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

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.