|
Mikhail Tal
and
Anatoly Karpov
shared first prize in the 1979 "Tournament of Stars".
The event took place at the
Quebec Pavilion in Montreal, Canada from April 11th to
May 7th and was one of the highest rated tournaments in
chess history. The average ELO rating was 2622,
which classified the tournament as a 15th FIDE category.
Svetozar Gligoric acted as chief controller and ten of the top grandmasters in the
world from eight different countries participated. The only notable absences being Victor Korchnoi and
Bobby Fischer.
Along with Tal (2615) and Karpov
(2705), Lajos Portisch (2640),
Boris Spassky
(2640), Jan Timman (2625), Bent Larsen
(2620), Vlastimil Hort (2600), Robert Huebner
(2595), Ljubomir Kavalek (2590), and Llubo
Ljubojevic (2590) all participated in the super
tournament. The players all stayed at the plush Meridian Hotel,
which overlooks
downtown Montreal.
After the first six rounds, Portisch (4 1/2 pts.) was in
the lead, with Tal, Karpov, and Ljubojevic (4 pts.)
right behind him in second place. The surprising
Ljubojevic defeated Hort with the Black pieces in round
seven to jump into a tie for first with Portisch, but a
loss to Karpov in the eighth and a draw with Huebner in
the ninth dropped him to fourth place at the halfway
point of the tournament.
By round sixteen, it was evident that the tournament
would come down to Tal (10 1/2) and Karpov (10), who were
set to meet each other for the second time in the
tournament (the first meeting was drawn). Karpov
had the White pieces and played hard for a win, even
refusing Tal's draw offer on the 20th move. In the
end, Tal's defense with the Black pieces proved to be
impenetrable and the game ended in a 35-move draw.
Tal could only manage a draw with the Black pieces
against Kavalek in the next round, while Karpov pulled
off a brilliant 50-move win with the Black pieces
against Ljubojevic. With the two Russians tied
going into the last round and nobody capable of catching
them, they both predictably agreed to quick draws with
their respective opponents to share first place. |
