =	0 1	xx	7	60.75

The co-winners then played a 12-game rematch in Moscow in July and August 1950. In the event of another tie, the first decisive game would determine Botovinnik's challenger for the title.

Bronstein thus earned the right to challenge the reigning champion.