A trip to the Canary Islands always brings together a host of attractions that are not usually found together. One thinks of their natural beauty, advantageous shopping, guaranteed sunshine and, naturally, an attractive chess tournament. With this idea in mind, one packs one’s bags, including summer clothes and a brand-new swimsuit, and arrives — let us take Las Palmas as an example — only for one’s particular “house of cards” to begin collapsing. Its natural beauty appears wrapped in a cloudy sky and a few continuous drops which in the north we call drizzle. After a few days we found that the shopping was no longer such a “bargain”, and that the modest swimsuit we had optimistically hoped to wear never came out from the bottom of the suitcase.

Only the chess tournament remained to us, and the truth is that here we were not disappointed. On arrival, and with the tournament under way, the Icelander Ólafsson was “sweeping” through nine consecutive rounds, at times enjoying as much as a point and a half lead over his nearest pursuer. Afterwards the gaps began to narrow until the encounter between the then leader and the Yugoslav Ljubojević, in which the latter won a fine game and took first place, which he would not relinquish again.

Ljubojević produced a magnificent performance, dosing his strength very well, playing chess of high quality, aggressive in all his games, and correcting his performance at Petrópolis, where he collapsed at the end and lost his “candidacy”. Very good from the Yugoslav, who on this line may even reach the title itself.

Second place was shared by the world junior champion Beliavsky and Ólafsson. The Soviet, who had finished last in the Soviet Championship, achieved a GM norm without losing a single game. His play impressed us favourably. He is a Karpov-type player: very solid, leaving no gaps. Perhaps he acted somewhat overcautiously, given his young age — 20 years — and considering that this was his first international tournament outside the USSR against already established players. In any case, we believe we may be looking at another “monster” of the chessboard in the near future.

Ólafsson is not to be discovered now: he played very well, and if he had not encountered a Ljubojević in such fine form, he might well have been the winner.

Tied for fourth place on points were Polugaevsky, Andersson, Panno and Larsen. We should first highlight the Cuban Guillermo García, a 22-year-old international master and champion of his country, who obtained his first GM norm with a sober tournament and notable victories over Larsen, Browne and Quinteros, among others. He lost only two games, to Taimanov and Ribli, and at no point was he the least of the tournament’s “phenomena”. García does not play for draws, and his aggressive style is fearsome for any opponent. He has a great chess future, and it gives me pleasure that Cuban chess possesses him. Take care of this young man.

The others mentioned could have finished higher. Especially Larsen, who lost some incredible games.

The Argentine Quinteros was not at the level of his class, and we expected much more from Miguel Angel than he produced. The final phase of the tournament was a debacle for him, with absurd losses after having held advantageous positions. A little rest would do him no harm.

Our leading player, Arturo Pomar, drew with Ribli and his play was very uneven. Alongside brilliant games — he was the only one to defeat the winner — he agreed several draws in which “something” could still have been attempted. He would benefit from taking a short rest.

The two North Americans divided the place that from the start did not belong to them. Kawalek in particular played far below his possibilities. Browne, as we know, is quite irregular, but above all we found him extremely nervous, especially in time trouble, something that occurred in almost all his games.

About the Englishman Hartston it must be said that he fought hard and was an uncomfortable opponent for everyone. Bellón did not have “his” tournament and, apart from winning very well against Quinteros, could do little more.

Menvielle, always in his line, seemed better to us than ever. In my opinion, with White, he is a player of a higher category. He is not intimidated by anyone, and it seems that his speciality is the Soviets, from whom he scratched half a point and even came close to being better. His exemplary modesty and sobriety are worthy of praise.

Medina was very dull. Poorly trained, he lost several games on time and, in general, was in very serious time trouble in all of them, losing several games in which he had equality until shortly before the time control. In his favour it must be said that he played in poor physical condition.

In general terms, I must state that the performance of our players was not as bad as might be inferred from the crosstable. A look through the selected field of participants is enough to understand this.

It was a very strong tournament, and our players — all amateurs — nevertheless performed with dignity, selling defeat dearly and even achieving a few “little triumphs” by defeating several established players.

In short, it was an interesting tournament, where the fighting spirit was high, and the uncertainty over the winner meant that the public came continuously to watch every round. The tournament was directed impeccably by Pierre Dumesnil, arbitrated by the Englishman Harry Golombek, and organised by the Canary Islands Chess Federation in the halls of the Hotel Santa Catalina in Las Palmas.

That was the positive part of our trip, and what will make us return next year. But, this time, with the raincoat in the suitcase. Just in case.