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
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
=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
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
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.
Kibitzing
