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GLC Chess Challenge (1986) The GLC Chess Challenge was the fourth and last in the biannual series of tournaments which started with the Phillips & Drew Kings (1980). The Phillips & Drew company had pulled out as a sponsor and the tournament was bankrolled mainly by the Greater London Council (GLC). The GLC itself ceased to exist on 31 March 1986, so the venue had been moved from the County Hall to the Hamilton Room of the Great Eastern Hotel, near Liverpool Street station. The dynamic tournament directors under these circumstances were Raymond Keene and Stewart Reuben. The two had reserved a place for 1982 and 1984 winner Anatoly Karpov, but he preferred to play in SWIFT Brussels (1986) that began on March 23. Iossif Davidovich Dorfman agreed to take his place, but then he too pulled out. Glenn Flear, an IM at the time, given a few days notice was asked to play. Flear agreed provided he could have Saturday March 22 off, as he was getting married then to Christine Flear, the French women's champion. Which was accepted: "We'll adjust the timetable." The Round 9 game Flear vs Plaskett, 1986 was played one week earlier on Saturday March 15. There was no play on March 16 either as many of the contestants had to fly to Germany for the Bundesliga penultimate round. Another distraction was that Short had a TV appearance planned for March 19. If his game vs Portisch ran on late, he would miss meeting fellow guest Samantha Fox. He reached liquidation in 34 moves, and this was apparently joked about in the bulletin (which was edited by William Nicholas Watson and Richard W O'Brien). Yet the great feature of the event was Flear's success. The IM from Leicester lost only one game, played seven draws against the stars, defeated top seed Vaganian and four others, and reached his GM norm with two rounds to spare. He won the £5,000 first prize, and being the next to lowest rated player he also picked up a £400 rating prize. It was the biggest upset since Harry Nelson Pillsbury won at Hastings (1895) and a hint of what love can do. The brilliancy price of £1000 went to Chandler for Chandler vs Vaganian, 1986. Plaskett should have had a prize too, if he did not have one, for his 13 decisive games. Great Eastern Hotel, London, England, 11-27 March 1986 Age Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 Price 1 IM Flear 27 2485 * ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 8½ £5000 2 GM Chandler 25 2535 ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 0 1 1 8 £2500 3 GM Short 20 2585 ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 8 £2500 4 GM Nunn 30 2585 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 0 1 1 1 7½ £1250 5 GM Ribli 34 2585 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 7½ £1250 6 GM Polugaevsky 51 2575 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½ 7 £700 7 GM Portisch 48 2610 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 0 7 £700 8 GM Spassky 49 2610 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 7 £700 9 GM Speelman 29 2560 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 6 £450 10 GM Vaganian 34 2645 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 * ½ 0 1 1 6 £450 11 GM Larsen 51 2575 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ * 0 1 0 5½ £350 12 GM Plaskett 26 2435 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 * 0 1 5 £300 13 IM Dlugy 20 2545 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1 * ½ 4 £225 14 GM Mestel 29 2525 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 0 ½ * 4 £225 Category: XIII (2561). Chief arbiter: Robert Wade, assisted by Leslie Stephen Fraser Blackstock. Sources Wikipedia article: Phillips %26 Drew Kings Wikipedia article: Great Eastern Hotel, London CHESS magazine, April 1986 p. 29 and May 1986 pp. 60-65. FIDE rating list January 1986 (http://www.olimpbase.org/Elo/Elo198...) Jaque 196, 15 May 1986, pp. 258-260 (http://www.bartelski.pl/olimpbase/l...) British Chess Magazine, pp. 178-179 (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_klxcwTbD0...) Robert Eugene Byrne in The New York Times, 20 May 1986 (https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/20/...) Chess in the Attic, March 1986 by Roger H Coathup. In Chess Tales, 15 May 2007 (http://chesstales.blogspot.com/2007...) Previous edition: Phillips & Drew GLC Kings (1984) Original collection: Game Collection: GLC Chess Challenge 1986 by User: Tabanus. Thanks to User: Paint My Dragon and User: Sally Simpson for help with the sources and the English. Round dates (March 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27) are from CHESS magazine.  page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 91  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Chandler vs Vaganian 1-0 37 1986 GLC Chess Challenge C18 French, Winawer 2. Polugaevsky vs Ribli   ½-½ 22 1986 GLC Chess Challenge D18 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Dutch 3. Larsen vs Speelman   ½-½ 32 1986 GLC Chess Challenge B11 Caro-Kann, Two Knights, 3...Bg4 4. Dlugy vs G Flear 0-1 67 1986 GLC Chess Challenge E04 Catalan, Open, 5.Nf3 5. Short vs Plaskett 1-0 39 1986 GLC Chess Challenge C42 Petrov Defense 6. Portisch vs A J Mestel 0-1 42 1986 GLC Chess Challenge E81 King's Indian, Samisch 7. Nunn vs Spassky   ½-½ 16 1986 GLC Chess Challenge C71 Ruy Lopez 8. G Flear vs Portisch   ½-½ 55 1986 GLC Chess Challenge E00 Queen's Pawn Game 9. Spassky vs Dlugy ½-½ 21 1986 GLC Chess Challenge B17 Caro-Kann, Steinitz Variation 10. Plaskett vs Larsen 1-0 39 1986 GLC Chess Challenge B30 Sicilian 11. Vaganian vs Ribli   ½-½ 13 1986 GLC Chess Challenge D44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 12. A J Mestel vs Polugaevsky ½-½ 42 1986 GLC Chess Challenge B90 Sicilian, Najdorf 13. Speelman vs Nunn   ½-½ 16 1986 GLC Chess Challenge D78 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.O-O c6 14. Chandler vs Short 1-0 58 1986 GLC Chess Challenge C01 French, Exchange 15. Dlugy vs Speelman   ½-½ 25 1986 GLC Chess Challenge E06 Catalan, Closed, 5.Nf3 16. Larsen vs Chandler 0-1 46 1986 GLC Chess Challenge A20 English 17. Ribli vs A J Mestel   1-0 29 1986 GLC Chess Challenge A88 Dutch, Leningrad, Main Variation with c6 18. Portisch vs Spassky   ½-½ 36 1986 GLC Chess Challenge D55 Queen's Gambit Declined 19. Nunn vs Plaskett 1-0 26 1986 GLC Chess Challenge C42 Petrov Defense 20. Polugaevsky vs G Flear 1-0 31 1986 GLC Chess Challenge D44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 21. Short vs Vaganian   ½-½ 19 1986 GLC Chess Challenge C07 French, Tarrasch 22. G Flear vs Ribli   ½-½ 10 1986 GLC Chess Challenge E00 Queen's Pawn Game 23. Spassky vs Polugaevsky   ½-½ 14 1986 GLC Chess Challenge E11 Bogo-Indian Defense 24. Vaganian vs A J Mestel   1-0 28 1986 GLC Chess Challenge E66 King's Indian, Fianchetto, Yugoslav Panno 25. Short vs Larsen   1-0 34 1986 GLC Chess Challenge B63 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack  page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 91    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Jun-26-19    GrahamClayton: Still one of the biggest upset wins in international tournament history. 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