The purpose of this tournament was to find a challenger for the winner of the Karpov - Kasparov World Championship Match (1985), or as it turned out, because of the rematch conditions announced in July 1985, winner of the Kasparov - Karpov World Championship Rematch (1986). Four participants from each of three Interzonal tournaments would advance to a Candidates tournament, from which the top three players (if Anatoly Karpov should win the rematch) or top four players (if Garry Kasparov should win) would qualify for two Candidates matches. A Candidates tournament had not been held since the Curacao Candidates (1962), in which the winner went straight to the World Championship match. In 1982, 1979 and earlier, Interzonal players qualified directly for four Candidates matches. The Interzonals of 1985 included: the Tunis Interzonal, the Taxco Interzonal (1985), and the Biel Interzonal (1985). FIDE had also decided that the World Champion should defend his title every second year, meaning that the next set of Interzonal tournaments would be held in 1987.
The tournament was originally planned to be held at the International Hotel in Tunis, but a day before play began, chief arbiter Bozidar Kazic sent a letter to the President of the Tunisian Federation and Director of the Interzonal, Ridha Belkadi. In this letter he complained about the games room, the lack of air conditioning and the noise coming from the street. Within hours, Mr. Belkadi transferred the tournament to the Cap Carthage Mediterranee Hotel in Gammarth, 15 minutes from the capital. Some of the Latin Americans who arrived late (Zapata, Morovic, Boris De Greiff, and Luis Bernardo Hoyos Millan) did not know about this change, and no one could tell them exactly how to get to the Cap Carthage. In the end, they did manage to reach the opening ceremony, which took place on the night of Friday 26 April with all the players present: 11 GMs, 6 IMs and 1 FM. The draw was made according to FIDE rules, which stipulated that players from the same nation could not play against each other in the last three rounds. This rule made some feel that Robert James Fischer was still present! The hotel was very comfortable, and it had no distractions: there was no disco, and only one TV. It did feature tennis courts, a swimming pool, and an ocean view.
Yusupov, Miles, Hort and Sosonko qualified by rating, and Beliavsky and Portisch qualified from the previous world championship cycle by reaching its quarterfinals. Qualified from the zonal tournaments were: Ermenkov and Suba from the Prague Zonal (1985), Nikolic from the Kavala Zonal (1985), Dlugy and de Firmian from the Berkeley Zonal (1985), Zapata from the Caracas Zonal (1985), Gavrikov and Chernin from the Riga Zonal (1985), Morovic from the Corrientes Zonal (1985), and Afifi, Hmadi and Bouaziz from the African zonal and by FIDE appointment. Other notables present were the "seconds" Vitaly F Zaltsman (Dlugy), Zvonimir Mestrovic (Nikolic), Sergey Makarichev (Beliavsky), Elmar Magerramov (Bouaziz and Hmadi), Larry Mark Christiansen (de Firmian), Sergiu-Henric Grunberg (Suba), Milos Vrabec (Hort), and Stojan Ivanov (Ermenkov). Nikolai Krogius and William Hartston were lurking in the shadows, and from about Round 8 onward, Raymond Keene, who arrived on behalf of the BCF.
Artur Yusupov won the event undefeated with 11.5/16 (+7 -0 =9). Beliavsky finished 2nd, and could in fact have won had he not lost to Morovic in the last round. Portisch was the oldest player, but showed his class and took 3rd. The Russians Gavrikov and Chernin shared 4th place and had to compete in a playoff match. The aging Hort and Sosonko shared 6th place with teenager Dlugy, and the last player to receive a prize was de Firmian. The English hope Miles was not himself after he lost on time before he could snatch Zapata's queen in Round 4. Bouaziz retired in or before Round 7, citing health reasons, and his games had to be cancelled. The tournament continued as scheduled, with one bye each round. It was considered as successful as the first international chess event in Tunisia, the Sousse Interzonal (1967). The main sponsor was the Banque de Tunisie.
Gammarth, Tunis Governorate, Tunisia, 27 April - 19 May 1985
Age Elo* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pts CHS**
1 GM Yusupov 25 2590 * ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 11½ 15000
2 GM Beliavsky 31 2635 ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 1 1 11 10000
3 GM Portisch 48 2635 0 ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 10 7000
=4 GM Gavrikov 27 2550 0 ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 9½ 4500
=4 IM Chernin 25 2495 ½ 0 0 ½ * ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 9½ 4500
=6 GM Hort 41 2560 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ * ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 1 9 2833
=6 GM Sosonko 42 2535 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 9 2833
=6 IM Dlugy 19 2485 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 9 2833
9 IM de Firmian 27 2540 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 1 ½ ½ * 1 0 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 8½ 1500
=10 GM Nikolic 23 2575 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * 1 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 8
=10 GM Șuba 37 2465 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 0 * 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 8
=10 GM Miles 30 2570 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 * ½ 0 ½ 1 1 8
13 IM Morovic 22 2450 0 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ 7½
=14 GM Zapata 27 2535 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 1 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 6½
=14 GM Ermenkov 35 2515 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 6½
16 FM Afifi 38 2370 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * 1 3½
17 IM Hmadi 35 2285 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 * 1
IM Bouaziz 35 2395 - 0 - - - 0 - - 0 - 0 - ½ - - - 0
Playoff in Moscow, June - July 1985 (see Moscow playoff (1985) for games):
1 2 3 4 5 6
Chernin 2495 1 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 3½
Gavrikov 2550 0 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 2½
Yusupov, Beliavsky, Portisch and Chernin progressed to the Montpellier Candidates (1985). Gavrikov earned a spot in the London Candidates Reserve Playoff (1985), along with the other fifth place finishers from the two other Interzonals, John van der Wiel and Jonathan Speelman. The London Reserve event was held in order to select a reserve player in case any of the Montpellier candidates should withdraw or be unable to attend.
Sources
Wikipedia article: Gammarth
Jaque 176, pp. 321-325 (http://www.bartelski.pl/olimpbase/l...)
Jaque 177, pp. 354-359 (http://www.bartelski.pl/olimpbase/l...)
Tidskrift för Schack, August 1985, pp. 208 & 225 (https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1985...)
Mark Weeks: https://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/85... and https://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/zo...
Keene's Gambit, in The Streatham & Brixton Chess Blog, 13 January 2011 (http://streathambrixtonchess.blogsp...)
Abdelkader Chaabani & Ridha Belkadi (eds), Recueil des parties de l'Interzonal de Tunis 1985. Maghreb Editions, (Tunis) 1985. 80 pp.
*FIDE Rating List January 1985 (http://www.olimpbase.org/Elo/Elo198...). **CHS = prizes in Swiss francs.
Original collection: Game Collection: Tunis Interzonal 1985 by User: Tabanus. Round dates (April 27, 28, 29, May 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19) are taken from Dutch newspapers, El Mundo Deportivo, and not least from Yusupov's games at https://www.chessgames.video/?s=Tunis. Thanks to User: Paint My Dragon for helpful comments, and to User: jessicafischerqueen, User: OhioChessFan and User: Chessical for improving the English.
Kibitzing
