Bent Larsen had won the Biel Interzonal (1976), with Petrosian, Portisch and Tal in a shared second place. But only three players from Biel could go to the Candidates quarterfinal matches (in 1977), so a playoff was necessary. This playoff was twice delayed because Petrosian and Portisch were ailing, and when it finally took place it was hoped that it would end before the FIDE Congress in Haifa (6-9 November 1976) and the draw for the candidate matches.1 The venue was Villa Mirabello2 in Varese3 about 55 km north of Milan (Italy), near the Swiss border.

Villa Mirabello, Varese, 9-24 October 1976:

1 Petrosian  **** 1½½½ ½½½½  4½
2 Portisch   0½½½ **** ½1½½  4
3 Tal 	     ½½½½ ½0½½ ****  3½

Korchnoi - Petrosian Candidates Quarterfinal (1977) Portisch - Larsen Candidates Quarterfinal (1977) Polugaevsky - Mecking Candidates Quarterfinal (1977) Spassky - Hort Candidates Quarterfinal (1977)

Of the players from Biel, only Portisch reached the semifinal: Spassky - Portisch Candidates Semifinal (1977).

Tournament book: Sakkvilágbajnokság 1976: Manila, Biel, Varese by Janos Flesch (Sport, Budapest 1979. 391 p.) (not seen). El Mundo Deportivo and the newspapers at http://kranten.delpher.nl/ have reports enough to find round dates and pairings.

1De Telegraaf 5 October 1976 p. 19. 2http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped... 3Wikipedia article: Varese.

Original collections: Game Collection: Interzonals 1976: play-off by User: capybara and Game Collection: Varese Interzonal Playoff 1976 by User: Tabanus.