- WhiteEfim Geller
- BlackOscar Panno
- WhereGothenburg
- WhenSeptember 7, 1955
- EventGothenburg Interzonal, round 14
- Result1–0, White won
- OpeningSicilian Defense, Najdorf Variation (B98)
- Length23 moves
In August and September 1955, an Interzonal tournament was played in Gothenburg, Sweden, one step on the road to the world championship. The top nine went on to the Candidates Tournament, whose winner would challenge world champion Mikhail Botvinnik.
In round 14, three Argentines faced three Soviet players: Oscar Panno against Efim Geller, Hermann Pilnik against Boris Spassky, and Miguel Najdorf against Paul Keres. All three Argentines had Black and played the same sharp line of the Sicilian Defense, 8…h6 9.Bh4 g5, which was played for the first time that very day.
Geller found the knight sacrifice 11.Nxe6, and Keres and Spassky played the same move. Panno chose 13…Ne5, Pilnik and Najdorf 13…Kg7, but all three Argentines lost before long. For a while the line was thought to be refuted. Three years later, at the Portorož Interzonal in 1958, Bobby Fischer played the improvement 13…Rh7 against Svetozar Gligorić.
The tournament was won by David Bronstein with 15 points out of 20. Sweden's Gideon Ståhlberg finished seventeenth.
The players
Efim Geller (1925–1998) grew up in Odessa. He was Soviet champion twice, in 1955 and 1979, and a candidate for the world title six times. Later he coached two world champions, Boris Spassky and Anatoly Karpov. At Gothenburg he shared fifth place and went on to the Candidates Tournament.
Oscar Panno (born 1935) from Buenos Aires won the World Junior Championship in 1953 and became a grandmaster at twenty. By profession he is a civil engineer. Despite the loss to Geller, Gothenburg was his greatest success: he finished alone in third place, half a point from second, and beat Spassky, among others.
The game move by move
Step through with the arrows or tap a move. Moves with a dot have a comment.
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Play like Geller
Guess the moves Geller played, one at a time. The move from the game earns two points, and a move Lavi thinks is about as good earns one. The other side's moves and the game's notes come as you go.
The moments that decided it
The end
Why the game is famous
The round became chess history: the same new line, played at the same time on three boards by three players from the same country, and the same answer from three Soviet grandmasters. Keres–Najdorf went 13…Kg7 14.O-O Ne5 15.Bg3 Ng6 16.gxh6+ Rxh6 17.Rf7+ Kxf7 18.Qxh6, and that game also ended in a win for White.
Panno and Pilnik still went on to the Candidates Tournament; Najdorf did not. And Gothenburg got its place in opening theory, through a game Black lost: the line still carries the city's name.
The whole game with notes, as text
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 The Najdorf Variation, named after Miguel Najdorf, who sat at one of the other boards in the same round. 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qf3 h6 9. Bh4 g5 The new idea. The pawn attacks both the bishop on h4 and the pawn on f4. The line is known as the Argentine Variation, or as the Göteborg Variation, from the Swedish name of the city. 10. fxg5 Nfd7 The knight is heading for e5, where the other knight can support it from d7 or c6. 11. Nxe6 Geller's discovery: the knight is sacrificed on e6. Keres and Spassky played the same move at their boards. 11… fxe6 12. Qh5+ Check. The king goes to f8 and can no longer castle. 12… Kf8 13. Bb5 All three games reached this position. The bishop leaves f1 so that White can castle kingside, and attacks the knight on d7. 13… Ne5 Panno chose the knight move. Pilnik and Najdorf played 13…Kg7. 14. Bg3 Bxg5 Black has a piece for a pawn, but the king is still in the center. 15. O-O+ Castling with check: the rook on f1 gives check along the open f-file. 15… Ke7 16. Bxe5 The bishop takes the knight on e5. 16… Qb6+ 17. Kh1 dxe5 18. Qf7+ The queen breaks in with check. 18… Kd6 19. Rad1+ Qd4 The queen blocks, but the rook takes it at once. 20. Rxd4+ exd4 21. e5+ The pawn gives check and drives the king further up the board. 21… Kc5 22. Qc7+ Nc6 23. Bxc6 Black's king stands in the middle of the board without cover, and White also has more material. Panno resigned.
PGN – the game as text for other chess programs
[Event "Gothenburg Interzonal, round 14"] [Site "Gothenburg"] [Date "1955.09.07"] [Round "?"] [White "Efim Geller"] [Black "Oscar Panno"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B98"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qf3 h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. fxg5 Nfd7 11. Nxe6 fxe6 12. Qh5+ Kf8 13. Bb5 Ne5 14. Bg3 Bxg5 15. O-O+ Ke7 16. Bxe5 Qb6+ 17. Kh1 dxe5 18. Qf7+ Kd6 19. Rad1+ Qd4 20. Rxd4+ exd4 21. e5+ Kc5 22. Qc7+ Nc6 23. Bxc6 1-0
Sources
- Chessgames.com, Geller–Panno 1955
- PGN Mentor, Geller.pgn
- Wikipedia: Sicilian Defence, Najdorf Variation
- Wikipedia: World Chess Championship 1957 (the 1955 Interzonal)
The moves compared in two databases (Chessgames, PGN Mentor): identical, 45 half-moves. Panno resigned after 23.Bxc6. The date from Chessgames; that three Argentines played the same line in round 14 against Geller, Spassky and Keres, and that all three lost, from Wikipedia (the Najdorf article). Keres–Najdorf from the same round checked the same way (Chessgames, PGN Mentor: identical). Every move has also been replayed by computer and checked against the rules of chess.
Updated November 6, 2026
Efim Geller has the white pieces, Oscar Panno the black.