"After nearly three weeks in the Dutch chess metropolis, Rickard Winsnes and the undersigned are once again stepping foot on Swedish soil. We return with new impressions and experiences, which will certainly be useful to us in other tournament contexts. At the same time, the Leningrad Chess Club sees its second European Junior Champion in 10 years. For the fifteenth time and the eleventh with Gasunie as the main sponsor, Groningen organized the European Junior Championship. As usual, the Swedish team comes home impressed by the knowledge and experience that the tournament organization possesses. The arrangement was of a very high class with the game room located at Evenementenhal, just over two minutes from our room door at Euromotel. The game room meets all the wishes you could have, airy, good light, the audience at a reasonable distance and demonstration boards at each game table. The hotel offers delicious food, especially the soup at dinner, as well as the opportunity to sunbathe and swim. Perfect conditions, then. This year's edition had gathered 30 juniors from 28 countries, of which 3 from the organizing country. Surprisingly, one of the two pre-registered Russian participants, last year's third, the Estonian Lembit Oll, was missing from the starting field. When the competition management asked about the reason, the Russian second IM Avigdor Bykhovsky answered evasively "Oll ill". An answer that the competition management doubted. Now instead, compatriot Alexander Chalifman became the big favorite with his high elo score of 2490. A favorite status he managed to shoulder with honor. Merciless like a steamroller, the Russian machinery rolled forward and the series of victories seemed endless." (Bjorn Andersson in TfS, transl.)
"The tournament was almost perfectly arranged, good hotel, large demo boards, etc. In advance, names such as Khalifman, U.S.S.R., Arlandi, Italy, Blatny, C.S.S.R., Howell, England, Jeroen Piket, Holland, and Zysk, West Germany, were mentioned as favorites. And it was these players + Marcel Piket, Jeroen's older brother, who came to dominate the tournament. Or rather: Khalifman "dominated" 1st place, while the others fought for the other positions. Khalifman thus started by winning the first 8 games, and when in the 9th round he saved a draw from a slightly worse position against the only one who could threaten him, Howell, England, it was already clear that the tournament was decided. After that, the others could fight for 2nd place, and this one Ноwell took over with Zysk and Arlandi in the next places. ... There were 30 players in the tournament, which was led in the best way by Geurt Gijssen and Henk van Dijk. The only problem Gijssen and van Dijk had was the new time limit of 2 hours for 40 moves, and then 20 moves per hour, and therefore only a draw after 6 hours. Several players were unhappy with this, and this led to Gijssen sending out a questionnaire about the new time. The result showed that none of the participants voted for the new time, but most votes were evenly distributed between 40 moves in 2½ hours, and 5 hours before the adjournment, and 40 moves in 2½ hours + 16 moves in 1 hour, and therefore 7 hours before the adjournment. In addition, 50 moves in 3 hours were proposed, which I voted for, in order to avoid the problem of second help after 40 moves. In any case, Gijssen is now submitting the result to FIDE, and then we will have to see what happens." (Bo Hansen in Skakbladet, transl.)
Groningen, the Netherlands, 18 December 1985 - 2 January 1986
Age Elo* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 Pts
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01 Khalifman 19 2490 +06 +15 +07 +20 +05 +14 +03 +04 =02 +08 =11 =12 =10 11
02 Howell 18 2370 +19 =04 -03 +08 +24 =17 +16 +18 =01 +05 +15 -07 =06 9
03 Zysk 19 2340 =27 =13 +02 +07 =14 +06 -01 =05 =16 =09 =08 =04 +12 8
04 Arlandi 19 2355 +23 =02 +09 =16 =13 +11 +17 -01 =08 =06 -05 =03 +14 8
05 Blatny 17 2390 -18 +27 +12 +22 -01 +09 =06 =03 +07 -02 +04 =08 =11 8
06 Piket M 19 ---- -01 +29 +21 +15 +16 -03 =05 -08 +18 =04 =07 +11 =02 8
07 Piket J 16 2400 +30 +18 -01 -03 +19 -16 +24 +17 -05 +21 =06 +02 =08 8
08 Dimitrov 17 2305 -15 =11 +28 -02 +12 +13 +14 +06 =04 -01 =03 =05 =07 7½
09 Kuczynski 19 2405 +13 =20 -04 =11 +25 -05 =23 =14 +17 =03 -12 +19 +16 7½
10 Lev 17 2310 -20 -17 -23 +29 +27 -15 +22 +24 +14 -11 +16 +13 =01 7½
11 Miralles 19 2370 -26 =08 +30 =09 +22 -04 +13 -16 +23 +10 =01 -06 =05 7
12 Kekki 19 ---- +24 -14 -05 =23 -08 +28 +21 =15 =13 +18 +09 =01 -03 7
13 Nikolic 17 2355 -09 =03 +29 +18 =04 -08 -11 +25 =12 =19 +17 -10 +20 7
14 Grivas 19 2395 +21 +12 =16 =17 =03 -01 -08 =09 -10 +24 =22 +15 -04 6½
15 Burgess 18 ---- +08 -01 +25 -06 =23 +10 -18 =12 +19 +16 -02 -14 =27 6½
16 Fernandez 18 2235 +28 +26 =14 =04 -06 +07 -02 +11 =03 -15 -10 +22 -09 6½
17 Schlosser 17 ---- -22 +10 +26 =14 +20 =02 -04 -07 -09 +23 -13 +29 =21 6½
18 Bruin 19 ---- +05 -07 =24 -13 +28 +20 +15 -02 -06 -12 +21 -26 +30 6½
19 David 15 ---- -02 =28 =27 +26 -07 =21 +20 =23 -15 =13 +30 -09 +29 6½
20 Winsnes 17 ---- +10 =09 +22 -01 -17 -18 -19 +26 -21 +30 =25 +27 -13 6
21 Erdogan 19 ---- -14 +23 -06 -24 +26 =19 -12 +29 +20 -07 -18 +25 =17 6
22 Horn 15 ---- +17 +25 -20 -05 -11 -24 -10 =30 +28 +27 =14 -16 +26 6
23 Hansen 17 ---- -04 -21 +10 =12 =15 +25 =09 =19 -11 -17 =29 +30 -28 5½
24 Calinescu 17 ---- -12 =30 =18 +21 -02 +22 -07 -10 +29 -14 =27 +28 -25 5½
25 Ólafsson 17 2290 +29 -22 -15 +27 -09 -23 =26 -13 -30 +28 =20 -21 +24 5
26 Djurhuus 15 ---- +11 -16 -17 -19 -21 +30 =25 -20 -27 +29 -28 +18 -22 4½
27 Wets 17 ---- =03 -05 =19 -25 -10 =29 -30 =28 +26 -22 =24 -20 =15 4
28 O'Neill 20 ---- -16 =19 -08 +30 -18 -12 -29 =27 -22 -25 +26 -24 +23 4
29 Hynes 19 ---- -25 -06 -13 -10 +30 =27 +28 -21 -24 -26 =23 -17 -19 3
30 Ribeiro 19 ---- -07 =24 -11 -28 -29 -26 +27 =22 +25 -20 -19 -23 -18 3
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This was the 15th European Junior Championship. Swiss, 13 rounds in 16 days, starting on Wednesday 18 December. Rest days 25 & 28 December, 1 January. Khalifman became European Junior Champion ahead of Howell (2nd) and Zysk (3rd on tiebreak).Sources
Dutchbase (https://maxeuwe.nl/files-dutchbase/...)
OlimpBase (https://web.archive.org/web/2023032...)
Jaque 190, p. 84 (https://www.olimpbase.org/leagueES/...)
Belgian Chess History (https://www.belgianchesshistory.be/...)
*FIDE rating list July 1985 (https://web.archive.org/web/2022112...)
Tidskrift för Schack, 2/1986, pp. 55-59 (https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1986...)
Sakkélet, 4/1986, p. 116 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Sak...)
Skakbladet, 2/1986, p. 21 (http://danbase.skak.dk/skakbladet/1...)
Dutch newspapers (available at https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten)
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