| Montreal (1979) |
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In the spring of 1979, Lubomir Kavalek, along with Czech filmmakers Milos Forman and Ivan Passer, organized a double round robin tournament to be held in Montreal, Quebec from April 10th to May 7th. Dubbed "The Tournament of Stars", the event was attended by ten of the very strongest grandmasters at the time, including the world champion. The complete list of players was (in order of Elo): Anatoli Karpov (2705), Lajos Portisch (2640), Boris Spassky (2640), Bent Larsen (2625), Jan Timman (2625), Mikhail Tal (2615), Vlastimil Hort (2600), Robert Hübner (2595), Lubomir Kavalek (2590), and Ljubomir Ljubojevic (2590). As a result, the average Elo rating for the tournament was 2622, making "The Tournament of Stars" a Category XV event. It was also one of the strongest tournaments ever organized at that time. The only two top-ten rated players missing were Robert James Fischer (who was reclusive at the time) and Viktor Korchnoi (who was being boycotted to secure Soviet participation). The players stayed at the Meridian Hotel overlooking downtown Montreal, and they played at the Quebec Pavilion. The prize fund for the event was $110,000 and the chief arbiter was Svetozar Gligoric. Portisch and Ljubojevic started out strong, but were eventually overtaken after the halfway point by the world champion Karpov and the then-current Soviet champion Tal. In the sixteenth round, Karpov fought hard to defeat Tal and gain the lead, but the former world champion held him to a draw. It was only by a brilliant win against Ljubojevic with the black pieces in the penultimate round that Karpov was able to tie Tal in the final round and share first place with him. The final standings and crosstable are as follows: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 Pts
01 Karpov ** ½½ ½½ 11 11 11 1½ ½½ ½½ ½0 12
02 Tal ½½ ** ½1 ½½ ½½ 11 1½ ½1 ½½ 1½ 12
03 Portisch ½½ ½0 ** ½½ ½½ ½½ ½½ 1½ 1½ 11 10½
04 Ljubojevic 00 ½½ ½½ ** ½½ ½0 10 ½½ 11 1½ 9
05 Timman 00 ½½ ½½ ½½ ** ½½ ½0 ½½ ½1 1½ 8½
06 Spassky 00 00 ½½ ½1 ½½ ** 1½ ½1 ½½ 01 8½
07 Kavalek 0½ 0½ ½½ 01 ½1 0½ ** 01 ½½ 01 8
08 Hübner ½½ ½0 0½ ½½ ½½ ½0 10 ** ½½ 1½ 8
09 Hort ½½ ½½ 0½ 00 ½0 ½½ ½½ ½½ ** 11 8
10 Larsen ½1 0½ 00 0½ 0½ 10 10 0½ 00 ** 5½
Original collection: Game Collection: Montreal 1979, by User: suenteus po 147.
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| page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 90 |
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| Game |
| Result | Moves |
Year | Event/Locale | Opening |
| 1. Tal vs Spassky |
  | 1-0 | 32 | 1979 | Montreal | E94 King's Indian, Orthodox |
| 2. Kavalek vs Timman |
| ½-½ | 19 | 1979 | Montreal | B64 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack |
| 3. Huebner vs Karpov |
| ½-½ | 17 | 1979 | Montreal | E06 Catalan, Closed, 5.Nf3 |
| 4. Larsen vs Ljubojevic |
| 0-1 | 26 | 1979 | Montreal | A07 King's Indian Attack |
| 5. Portisch vs Hort |
| 1-0 | 51 | 1979 | Montreal | E81 King's Indian, Samisch |
| 6. Karpov vs Timman |
| 1-0 | 38 | 1979 | Montreal | B07 Pirc |
| 7. Huebner vs Larsen |
| 1-0 | 55 | 1979 | Montreal | C04 French, Tarrasch, Guimard Main line |
| 8. Hort vs Tal |
| ½-½ | 20 | 1979 | Montreal | D58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst |
| 9. Spassky vs Kavalek |
| 1-0 | 58 | 1979 | Montreal | A53 Old Indian |
| 10. Ljubojevic vs Portisch |
| ½-½ | 52 | 1979 | Montreal | C00 French Defense |
| 11. Kavalek vs Hort |
| ½-½ | 20 | 1979 | Montreal | D41 Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch |
| 12. Portisch vs Huebner |
| 1-0 | 39 | 1979 | Montreal | A34 English, Symmetrical |
| 13. Timman vs Spassky |
| ½-½ | 31 | 1979 | Montreal | C91 Ruy Lopez, Closed |
| 14. Tal vs Ljubojevic |
| ½-½ | 31 | 1979 | Montreal | B43 Sicilian, Kan, 5.Nc3 |
| 15. Larsen vs Karpov |
| ½-½ | 43 | 1979 | Montreal | B10 Caro-Kann |
| 16. Ljubojevic vs Kavalek |
| 1-0 | 56 | 1979 | Montreal | C18 French, Winawer |
| 17. Huebner vs Tal |
| ½-½ | 16 | 1979 | Montreal | A62 Benoni, Fianchetto Variation |
| 18. Karpov vs Spassky |
| 1-0 | 41 | 1979 | Montreal | D37 Queen's Gambit Declined |
| 19. Larsen vs Portisch |
| 0-1 | 39 | 1979 | Montreal | A28 English |
| 20. Hort vs Timman |
| ½-½ | 54 | 1979 | Montreal | A64 Benoni, Fianchetto, 11...Re8 |
| 21. Portisch vs Karpov |
| ½-½ | 17 | 1979 | Montreal | E12 Queen's Indian |
| 22. Tal vs Larsen |
| 1-0 | 22 | 1979 | Montreal | B63 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack |
| 23. Timman vs Ljubojevic |
| ½-½ | 23 | 1979 | Montreal | D43 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav |
| 24. Kavalek vs Huebner |
| 0-1 | 32 | 1979 | Montreal | B18 Caro-Kann, Classical |
| 25. Spassky vs Hort |
| ½-½ | 12 | 1979 | Montreal | E52 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with ...b6 |
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| page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 90 |
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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 3 OF 3 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
| May-10-14 | | Howard: Granted, Clarin 1979 was a weaker field than, say, Montreal 1979 but then Larsen did finish three points clear of second-place Spassky. That, in itself, was quite an accomplishment. On the other hand, the all but unbeatable Petrosian finished with a minus score at Clarin. But then he was 50 at the time and well past his prime. |
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May-10-14
 | | plang: Top 10 in 1/1/79 rating list were:
1 Karpov
2 Korchnoi
3-4 Portisch
Spassky
5-6 Polugaevsky
Timman
7 Larsen
8-9 Mecking
Tal
10 Petrosian
So 6 of the top 10 played in Montreal |
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May-10-14
 | | perfidious: Petrosian was not playing many elite events by age fifty, but he was far from a spent force as implied above: in 1979, he managed to win the Keres Memorial at Tallinn; in 1980, Las Palmas and equal second to Beliavsky at Tilburg 1981 were some fine results in the twilight of his career, which belie any claim that he was finished. |
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| May-10-14 | | Howard: Trust me, I never meant to imply that Petrosian was a "spent force" by 1979---he's one of my 4-5 favorite players of all time. Granted, he did quite well at Tilburg 1981 but then I do recall Chess Life and Review pointing out in its tournament article that it'd been awhile since he'd done so well in such an elite tournament. This August, by the way, will mark the 30th anniversary of his premature death, at 55. In fact I still remember that both Time and Newsweek magazines briefly mentioned his death back then ! |
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| May-11-14 | | zanzibar: <<perfidious:> Chaos is my business.> Ha! Guess you watched a lot of <Get Smart> as a kid then?! |
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| May-11-14 | | Howard: I've never watched Get Smart. What's the point of your joke...I don't get it. At any rate, I did look up Las Palmas 1980 yesterday after reading your comment, and you're correct about Petrosian. He tied for first place with Miles and Geller in that event....and all three of them went undefeated. |
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| May-11-14 | | zanzibar: <Howard> The quote at the top of my post is a reference to a different subthread than the Petrosian discussion. I was just trying to get a friendly reply in turn.
(I miss the old days of usenet that allowed for multiple, simultaneous threads - back in the days when "Get Smart" was actually still airing!) |
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Feb-27-15
| | perfidious: <Zanzibar> Never watched much <Get Smart>--just something which came from the recesses of my muddled brain. No accounting for some things, Ah guess. |
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| Jul-03-18 | | Granny O Doul: "Chaos is my business" sounded more like a tweaking of Philip Marlowe. |
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Jun-25-19
 | | GrahamClayton: I had started to get serious about chess in 1979 and started a subscription to "Chess in Australia" mgazine. The first issue that I received was the July 1979 issue, which had a huge report about this tournament. It was so exciting for me to play through current games by international GMs! |
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Jun-25-19
 | | Sally Simpson: ***
Hi Graham.
The book of the event is excellent. It's here at a reasonable price on E-Bay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Chess-Book... *** |
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Mar-18-22
 | | Stonehenge: Round dates can be found here (starting at page 442): http://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/CL.... |
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| Mar-18-22 | | Aminda: I was there. Tal signed a copy of his best games book for me. I followed every single game. The setting was very nice, the games were amazing. The highest level chess event held in Montreal since the Lasker-Steinitz (1894) world championship, a little bit before my time. |
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| Mar-18-22 | | Z free or die: <<Aminda> Tal signed a copy of his best games book for me. > Nice. Personalized?
* * * * *
Apropos <Get Smart> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYy... |
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| Mar-18-22 | | Z free or die: (Did Max play the Orangutan?!) |
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| Mar-19-22 | | Aminda: To Z free or die
Thanks for asking. Yes he did write a few words and said a few words to me. He smiled and was friendly. I found him frail looking and there was something wrong with one of his hands. Anyway, he certainly showed in that tournament that he was on top chess form. |
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| Mar-19-22 | | Z free or die: <<Aminda> ... > Thanks for the reply. Lucky you for having that nice memory. <... there was something wrong with one of his hands. > Yes, Tal had a condition from birth which affected his right hand - ectrodactyly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ectro...
https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qi... He often used his left hand instead, but this suggests he may have been right-handed (I still not sure of this though): https://twitter.com/sergey_e_kim/st... Tal's wiki page mentions his condition, and the fact that despite it he was a skilled piano player. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikha... |
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| Mar-20-22 | | Granny O Doul: Tal did shake hands with his right hand. I suppose that doesn't tell us much. |
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Mar-20-22
| | perfidious: Tal was right-handed, though I should mention that when we played a blitz match, he always moved with his left hand. |
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Mar-20-22
| | Sally Simpson: Hi perfidious,
I think he was just proving he could beat you with his playing hand tied behind his back. |
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Mar-20-22
| | perfidious: <Geoff>, actually his right hand always held a cigarette or bottle of vodka. |
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Mar-20-22
 | | HeMateMe: In his book <American Grandmaster> Joel Benjamin said that he was playing Tal at a weekend swiss. He said Tal was badly hungover, so visibly in no shape to play chess that he tried to make two moves in a row while JB was on move. |
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| Mar-21-22 | | areknames: <his right hand always held a cigarette or bottle of vodka.> My kind of World Champion. |
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Mar-21-22
| | Stonehenge: Dates from my link:
Round 1: April 11
Round 2: April 13
Round 3: April 14
Round 4: April 15
The rest is the same as in CG. |
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Mar-03-23
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: Fun fact--Kavalek went -6 in the first half of the tournament, then went +4 in the second half. One of the more notable Jekyll and Hyde performances. |
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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 3 OF 3 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
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