Bessel Kok, chairman of the organizing committee, did not hesitate to reprimand Karpov. He said: “Anatoly, you are the last to arrive, and therefore the seat at the back is yours.” And Karpov, amid the malicious laughter of his colleagues, took the reserved chair. It was during the closing ceremony, and the anecdote — almost as if it had been scripted — closed this Second S.W.I.F.T. International Chess Tournament, played from 9 to 25 April at the Sheraton Hotel in Brussels.

It was a tournament that also staged the paraphernalia that the recently formed GMA association intends to build around its future Grand Prix, but which, truth be told, fell far short of its ambitions. In any case, the S.W.I.F.T. served to test the “form” of a good number of “consecrated monsters” over eleven rounds: Hübner was absent from the third round onward, when an inconvenient cold removed him from the competition, to the benefit of Tal, Karpov, Kasparov, Korchnoi, Larsen, Ljubojević, Meulders, an utter unknown rated as an FM, Short, Timman, Torre, Van der Wiel, and Winants, another complete unknown, this time an IM.

One opportunity, which would have given substance to the threats of the “terrible” Korchnoi, was the last chance to see the three most famous “Ks” of the moment in action together. It was unforgettable, he said, because after a childish error by Korchnoi in his game against Karpov, in a drawn ending, the irascible, cantankerous, stateless man, now a Swiss citizen, chose to send the pieces flying from the board with one sweep of his hand. Karpov was threatening his knight with a pawn, and Korchnoi did not notice that there was another move that would have saved his king. When he realized it, it was already too late, and although he tried to correct himself, Karpov applied the maxim “touched piece, moved piece” with a laconic “I’m sorry.” Korchnoi left the hall without signing the scoresheet, did so later, and with the pieces rolling across the floor. “I will never play Karpov again. His mere presence makes me nervous,” he declared.

Despite the misfortune, his final placing was not entirely bad: 6½ points, 4th–5th place, together with Timman, who at last seemed to be lifting his head. Korchnoi owed his rise in the table to some extent to Karpov’s third place. He did not admit this to this magazine. “Understand,” he said, “the tournament was very strong”; but, you know, in his game with Kasparov he missed an opportunity to level his personal score with the world champion in the hundredth game played between them. After the new draw, this kind of fratricidal struggle continues as follows: 77 draws, 12 wins for Kasparov, and 11 for Karpov.

First place was shared on 8½ points by Kasparov and Ljubojević. “Ljubo,” who with his win added 31 Elo points and moved up to third place on the FIDE list, around 2645 Elo points, in truth deserved sole first place, given the authority with which he played the tournament at every moment. It is a pity that he is so attached to laziness, because his chess qualities are not inferior to those of Karpov or Kasparov.

The one who disappointed from beginning to end was young Short. His penultimate place wrecked an entire campaign of victories and promotion. Three points out of eleven, only ahead of Meulders in the final standings, are enough to make one think. At least hopes of finding a Western player to set against the Soviets will no longer be so many. And, of course, he will not monopolize all of them by himself. Tal, although below expectations, Larsen — whose game against Short in the last round deserves close analysis — Van der Wiel, and Torre all fulfilled expectations.

/ Fernando Urias, Jaque No.218 /