| Subotica Interzonal (1987) |
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In addition to five seeded players from the previous cycle (1985-87), three players from the Szirak Interzonal (1987), three players from Subotica (this page) and three players from Zagreb Interzonal (1987) would advance to the seven Candidates eighthfinal matches in 1988. The eighthfinal matches replaced the Candidates tournament, which had been reinstated with the Montpellier Candidates (1985), and aimed to select a challenger for the World Champion, i. e. the winner of the upcoming Kasparov - Karpov World Championship Match (1987). The loser of that match (which was Anatoly Karpov) would join the seven eighthfinal winners for the quarterfinal matches, and so on, until the knockout system had produced a challenger in 1990. The players were accomodated in the town of Palić, a quiet place with huge parks in front of Lake Palić. Mosquitoes attacked frequently, and the nearest telephone to the rooms was about 200 m away, which made it impossible to receive calls. The tournament was held in Subotica, a city near to the Hungarian border with about 150,000 inhabitants. The City Hall, built by architects between 1908 and 1910, was spacious enough to room the players, the press and a good number of fans. FIDE president Florencio Campomanes greeted the participants at the ceremonial opening on Monday (June 22). He announced that Robert Huebner had forsaked his right to participate so late that the number one reserve Vladimir Tukmakov could not replace him. The tournament therefore started with one bye each round, and after Kavalek withdrew due to illness before Round 8, two byes each round. Tal postponed his opening game against Sax due to illness. Alburt was also ill and postponed his Round 8 game against Rodriguez. It was not always easy to tell who was in the lead. Short and Speelman and their seconds Daniel King and William Watson formed a cheerful quartet, but when Short turned up in shorts before Round 13, it was too much for Ribli. Ribli was assisted by Gabor Kallai. Kavalek was assisted by Vlastimil Hort, Alburt by Gennadi Sosonko, Tal by Vladimir Bagirov, Sax by Pal Petran, Ernst by Conny Holst (replacing Tom Wedberg). Main organizers were Ivan Sedlak and Adrian Táncos. Chief arbiter Milos Petronic was assisted by Ernő Benedek and József Színes. Ribli had a bye the last round and had to sit and watch the Englishmen draw their games. Sax won his last four games and rocketed to the top of the table. Subotica, Yugoslavia (Serbia), 22 June - 13 July 1987 Age Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
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=1 Sax 36 2570 • 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 10½
=1 Short 22 2615 0 • ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 10½
=1 Speelman 30 2550 ½ ½ • 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 10½
=4 Tal 50 2605 ½ ½ 1 • ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 0 1 10
=4 Ribli 35 2580 ½ 0 0 ½ • ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 10
6 Rodriguez 30 2495 0 0 ½ ½ ½ • ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 8½
7 Marjanovic 32 2505 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ • ½ 0 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 8
=8 Smyslov 66 2550 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ • ½ 0 0 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 7½
=8 Chernin 27 2570 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ • 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 7½
10 Popovic 28 2540 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 0 • 1 0 0 ½ ½ 1 7
11 Zapata 28 2505 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 • ½ 0 1 ½ 1 6½
12 Ernst 26 2465 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 ½ • 1 1 1 0 6
13 Alburt 41 2575 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 1 0 • ½ 0 ½ 5½
14 Jun Xu 24 2495 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 0 ½ • 1 ½ 5
15 Prasad 25 2425 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 0 • ½ 4
16 Hamed 33 2310 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ • 3
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Kavalek 43 2560 - ½ - - - - ½ - ½ 0 - 1 - - ½ - 3
Sax and Short went to the Short - Sax Candidates Eighthfinal (1988), and Speelman to the Speelman - Seirawan Candidates Eighthfinal (1988). Tal and Ribli (who shared 4th) were supposed to play against each other, in a 6-game match, in order to have a reserve player should any of the Candidates players withdraw or become unable to attend. But Ribli refused to play this match, and Tal was not much interested either.
Sources
Mark Weeks' website (https://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/88...)
Борба (Borba), daily reports (https://xn--80aafkgm9bibt.xn--90a3a...)
FIDE Rating List January 1987 (https://web.archive.org/web/2022100...)
Népszabadság, 30 June 1987 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Nep...)
Népsport, 24 June 1987, p. 8 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Nem...)
Hungarian newspapers at Arcanum (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/search/r...)
Jaque 225, 15 September 1987, pp. 490-496 (https://www.olimpbase.org/leagueES/...)
Tidskrift för Schack, August 1987, pp. 235-236 (https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1987...)
Zsuzsa Veroci in Népszava, 22 June 1987, p. 12 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Nep...)
Zsuzsa Veroci in Népszava, 27 June 1987, p. 15 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Nep...)
Gabor Kallai in Sakkélet, 25 September 1987, pp. 281-288 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Sak...) Original collection: Game Collection: Subotica Interzonal 1987 by User: Tabanus. Round dates (June 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, July 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13) are from daily reports in Борба (Borba) (Serbia), and from Hungarian newspapers at Arcanum.com.
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| page 2 of 6; games 26-50 of 126 |
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| Game |
| Result | Moves |
Year | Event/Locale | Opening |
| 26. Sax vs Short |
  | 1-0 | 38 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | C92 Ruy Lopez, Closed |
| 27. Smyslov vs Chernin |
| ½-½ | 53 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | D45 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav |
| 28. Speelman vs Ribli |
| 1-0 | 34 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | D49 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav, Meran |
| 29. J Xu vs Tal |
| 0-1 | 40 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | A56 Benoni Defense |
| 30. T Ernst vs D V Prasad |
| 1-0 | 70 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | B45 Sicilian, Taimanov |
| 31. A Rodriguez vs A I Hamed |
| 1-0 | 33 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | E80 King's Indian, Samisch Variation |
| 32. Tal vs Sax |
| ½-½ | 28 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | E48 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d5 |
| 33. Tal vs Alburt |
| ½-½ | 15 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | A46 Queen's Pawn Game |
| 34. Marjanovic vs T Ernst |
| 1-0 | 35 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | C61 Ruy Lopez, Bird's Defense |
| 35. Short vs Smyslov |
| 1-0 | 65 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | C73 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense |
| 36. Chernin vs Speelman |
| 0-1 | 52 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | D27 Queen's Gambit Accepted, Classical |
| 37. Ribli vs J Xu |
| 1-0 | 32 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | D28 Queen's Gambit Accepted, Classical |
| 38. P Popovic vs Kavalek |
| 1-0 | 63 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | C67 Ruy Lopez |
| 39. D V Prasad vs Sax |
| 0-1 | 39 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | B83 Sicilian |
| 40. A Zapata vs A Rodriguez |
| 1-0 | 49 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed |
| 41. Alburt vs Ribli |
| 0-1 | 40 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | E02 Catalan, Open, 5.Qa4 |
| 42. Sax vs Marjanovic |
| 1-0 | 36 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | B47 Sicilian, Taimanov (Bastrikov) Variation |
| 43. Speelman vs Short |
| ½-½ | 11 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | E87 King's Indian, Samisch, Orthodox |
| 44. Smyslov vs D V Prasad |
| 1-0 | 51 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | A12 English with b3 |
| 45. A Rodriguez vs Tal |
| ½-½ | 60 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | B17 Caro-Kann, Steinitz Variation |
| 46. J Xu vs Chernin |
| 1-0 | 48 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | A13 English |
| 47. T Ernst vs P Popovic |
| 1-0 | 24 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | B67 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack, 7...a6 Defense, 8...Bd7 |
| 48. A I Hamed vs A Zapata |
| 0-1 | 79 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | A56 Benoni Defense |
| 49. Chernin vs Alburt |
| 1-0 | 45 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | E10 Queen's Pawn Game |
| 50. Marjanovic vs Smyslov |
| ½-½ | 54 | 1987 | Subotica Interzonal | C76 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense, Fianchetto Variation |
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| page 2 of 6; games 26-50 of 126 |
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| Sep-24-21 | | stridergene: A 66 year old Vasily Smyslov still getting 50% in this elite event. Amazing |
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| Sep-24-21 | | fabelhaft: It was a good result but not an amazingly strong field, most of the players were rated well below Smyslov. But the next year he faced a very strong field with Kasparov and Karpov in the top two in the Soviet Championships. The only player of the 18 participants to be ranked below Smyslov was Smirin (who won his game against Smyslov). So that -1 score was quite impressive, with wins against players like Ivanchuk and Ehlvest: 55th USSR Championship (1988) |
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| Mar-17-25 | | YallaTV: Tal's match against a little knows Indian Prasad was the game that cost him his spot on the candidates. Feel bad |
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