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Amsterdam IBM (1976) "This year's IBM tournament, the sixteenth in a row, brought a surprise. Of course, we are not referring to Korchnoi's victory, as this was expected of him, but to Miles. This young Englishman, whom we considered one of the young stars of chess, unexpectedly justified the trust we had in him: he was able to tie with the world champion candidate! All three Hungarian competitors finished in the top group, and along the way they had a chance of even more. For example, Faragó completely outplayed Korchnoi, everyone was betting on his victory, but he still ended up with a draw. This half-point is short of fulfilling the grandmaster norm - a shame! Newspaper readers are probably already familiar with the TASS statement that announced and commented on Korchnoi's decision: he will not return to his homeland. We have long known and appreciated the warrior game of Grandmaster Korchnoi. Few fight less, more inventively, more persistently than he, the great master of counterplay, but this time he exaggerated the matter to a regrettable extent. Justified and perceived grievances, including very painful ones, can affect everyone, they can hinder their careers to a greater or lesser extent, but there must be moderation in human behavior in this regard. Therefore, one should not abandon one's homeland and family, friends and sports colleagues. This is not what we expected from him, one of the best chess players in the world, who represented the colors of the Soviet Union so many times. We were disappointed in him. ... The Soviet Chess Federation expelled Viktor Korchnoi from its ranks for his behavior unworthy of Soviet athletes. At the same time, he was stripped of his title of Meritorious Athlete and Grandmaster of the Soviet Union. The federation proposed to FIDE to exclude Korchnoi from the Candidates World Championship competition." (Sakkélet, transl.) Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 6-24 July 1976 Age Elo* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— =1 Korchnoi 45 2670 • ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 9½ =1 Miles 21 2510 ½ • 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 9½ 3 Sax 25 2530 ½ 1 • ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 9 =4 Faragó 30 2420 ½ ½ ½ • 0 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 8½ =4 Velimirovic 34 2525 0 0 1 1 • 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 0 8½ 6 Szabó 59 2525 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 • ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1 8 =7 Gipslis 39 2535 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ • ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 7½ =7 Kurajica 28 2525 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ • ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 7½ =7 Sigurjónsson 28 2530 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ • 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 7½ =7 Böhm 26 2425 0 ½ 1 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 • 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 7½ =11 Ólafsson 41 2550 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 • ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 7 =11 Ivkov 42 2520 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ • ½ ½ ½ ½ 7 13 Ree 31 2420 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ • 1 1 1 6½ 14 Langeweg 39 2450 0 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 0 • 0 1 6 15 Ligterink 26 2400 0 0 ½ 1 0 1 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 • 0 5½ 16 Donner 49 2475 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 • 5 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— This was the 16th tournament sponsored by IBM. Fifteen rounds in 19 days, starting on Tuesday 6 July. Rest days 11, 15, 18 & 23 July. First prize: 4,000 Dutch guilders. Chief arbiter: Piet Bakker. Korchnoi and Miles shared first place with 9.5/15. On 27 July, Korchnoi applied for political asylum in the Netherlands. Photo (Miles & Korchnoi): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/... Photo (Ólafsson vs Ligterink): https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe... Sources Dutchbase (https://maxeuwe.nl/files-dutchbase/...) Eric Delaire website (https://web.archive.org/web/2008042...) Friðrik Ólafsson website (https://skaksogufelagid.is/1976-ibm...) Game Collection: Amsterdam IBM 1976 (by User: suenteus po 147) *FIDE rating list January 1976 (https://web.archive.org/web/2023121...) Jaque 58, October 1976, pp. 31-32 (https://www.olimpbase.org/leagueES/...) Chess Life & Review, 1/1977, pp. 9-12 (https://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/C...) Magyar Sakkélet, 10/1976, pp. 231-233 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Sak...) Dutch newspapers (available at https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten) Previous: Amsterdam IBM (1975). Next: Amsterdam IBM (1977). See also Amsterdam IBM-B (1976)  page 1 of 5; games 1-25 of 120  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Gipslis vs Sax   ½-½ 22 1976 Amsterdam IBM B81 Sicilian, Scheveningen, Keres Attack 2. Ivkov vs Velimirovic   ½-½ 13 1976 Amsterdam IBM A37 English, Symmetrical 3. H Ree vs Korchnoi ½-½ 33 1976 Amsterdam IBM A17 English 4. I Farago vs Miles   ½-½ 29 1976 Amsterdam IBM A57 Benko Gambit 5. B Kurajica vs Szabo   ½-½ 19 1976 Amsterdam IBM C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed 6. K Langeweg vs G Ligterink   0-1 32 1976 Amsterdam IBM E97 King's Indian 7. F Olafsson vs J H Donner   1-0 30 1976 Amsterdam IBM D37 Queen's Gambit Declined 8. G Sigurjonsson vs H Bohm   1-0 42 1976 Amsterdam IBM B14 Caro-Kann, Panov-Botvinnik Attack 9. Sax vs Ivkov   ½-½ 51 1976 Amsterdam IBM C50 Giuoco Piano 10. Korchnoi vs Velimirovic 1-0 47 1976 Amsterdam IBM A56 Benoni Defense 11. Miles vs G Sigurjonsson   ½-½ 30 1976 Amsterdam IBM E92 King's Indian 12. Szabo vs F Olafsson   ½-½ 32 1976 Amsterdam IBM D87 Grunfeld, Exchange 13. H Bohm vs K Langeweg   1-0 23 1976 Amsterdam IBM A36 English 14. J H Donner vs Gipslis   ½-½ 70 1976 Amsterdam IBM E60 King's Indian Defense 15. G Ligterink vs B Kurajica   ½-½ 58 1976 Amsterdam IBM C69 Ruy Lopez, Exchange, Gligoric Variation 16. H Ree vs I Farago 0-1 64 1976 Amsterdam IBM A06 Reti Opening 17. Ivkov vs J H Donner   ½-½ 58 1976 Amsterdam IBM A14 English 18. I Farago vs Korchnoi ½-½ 61 1976 Amsterdam IBM D93 Grunfeld, with Bf4 & e3 19. K Langeweg vs Miles   0-1 35 1976 Amsterdam IBM A04 Reti Opening 20. Gipslis vs Szabo   ½-½ 22 1976 Amsterdam IBM C77 Ruy Lopez 21. Velimirovic vs Sax 1-0 47 1976 Amsterdam IBM B40 Sicilian 22. B Kurajica vs H Bohm   1-0 37 1976 Amsterdam IBM B10 Caro-Kann 23. F Olafsson vs G Ligterink ½-½ 13 1976 Amsterdam IBM B45 Sicilian, Taimanov 24. G Sigurjonsson vs H Ree   ½-½ 15 1976 Amsterdam IBM C67 Ruy Lopez 25. Szabo vs Ivkov   ½-½ 27 1976 Amsterdam IBM A30 English, Symmetrical  page 1 of 5; games 1-25 of 120    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Nov-19-21    Caissanist: This tournament is remembered primarily for what happened immediately afterward. Instead of heading to the local airport to catch his flight home Korchnoi took a detour to a nearby police station, where he declared his intention to defect. He was not immediately granted asylum, so he disappeared from view for two weeks while his request was processed. NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion. Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members. No trolling. 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