Canadian Open Chess - Suttles Moves Out of Lead -- Protesting

The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Monday, August 30, 1971 - Page 25

Canadian Open Chess - Suttles Moves Out of Lead -- Protesting Mon, Aug 30, 1971 – 25 · The Province (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) · Newspapers.com Canadian Open Chess - Suttles Moves Out of Lead -- Protesting by Paul Raugust
Canadian champion Duncan Suttles of Vancouver lost the lead in the Canadian Open Chess Championship on Sunday night as he went down to defeat at the hands of world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union.
Suttles, a 24-year-old international master, had taken sole possession of first place Saturday by defeating U.S. grandmaster Pal Benko in the fifth round.
Spassky had to settle for a draw in the same round in a game against Lubomir Kavalek, another U.S. grandmaster, leaving seven players tied for second place.
The young Canadian champion played Sunday's game under protest as he was forced to play with the disadvantages of black for the fourth time in the 11-game tournament.
Both Spassky and Suttles had played three games with black and two with white going into the sixth round. Suttles' number one position paired him against the highest-rated player in the next division, which happened to be Spassky with 4½ points.
Conflicting rules were applicable to decide which player played white as both had played identical whites and blacks to that point. The rule employed by tournament director Phil Haley was that the highest-rated player -- Spassky -- retain his order of play in the sixth round, giving Spassky white.
Suttles pointed to another tournament rule that states that a player who is dropped to a lower points division, as he was because there was no tie for first place, retains his order of play. Haley, however, ruled that Spassky play white and, after the ruling was upheld by the tournament committee, Suttles reluctantly agreed to play black.
In his Saturday game against Benko, Suttles had no difficulty in overcoming black's disadvantages, but he couldn't duplicate the feat against Spassky.
In another major upset Saturday, E. Formanek of Ottawa defeated Australian grandmaster and U.S. Open champion Walter Browne.
The seven players in a tie for second place on Saturday, were B.C. champion Formanek, Kavalek, Spassky, Zvonko Vranesic of Toronto, Hans Ree of Holland, E. Macskasy of Vancouver, and B.C. champion Peter Biyiasas.
Sunday night Biyiasis had to forfeit a close game against Kavalek as the clock ran out before he could complete the required 45 moves.
In other second-place tie breakers Vranesic defeated O. Gadia of Brazil, Ree downed Macskasy, and G. Kuprejanov of Toronto defeated Formanek.
This left five players tied for first place -- Spassky, Kavalek, Vranesic, Ree and Kuprejanov.
Tied for second place are Suttles, Bob Zuk of Surrey, S. Pakosta of Vancouver and C. Barnes of the U.S.
The two grandmasters who have dropped behind the leaders -- Benko and Browne -- each won Sunday games. Benko, with a rating of 2,550 points, defeated G. Aspler of Montreal who has a 98-point rating.