World Title Challenge Frustrations
With his strong result at the 1961 Soviet Championship, he earned the right to play in the 1962 Stockholm Interzonal tournament. His play there was excellent, finishing in a tie for 6th–7th places, but he was denied the right to advance to the Candidates' Tournament, because of a FIDE rule then in force which limited the qualifiers from any one country to three (in this case USSR). He had finished behind fellow Soviets Efim Geller, Petrosian, and Viktor Korchnoi.
A very similar occurrence was the story of the next Interzonal tournament, in Amsterdam 1964. Stein took fifth place, sufficient for qualification for any non-Soviet player, with an outstanding total of 16½ / 23, but was blocked from advancement. He had finished behind fellow Soviets Mikhail Tal, Vasily Smyslov, and Boris Spassky, who, along with Danish GM Bent Larsen, had all scored 17 points. He did represent the USSR at the Tel Aviv Olympiad that year, scoring a fine 10/13, and winning an individual gold medal on the first reserve board. Again, he was in the Soviet side at the Havana Olympiad 1966, scoring 9/12, winning an individual silver medal on board four. Both times, the Soviet Union won the team gold medals.
Again, in 1967, Stein qualified for the Sousse Interzonal, scored well, in a tie for 6th–8th places, but had to undergo a further playoff with Samuel Reshevsky and Vlastimil Hort, in Los Angeles, which was won by Reshevsky.
He was in the Soviet side for the European team championships at Hamburg 1965 and Kapfenberg 1970, both of which were victorious. He served as an alternate on the Soviet team for the Match of the Century against the Rest of the World team, at Belgrade 1970. He played one game, losing to Larsen.
Stein had already qualified for the 1973 Petropolis Interzonal, and was considered a potential favorite to win the entire Candidates' cycle. But, as he was preparing to leave with the Soviet side for the European team championship, set for Bath 1973, he collapsed of an apparent heart attack, and died in the Rossiya Hotel in Moscow. He was only 38, and was still near the peak of his career.
Read more about this topic: Leonid Stein
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