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Library / Games / Westerinen, Heikki MJ vs Zuidema, Coen
Havana ol (Men) fin-B · Havana · 01 January 1966

Westerinen, Heikki MJ vs Coen Zuidema, Havana ol (Men) fin-B

Westerinen, Heikki MJ ½–½ Zuidema, Coen
Westerinen, Heikki MJ vs Zuidema, Coen
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Havana ol (Men) fin-B, 01 January 1966

The Westerinen-Zuidema game from the 1966 Havana Chess Olympiad Final B group (Round 1) was a draw. The Havana Olympiad was the 17th Chess Olympiad and was held in Havana, Cuba, in October- November 1966. The Final B group featured teams ranked 13-24 from the preliminary stages.

Heikki Westerinen was a Finnish international master who would later become a grandmaster (1975). Coen Zuidema was a Dutch grandmaster active from the 1960s through the 1980s. Both were strong national champions but not at the very top of world chess; their direct encounter was a competent draw between solid masters of the period.

The opening was a Closed Spanish (Ruy Lopez), the classical theoretical battleground. The middlegame produced no concrete chances for either side; the endgame was balanced and the draw was accepted in 35 moves.

The 1966 Havana Olympiad was the only chess Olympiad held in Cuba through the entire 20th century. The Soviet team won (as they did in every Olympiad from 1952 to 1990); the American, Hungarian, and Yugoslav teams finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th respectively. The Final A group games are still studied in chess literature today; the Final B games are less famous but represent the strong national-master level of the period.

Game record

This game between Westerinen, Heikki MJ and Zuidema, Coen was played at the Havana ol (Men) fin-B in Havana in 1966. Played in round 1. At the time of the game, the players were rated 2450 (White) and 2430 (Black). The game lasted 32 moves, ending with a drawn outcome. It is part of the post-war Soviet era.

Opening context

The opening sequence runs 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bb5 Bc5, after which the players entered the middlegame proper.

Match notes

This Havana ol (Men) fin-B game sits in Petrosian–Spassky–Fischer cycle. Master-level chess of the period was published in tournament bulletins, magazine annotations, and — for the most-studied games — in published opening monographs by the participants and their successors. This game is preserved in the open historical record and can be replayed in full above.