By José M.ª González, Las Palmas

From June 20 to July 2, the 10th “City of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria” Tournament was held at the Hotel Reina Isabel, with the participation of six players. Among them, special mention should be made of the challenger Viktor Korchnoi, who in a few months will face the champion Anatoly Karpov for the title, and of the Dutchman Jan Timman, who had just won the IBM tournament in Amsterdam outright, with Karpov also taking part.

Timman won brilliantly, showing that he was in splendid form, developing everything he had before him and finishing the tournament undefeated, two points ahead of his immediate follower, Larsen, and 2.5 points ahead of Seirawan and Korchnoi.

The Dutchman had started the year somewhat weakly, but had been improving until a few days earlier, when he won in Amsterdam, a Category 13 tournament, playing masterly chess. In Las Palmas he showed that his triumph at the IBM tournament had been no accident and, playing sober chess without concessions to the gallery, he kept accumulating points and imposing himself on all his rivals — the best score any of these participants obtained against him was half a point out of two — until achieving this deserved victory, which confirms him as one of the players to be reckoned with in the next world championship cycle. It also inscribes his name on the roll of honour of winners in Las Palmas and earns him the attractive sum of 450,000 pesetas.

Bent Larsen took second place after an irregular performance, as we have become accustomed to seeing from him. Alongside brilliant games, he played others in which his rivals, only because of their extraordinary class, managed to equalize. His most outstanding quality was also his usual fighting spirit — what a fine example for many young players! — which always makes him play flat out, whether to save half a point or to win a full point.

He is the favourite player of the fans, because he does not disappoint even when losing, and his games are followed by the public with the greatest attention. Perhaps here he felt the difference in climate and temperature that logically exists between Copenhagen and Las Palmas within the space of only a few hours.

Yasser Seirawan is today, together with Garry Kasparov of the USSR, possibly the most outstanding young player among those who are pushing ambitiously toward the ranks of the “candidates” among the great figures of world chess. His current role as analyst, sparring partner, adviser, etc., to the world championship runner-up is giving him valuable experience, which he seems to be absorbing perfectly. Naturally, he has respect for the board, as demonstrated by his victory in the first round of this tournament. Nevertheless, he still has much polishing to do, because his magnificent shared third place should have been lost if, to give just one example, Bellón had slightly refined his first game. In addition to his technical knowledge, his most outstanding quality is that desire to win which can be seen at every moment in his games.

It is very difficult to judge Korchnoi by this tournament, especially since only a few days earlier he had won incredibly in Germany, finishing three points ahead of the runner-up — see Jaque, July issue — and scoring 9 points out of 10 against opponents whose combined Elo was 15,200; here it was 15,220. The averages were 2,533 and 2,536, both Category 12 tournaments. On the other hand, it is unbelievable that he lost three games out of ten, when in Baguio he lost six against Karpov, and since then had lost only eight games in total while facing several candidates and playing in numerous tournaments.

What happened in Las Palmas? There are explanations to suit every taste, and I lean toward a combination of three: first, a particular “Canarian complex” — let us remember that Korchnoi refused to play his match against Karpov here; second, understandable fatigue from the large number of tournaments in which he is continuously taking part; and third, a reluctance to show his weapons given the proximity of the title match.

This last point is supported by the different openings and defences he played, which have not usually been habitual for him recently. In any case, scoring 60% of the possible points must, in his case, be considered a poor performance. It is worth recalling that the previous year, in Linares, Korchnoi also did not have a great performance — Rivas surprised him with mate in one game — and shortly afterward, in Buenos Aires, he played a high-category match with Polugaevsky.

As a curiosity, I will add that the whole “Korchnoi team” was in Las Palmas, since in addition to his analyst Seirawan, who was playing in the tournament, there were also his secretary Petra Leeuwerick, his other analyst Stean, and his lawyer Alban Brodbeck.

There are things that seem solemn but are brutal. If we see from the standings table that Juan Manuel Bellón scored only one and a half points from ten games, and then state that he played one of his best tournaments in terms of quality of play, the fan will immediately think that this is impossible. And yet it is the truth.

Bellón began marvellously and defeated García Padrón in good form. He then faced Seirawan, and his inaccuracies in time trouble cost him the point in a won game. Then came Korchnoi, whom he dominated in the opening and middlegame, and finally Larsen, against whom, again because of time trouble, he had to settle for half a point at the Dane’s request after repetition of moves.

Thus, after starting the tournament with a 100% position from four games, he found himself with only one and a half points. And that was the end of Bellón, who did not play properly for the rest of the tournament. Juan Manuel has undergone an evolution in his play which I personally consider positive, but the fragility of his morale is too pronounced and he cannot overcome it. I mention this evolution because until very recently Bellón always had plenty of time and would reach move 40 with great ease. Now his concentration during the game is absolute; he goes more deeply into positions and certainly gets far more out of them than before, but he reaches the time control in serious trouble and no longer “finds the best moves” after approximately move 32. I think that once he manages his time better — and I am sure he will — we shall see a Bellón with 150 more Elo points.

José García Padrón finished last in the standings, which was something expected before the tournament began, given the extraordinary class of his opponents. Nevertheless, I would add something on which I have insisted on other occasions: the local player in any tournament is at a notable disadvantage because he must complete his working day, then have lunch and play five hours, with possible adjournments that keep him up late, etc. It is therefore difficult to play good chess. Even so, García Padrón played acceptably, and his opponents had to fight to win their points from him. His personal honour was preserved by defeating Bellón, something he had not previously managed to do. Frankly, this was too strong a tournament for any international master in the world, so here too nothing extraordinary happened. The experience gained in a competition of this type is important for any young player with ambitions.

Initially this tournament had been planned with four players — Kasparov, Larsen, Seirawan, and Miles — in a quadruple round-robin. But when the Soviet phenomenon failed to appear, he was replaced by Korchnoi, and since Miles was uncertain, the alternative was Timman. Nor had it been expected that two Spanish players would be added to the group, but apparently this was necessary for subsidy purposes. The Canarian Federation did not limit itself to adding two Spaniards to the group; a few days earlier it had organized another tournament exclusively for twelve national players as a promotional event, called the 1st National Tournament.

Also during the dates of the “big tournament”, under the sponsorship of El Corte Inglés and organized by the Club de Ajedrez Caja Insular de Ahorros, an event was held called the 2nd Chess Day — Schoolchildren’s Day. It consisted of a “mini-festival” in the street — Avenida de Mesa y López — with school simultaneous exhibitions, blitz tournaments, tournaments for federated and school teams, problem and quiz contests, amateur games, giant chess, games with computers, and consultation chess. All of this formed a chess conglomerate with massive public attendance, which turned it into a major event.

The tournament direction was handled by Andrés Armas, with Antonio Labao as deputy director. The chief arbiter was Manuel Quevedo, assisted by Enrique Lemes and Jacinto Quevedo. The organizer was the Las Palmas Chess Federation, which was inaugurating its new president, Augusto C. Menville, under the sponsorship of the Honourable City Council, the Island Council, Caja Insular de Ahorros, and the Spanish Chess Federation.

The prizes amounted to 1,305,000 pesetas, distributed among the six participants according to their placings, with additional prizes for best game, attacking combination, and fighting spirit. The tournament benefited from the location of the Hotel Reina Isabel on the very shore of Las Canteras beach.

Everything turned out perfectly, as befits the great experience of these organizers, who on this occasion, overcoming unexpected financial difficulties, also knew how to come through successfully. Congratulations!