Chess elite vying for title shot

From the Times Colonist, Sunday, December 22, 1985
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Chess elite vying for title shot
By Arthur Bisguier
Christian Science Monitor

While most of the eyes of the chess community were viewing the titanic struggle for the world championship between successful challenger Gary Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, 16 of the world's elite grandmasters were competing at Montpellier, France, for a chance at the title next year.

With the first four finishers advancing to the next phase of play, Soviet countrymen Artur Yusupov, Rafael Vaganian, and Andrei Sokolov shared top honors at 9 points each, while Jan Timman of the Netherlands and former world champion Mikhail Tal of the Soviet Union were next, with 8 1/2 apiece. A six-game match for fourth place between these two ended 3-3, with Timman advancing to the next round on the basis of the better tie-breaks at Montpeller.

The four qualifiers will now play knockout matches early next year. Yusupov, an improving and brilliant 25-year-old who was ranked first in the tie-break, has the misfortune to be overshadowed by Kasparov. That he is a great player in his own right is evidenced by today's game, taken from Montpeller. The loser in this game is Jesus Nogueiras, a Cuban.