The purpose of this match was to select an opponent for the "seeded" loser of the Kasparov - Karpov World Championship Rematch (1986). It was held in the District Officers' House in Riga, Soviet Union (Latvian SSR), in a hall that could take about 700 spectators. The opening ceremony with drawing of colors took place in Latvija hotel on 31 August, at 3 pm. The match was best of 14 games, or the first to have 7½ points. If 7-7, two more games would be played, and if still equal, up to four more games with short time control. The games would start every other day at 5 pm. There was no scheduled rest day, but each player could request two two-day postponements (which they both did). Mikhail Tal and Evgeny Sveshnikov commented on the games in front of the public.

Sokolov (23) had qualified from the Sokolov - Vaganian Candidates Semifinal (1986) and Yusupov (26) had won the Yusupov - Timman Candidates Semifinal (1986). Sokolov's seconds were Vladimir Yurkov and Sergey Yuferov, while Yusupovs seconds were Mark Dvoretzky and V. Nekrasov. Chief arbiter Lev Abramov was assisted by Viljams Strelis.

Riga, Soviet Union (Latvia), 1 September - 5 October 1986

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
Sokolov  0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½  7½
Yusupov  1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 0 0 ½  6½

"He has earned the right to take on the loser of the recently concluded world championship by defeating his compatriot Artur Yusupov in the final of the Candidates. He won that duel convincingly, after losing two games at the start as White. He was beaten by the French Defence (1 e4 e6) in fact three times, but stuck to it, drawing onee, and finally Managing to win against it twice. This argues no lack of determination. ('Sokol' in Russian means 'hawk'.). More to the point, he is the only Soviet player to have beaten Karpov in a tournament game outside the Soviet Union since he became world champion. (As a loyal Soviet player, you are not supposed to do that sort of thing!) It happened in a very strong tournament in Bugojno, which Karpov won, in 1986. Sokolov seems to be a happy-go-lucky sort of young man, described as casual in his appearance, fond of strumming the guitar — in short, fairly typical of a modern young Muscovite. He certainly won't assume that Karpov is unbeatable, though Kasparov himself gives him no chance." (Spanier)

"The French Defense was the barometer of how Andrei Sokolov was doing in his final candidates match with Artur Yusupov in Riga, the Soviet Union. The 23-year-old Russian started by losing to his compatriot's French in Games 1, 3 and 9; only after he learned to cope with it - in games 11 and 13, both of which he won - did Sokolov take the lead and go on to win by 7 1/2-6 1/2. As for 26-year-old Yusupov, he probably regretted defending against a Ruy Lopez in Game 7 when he could have thrown in another French. Overall, he had a score of plus one with the French, and a plus with a defense in match play is usually an unhoped-for boon. Sokolov will not have to worry about the French Defense for a while; his coming opponent in the elimination series to determine Gary Kasparov's next challenger is Anatoly Karpov, who doesn't use the defense and is not likely to switch to it for their February match in Linares, Spain." (Byrne)

Sources

Pionieris, 5 September 1986 (http://periodika.lv/periodika2-view...)
Rigas Bals, 27 August 1986 (http://periodika.lv/periodika2-view...)
Rigas Bals, 2 September 1986 (http://periodika.lv/periodika2-view...)
Sports (Riga), 30 August 1986 (http://periodika.lv/periodika2-view...)
Sports (Riga), 2 September 1986 (http://periodika.lv/periodika2-view...)
Leonid Sandler in Jürmala, 30 August 1986 (http://periodika.lv/periodika2-view...)
Lubomir Ftacnik in Práca, 11 October 1986 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Pra...)
Aivars Gipslis in Sports (Riga), 6 September 1986 (http://periodika.lv/periodika2-view...)
David Spanier in The Spectator, 25 October 1986, p. 52 (http://archive.spectator.co.uk/arti...)
Antonio Gude in Jaque 206, 1 November 1986, pp. 593-598 (http://www.bartelski.pl/olimpbase/l...)
Robert Byrne in The New York Times, 4 November 1986 (https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/04/...)
Robert Byrne in The New York Times, 16 November 1986 (https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/16/...)
Leonid Sandler interview of Sokolov in Jürmala, 15 October 1986 (http://periodika.lv/periodika2-view...)
Lars-Erik Johansson in Tidskrift för Schack, November 1986, pp. 318-322 (https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1986...)

Original collections: Game Collection: WCC Index (Sokolov-Yusupov 1986) by User: Hesam7 and Game Collection: Sokolov - Yusupov Candidates Final by User: Tabanus.