The purpose was to select a challenger for the winner of the Karpov - Kasparov World Championship Match (1985), or as it turned out, because of the rematch conditions announced during the Biel Interzonal (1985), the winner of the Kasparov - Karpov World Championship Rematch (1986) (which was Garry Kasparov). Four players from each of three Interzonal tournaments (= 12 players) would advance to a Candidates tournament, in which the three or four best players would qualify for Candidates matches. (1) In 1982, 1979, and earlier, the Interzonal players qualified directly for four Candidates quarterfinal matches, whereas a Candidates tournament had not been organized since the Curacao Candidates (1962) (where the winner went directly to the World Championship match). The Interzonals of 1985 were: the Tunis Interzonal (1985), the Taxco Interzonal (this page), and the Biel Interzonal (1985). FIDE had also decided that the World Champion should defend his title every second year, (2) meaning that the next set of Interzonal tournaments would be held in 1987.
The playing venues were the Centro de Convenciones de Taxco (3) and the Montetaxco tourist center, (4) both in Taxco de Alarcón, approximately 177 km SSW of Mexico City. The prize money was 60,000 Swiss francs. (5) It was known to the players that the owner of Hotel Montetaxco, Alfredo Checa, was a friend of ex-World Champion Robert James Fischer, who had stayed there for six months in 1984. (6) Qualified from the zonal tournaments were: Speelman from Brighton (1984), Balashov from the USSR Championship (1985), Qi Jingxuan from the City of Laoag (1985), Alburt from the US Championship (1984), Pinter and Prandstetter from Prague (1985), Cebalo from Kavala (1985), Nogueiras from Caracas (1985), Spraggett from Ottawa (1984), Saeed from Dubai (1985) and Agdestein from Gausdal (1985). (7) Tal, Romanishin and Timman were qualified by rating. (7, 8) John Nunn was also qualified by rating, (9) but did not attend because of the illness of his mother. (10) He was replaced by Browne, (11) and Sisniega represented the host country (= 16 players). Robert Huebner was qualified by rating but withdrew due to a disagreement with FIDE, (10) and his withdrawal came too late for a substitute to be appointed. (11) Mikhail Gurevich, who was qualified from the USSR Championship, did not appear — "for personal reasons" according to a spokesman of the Soviet delegation, (12) but, according to him, he was denied by the Soviet authorities. (13)
The event was opened on 9 June by Miguel Gonzalez Avelar, the Minister of Education. (12) He stated that chess would become a school subject. (14) Since the government was a co-sponsor, the first seven rounds were played at the Centro de Convenciones. This was noisy and had poor sanitary conditions, and it was a relief when the event moved to the top of the hill into the clubhouse for the tennis courts (i. e., at the Montetaxco tourist center). (14) Reports with documentary information appeared in the national newspapers. The largest, Excélsior, published a game with a diagram after each round. The beautiful Hilda Acevedo Garcia, first board player at the Olympiad in 1984, (15) presented a game on TV almost every day. (14) The tournament category was 11 (GM norm 10 points, IM norm 6,5 points). (10) Chief arbiter was Paul Klein. (5)
Timman went to Mexico without any second. (16) His wife was with him the first three weeks. (17) He was warmed up from his victory at the Peace Tournament in Zagreb (1985), and justified his World #3 tag. (18) He cruised through in untroubled fashion, (19) and encountered difficulties only in rounds 1 and 3: "I played in an extremely relaxed manner. In two of the games I was positionally lost, against Spraggett and Pinter, but in both cases I defended coolly and created draws." (20) A cautious start of 4.5/6 transformed to an impregnable lead as he defeated Alburt, Romanishin and Agdestein in successive rounds. (19) He qualified three rounds from the finish, and even benefited from Balashov’s withdrawal, as their game had been scheduled for the final round. (19) Balashov defaulted his last four games due to severe stomach trouble, for which he had to be treated in hospital. (5, 19) Timman came home with 21,000 Dutch guilders in prize money. (21)
Nogueiras was supported by Guillermo Garcia Gonzalez. (14) He played strong positional chess, and only found himself in danger in two games, against Saeed and Agdestein. His achievement was appreciated in Cuba. Timman heard from a reliable source that Fidel Castro would like to meet him at the airport on arrival home. (14) His second place result was considered the best Cuban achievement since the times of Jose Raul Capablanca. (22) The picture at http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IhHELesTy... shows an arbiter sealing 41...fxg4 in K Spraggett vs J Nogueiras, 1985, with Tal and Sisniega watching. Both players, along with Tal, had by then already qualified. Nogueiras, Timman and Tal finished the contest undefeated.
Tal’s performance was laudable, but the Soviets were eclipsed by their western counterparts, as the leaderboard began to reflect the good form of Nogueiras and Spraggett among others. (19) In Round 3, Tal was set the task of beating Saeed twice. A resumed adjournment was won by Tal, but then at the post-mortem analysis it was found that the adjourned position had been wrongly set up. Tal agreed to play again, from the right position, and this time the rehearsal and some earlier preparation enabled Saeed to put up sterner resistence. Tal did win, but not until 3 in the morning. (18) He could have insisted that the first result be upheld as Saeed had resigned before the illegality was pointed out. (18) According to Timman's report in New in Chess, "Tal played a carefully planned tournament, and was, in fact, only trying to qualify. This was not in danger at any time as a result." (14)
Spraggett was assisted by his brother Grant Spraggett. (23) "When it was discovered that the Interzonal was being held in a 5 star hotel and that seconds and others would be charged US$60 per day (about $83 Canadian), the Spraggetts asked for some extra assistance." (23) Stephen Ball called the Mexican FIDE representative, who turned out to be Checa, the hotel owner. Checa did not make a firm commitment, but may have allowed Grant to stay in Kevin's room at no extra charge. (23) According to Timman, Spraggett's qualification was not in danger either. His play was robust, and having his brother as his second seemed to suit him. (14) The battle in Mexico was more or less decided after 10 rounds. (14)
Speelman’s fifth place was the best ever British performance in an Interzonal. He started badly, but aided by his second William Nicholas Watson, made a good recovery. (24) He even earned himself a chance of qualification. A reserve place for the Candidates, should anyone withdraw, would need to be determined by a three-way playoff between the Englishman, the loser of the Moscow Interzonal Playoff (1985), and the qualification runner-up from the Biel Interzonal (1985), which had only just started as this tournament ended. (19)
Amongst the other contestants, the 18-year-old Agdestein had a fine result, whereas Romanishin disappointed after his prestigious win in Moscow (1985). (18)
Taxco de Alarcón, Mexico, 10-30 June 1985
Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pts S-B*
1 GM Timman 2650 * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 12
2 GM Nogueiras 2545 ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 10½
3 GM Tal 2565 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 10
4 IM Spraggett 2560 ½ 0 ½ * 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 9
5 GM Speelman 2530 0 ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 8
=6 IM Agdestein 2500 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 7½ 54.00
=6 IM Cebalo 2485 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 0 1 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 7½ 51.75
8 GM Alburt 2535 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 7
=9 GM Browne 2530 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ * ½ 1 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 6½ 48.25
=9 GM Pinter 2540 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * 0 ½ 1 0 1 ½ 6½ 47.75
=9 IM Qi Jingxuan 2440 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 0 ½ 0 1 * 1 0 0 ½ 1 6½ 46.50
=9 GM Romanishin 2570 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ 1 1 0 6½ 45.75
=9 IM Sisniega 2470 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 1 0 1 ½ * ½ 0 1 6½ 44.50
14 IM Prandstetter 2430 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 0 ½ * 0 ½ 6
15 IM Saeed 2400 ½ 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 1 * 1 5½
16 GM Balashov 2495 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 0 ½ 0 * 4½
Balashov's four unplayed games are in italics.Two games were postponed and played on the scheduled rest days: Alburt vs Browne, 1985 (Round 1) because Browne was ill (25) and Tal vs Browne, 1985 (Round 7) because Tal was ill. (26)
Timman, Nogueiras, Tal and Spraggett advanced to the Montpellier Candidates (1985). Speelman joined the fifth placed from the two other Interzonals, John van der Wiel and Viktor Gavrikov for a fight at the London Candidates Reserve Playoff (1985). Spraggett automatically earned the GM title. (27) During the closing ceremony, Timman and Tal held a blitz match of 12 games. The closing speech was given by the Governor of the State of Guerrero, Alejandro Cervantes Delgado. (28)
Notes
(1) Tidskrift för Schack, August 1985, p. 208. Three players if Anatoly Karpov won, four players if Garry Kasparov won.
(2) Roland Bannerman in The Times, 25 May 1985, p. 14.
(3) El Informador, 8 June 1985, p. 7-B.
(4) Photo: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped... Rounds 8-15 were played near the 5-star hotel on top the mountain. For the first seven rounds, the players took a cable car down to the playing hall.
(5) El Informador, 28 June 1985, p. 13-B.
(6) David Simon Charles Goodman in The Spectator, 12 July 1985, p. 35 (http://archive.spectator.co.uk/arti...).
(7) Mark Weeks at http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/zon...
(8) De Waarheid, 28 March 1985, p. 4.
(9) Harry Golombek in The Times, 5 January 1985, p. 18.
(10) Jaque 179, August 1985, p. 421 (http://www.bartelski.pl/olimpbase/l...).
(11) Boston Herald, 9 June 1985, p. 28; British Chess Magazine, July 1985, p. 303.
(12) El Informador, 11 June 1985, p. 11-B.
(13) Interview with Mikhail Gurevich at Шахматная Школа (http://chessmateok.com/2016/11/05/%...) (in Russian).
(14) Jan Timman in New in Chess, September 1985, pp. 6-7.
(15) Olimpbase at http://www.olimpbase.org/1984w/1984...
(16) Het Vrije Volk, 1 July 1985, p. 18.
(17) New in Chess, September 1985, p. 50.
(18) CHESS, August 1985, p. 116.
(19) British Chess Magazine, August 1985, p. 334.
(20) Interview with Jan Timman in New in Chess, September 1985, p. 38.
(21) De Waarheid, 9 July 1985, p. 5.
(22) Raul Ocampo Vargas at Chess Coach, 18 October 2012 (http://chesscom-chesscoach.blogspot...).
(23) Stephen Ball in Northern, 12 June 1985, p. 1 (http://chess.ca/sites/default/files...).
(24) CHESS, July 1985, p. 86.
(25) El Informador, 12 June 1985, p. 8-B; 14 June 1985, p. 1-B.
(26) El Informador, 20 June 1985, p. 10-B; 27 June 1985, p. 1-B.
(27) Wikipedia article: Kevin Spraggett.
(28) El Informador, 2 July 1985, p. 2-B.
*Sonneborn-Berger scores (from Mark Weeks at http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/858...) applied only in the event of a tied playoff.
Original collections: Game Collection: Taxco Interzonal 1985 by User: suenteus po 147 and Game Collection: Taxco Interzonal 1985 by User: Tabanus. Round dates are from Mexican and Dutch newspapers (the latter followed Timman closely). Thanks to User: Paint My Dragon for help with the English and for information from CHESS and BCM. User: OhioChessFan improved the English.
Kibitzing
