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Plaza (1988) As part of the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts and to mark the opening of the Plaza International Hotel in Wellington, this International tournament was organized by Alan Grant Kerr. Six overseas players, Boris Spassky, Robert Huebner, Ian Rogers, Eduard Gufeld, Zsuzsa Polgar and Larry M Christiansen were invited to pit their skills against New Zealand players Murray Chandler, Ortvin Sarapu, Jonathan D Sarfati, Vernon Albert Small, Russell John Dive and Anthony F Ker. The tournament took place in the Plaza International Hotel from the 15th to the 28th of March. The Director Of Play was Robert Gibbons. All rounds were scheduled to take place daily from 1:30 pm to 7:30 pm except Round 11 which started an hour earlier. Admission fee for spectators was ten dollars per day. Crosstable: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 1 Spassky * ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 7½ 2 Chandler ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 7½ 3 Gufeld 0 ½ * ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 7½ 4 Polgar 0 ½ ½ * 1 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 6½ 5 Rogers ½ ½ ½ 0 * 0 1 1 1 1 1 6½ 6 Christiansen 0 ½ 0 1 1 * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 6 7 Sarfati ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ * ½ ½ 1 1 4 8 Sarapu ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½ 3 9 Small 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 3 10 Dive 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ * ½ 2 11 Ker ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ * 1½ Huebner* - - - - 0 - - - - - - 0 *Huebner withdrew with illness after his first round game with Ian Rogers. Game Of The Round prizes were awarded to: Round 1 - Rogers for his win over Huebner Round 2 - Spassky for his win over Polgar Round 3 - Spassky for his win over Dive Round 4 - Christiansen and Sarfati for their draw Round 5 - Rogers for his win over Small Round 6 - Christiansen for his win over Dive Round 7 - Spassky for his win over Christiansen Round 8 - Ker and Spassky for their draw Round 9 - Spassky for his win over Gufeld Round 10 - Chandler and Dive jointly Round 11 - Christiansen for his win over Ker, and Rogers for his win over Sarapu The source for this collection was the tournament bulletins. Original Collection: Game Collection: Plaza International Chess Tt 1988 by User: Benzol.  page 1 of 3; games 1-25 of 56  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. A F Ker vs V Small   0-1 70 1988 Plaza D85 Grunfeld 2. I Rogers vs Huebner 1-0 39 1988 Plaza B90 Sicilian, Najdorf 3. J Sarfati vs Spassky ½-½ 20 1988 Plaza E70 King's Indian 4. S Polgar vs R J Dive 1-0 36 1988 Plaza A46 Queen's Pawn Game 5. Chandler vs O Sarapu 1-0 32 1988 Plaza C92 Ruy Lopez, Closed 6. Gufeld vs L Christiansen 1-0 74 1988 Plaza C92 Ruy Lopez, Closed 7. O Sarapu vs J Sarfati   ½-½ 29 1988 Plaza C77 Ruy Lopez 8. Spassky vs S Polgar 1-0 42 1988 Plaza C31 King's Gambit Declined, Falkbeer Counter Gambit 9. A F Ker vs Gufeld   0-1 42 1988 Plaza E84 King's Indian, Samisch, Panno Main line 10. L Christiansen vs I Rogers 1-0 24 1988 Plaza A52 Budapest Gambit 11. V Small vs R J Dive   ½-½ 20 1988 Plaza C24 Bishop's Opening 12. S Polgar vs O Sarapu   ½-½ 22 1988 Plaza D37 Queen's Gambit Declined 13. Gufeld vs V Small   1-0 58 1988 Plaza A37 English, Symmetrical 14. I Rogers vs A F Ker   1-0 43 1988 Plaza B16 Caro-Kann, Bronstein-Larsen Variation 15. R J Dive vs Spassky 0-1 51 1988 Plaza E59 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line 16. Chandler vs L Christiansen   ½-½ 50 1988 Plaza C67 Ruy Lopez 17. V Small vs Spassky 0-1 22 1988 Plaza B07 Pirc 18. O Sarapu vs R J Dive   0-1 22 1988 Plaza C43 Petrov, Modern Attack 19. Gufeld vs I Rogers   ½-½ 55 1988 Plaza D76 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.cd Nxd5, 7.O-O Nb6 20. L Christiansen vs J Sarfati ½-½ 62 1988 Plaza A57 Benko Gambit 21. A F Ker vs Chandler   0-1 36 1988 Plaza E32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical 22. S Polgar vs L Christiansen 0-1 58 1988 Plaza E11 Bogo-Indian Defense 23. Chandler vs Gufeld ½-½ 81 1988 Plaza B08 Pirc, Classical 24. J Sarfati vs A F Ker 1-0 36 1988 Plaza E41 Nimzo-Indian 25. I Rogers vs V Small 1-0 41 1988 Plaza B46 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation  page 1 of 3; games 1-25 of 56    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Jan-04-20    spingo: Plaza (1988) sounds like a Neil Simon movie. Mar-23-25    Sally Simpson: From Stephen G Lukey Facebook, 28th Feb 2025. "Chess legend and 10th World Chess Champion Boris Spassky died yesterday. He came to NZ once for the 1988 Plaza International Chess Tournament as part of the NZ Festival of Arts. As part of that trip, he came down to Christchurch to play a simultaneous exhibition (playing 30 to 40 people at once). It was my job (or more to the point honour!) to pick Boris up from the airport and take him to his hotel. I remember waiting at the airport nervously thinking I have just one job and not to screw it up! Boris cut a very distinctive figure as he entered arrivals and I channeled my inner Livingston and approached him saying "Boris, I presume?". Driving him to his hotel we mostly chatted about his other passion tennis. I really should've tried to arrange a game. At the simultaneous exhibition I was quietly (or maybe noisily?) confident of beating him. It was not to be - he outplayed me in the opening and my French Defence was on the ropes. At one point he made a bad error and moved onto the next board. My eyes lit up as I spotted the winning move. Perhaps they lit up too brightly as Boris sensed something was up and returned back to my board, and changed his move (in a simul, a move isn't complete till he has played a move on the next board). I wriggled and squirmed for a few more moves but Boris efficiently finished me off. " NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion. Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. 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