The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, January 25, 1970 - Page 98
U.S.S.R. vs The World
At the annual meeting of the International Chess Federation in Puerto Rico, a proposal was made for a match between the championship Soviet team and a group representing the rest of the world.
Plans have been approved, and the match, with 10 players on each side, will take place in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, the first week in April.
Former world champion Dr. Max Euwe of Holland will captain the “Rest of the World” team. Certain to be invited are the two American aces, Bobby Fischer and Samuel Reshevsky.
Others on the list who are expected to participate are Bent Larsen of Denmark, Vlastimil Hort of Czechoslovakia, Lajos Portisch of Hungary, Svetozar Gligoric, Borislav Ivkov and Milan Matulovic of Yugoslavia, Wolfgang Uhlmann of East Germany and Miguel Najdorf of Argentina. Wolfgang Unzicker of West Germany and Henrique Mecking of Brazil are the reserves.
Chess Oscar
For the second year the Association of International Chess Journalists, of which this writer is a member, met in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, during the grandmaster tournament there last month.
A major result of the deliberations was a list of the 10 best players of the year. The overwhelming winner was newly crowned champion of the world, Boris Spassky of the USSR.
Second and third places were also awarded to Soviet stars, Victor Korchnoi and former world champion Tigran Petrosian.
Fourth on the list and leader of the “rest of the world” (see above) was Bent Larsen, who had won the top award for 1968.
Others of the honored group were: Lev Polugaevsky, Vlastimil Hort, Lajos Portisch, Vassily Smyslov, Eufim Geller and Svetozar Gligoric.
Bobby Fischer, who probably would have made the list in any year in which he participated, did not play a single match or tournament game in 1969.