8th European Team Chess Championship: Plovdiv 1983

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Information

[ Basic data | Tournament review | Individual medals | Interesting games ]


Basic data

8th European Team Chess Championship
(see all-time tournament summary)
Dates: Preliminaries: September 1981 - October 1982
Final: 23th June - 3rd July 1983
City: Final: Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Venue: Final: N/A
Tournament Director: N/A
Chief Arbiter: N/A
Teams participating: Preliminaries: 18 in six groups.
Final: 8
Players participating: Preliminaries: 183 (incl. 40 GMs, 83 IMs and 13 FMs)
Final: 80 (incl. 44 GMs and 23 IMs)
Games played: Preliminaries: 288
Final: 224
Competition format: Preliminaries:
Groups 1 thru 6: eight board double round robin.
Final: Eight board round robin.
Final order decided by: 1. Game points
Time control: 40 moves in 2 hours 30 minutes, then 16 moves in each next hour
Official logo: Plovdiv 1983
Downloadable game file: Preliminaries: 83prel.zip
Final: 83etch.zip


Tournament review

Plovdiv, the second biggest city of Bulgaria, hosted the final of the 8th European Team Championship, as history proved the last one ran in an old format. Not many sensations happened in the preliminaries. Iceland, a country of 300,000 inhabitants beat Sweden and fought very hard only to lose to England by the smallest possible margin to miss the Championship final tickets. Czechoslovakia, runners-up from 1982 Olympiad, were denied by Denmark to whom they lost 8½-7½ in the decisive match. The Danish hero was undoubtedly Kristiansen who beat Ftáčnik 2-0. West Germany eliminated Israel without problems while Poland once again were out losing to the Netherlands. The winners of the Balkan group were Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.

Of teams who took part in the Championship final the Soviet Union were missing Kasparov, Smyslov, Spassky and Tal but they still held 60 ELO points edge over Hungary, the second seeds. Then came Yugoslavia and England, bronze medal winners from 1980. West Germany were extremely weakened as they were missing Hübner, Hecht and Pachman (not to mention older but still vigorous players as Unzicker, Schmid or Darga). Denmark's trademark GM Larsen did not arrive as well (as in 1970).

Yugoslavia beat Hungary in the crucial match of round one to earn one point advantage over the Hungarians. USSR took early lead smashing Bulgaria 6-2. On day two the Hungarians managed to beat England while Yugoslavia only held Bulgaria to a draw. Day three saw a record 7-1 win of Soviet squad over the weakened Germans. The Bulgarians produced another surprise defeating runners-up England. On the next day Hungary hammered Bulgaria 5½-2½ while England lost to Holland. Standings after four rounds: USSR 25; Hungary and Yugoslavia 19½; England 16. In round five Yugoslavia halved vs USSR drawing all eight games but Kovačević missed huge chance to beat Beliavsky and win the match for Yugoslavia. Hungary sensationally lost to the Netherlands led by Timman who brilliantly beat Portisch. On penultimate round England fought hard to lose to the Soviet Union by only 4½-3½ but this was not satisfactory for them as Yugoslavia and Hungary won their respective matches. On day seven Holland beat Denmark but only 4½-3½ finishing in 5th. The Brittons played excellent match and defeated Yugoslavia but this was not enough to reach the podium zone since the Hungarians quickly drew seven games vs USSR necessary to steal the bronze. There were some accusations that the package deal was made but nothing had been proved. Apparently the Soviets didn't feel like playing serious chess on that day. The Bulgarians beat poor Germans to take the 6th spot while Denmark finished in 7th.

The Soviets were unanimously the best team of the event. Karpov (who caught a flu on his stay in Plovdiv) played only four games and best individual results were achieved by Yusupov and Romanishin. Yugoslavia easily took silver taking revenge for 1980 slip-up. Opposite to the Soviets best results were achieved by top board players for Yugoslavia. Hungary came only third losing three matches (including the 3-5 loss vs Holland) and 10 games. Best individual result: Adorján. England failed to defend bronze medals won in Skara with only three match wins and four match losses. Mestel's best overall individual score (6/7 and ELO performed 2812) was sort of consolation. The Netherlands came only fifth, but their match point record (5 wins and 2 loses) was only inferior to the Soviets (best players: Timman and Ligterink). Bulgaria, the hosts, were a bit frustrated because of poor performance of their top players, but 17-year-old Kiryl Georgiev scored excellent 4/6 instilling hope in the hearts of Bulgarian fans. Denmark and West Germany were by far weaker than the rest. Remarkable results: Øst-Hansen for Denmark (4½/6 and ELO performed 2652) and Peter Grün of Germany (ELO 2290!) who scored 3½/7 and performed at 2471 ELO points.



Individual medals

1st Board
no. name flag code pts gms %
1. GM Timman, Jan Netherlands NED 7 64.3
1. GM Portisch, Lajos Hungary HUN 7 64.3
3. GM Ljubojević, Ljubomir Yugoslavia YUG 6 58.3

2nd Board
no. name flag code pts gms %
1. GM Gligorić, Svetozar Yugoslavia YUG 7 64.3
2. GM Polugaevsky, Lev Soviet Union URS 6 58.3
2. GM Sosonko, Gennadi Netherlands NED 6 58.3

3rd Board
no. name flag code pts gms %
1. GM Nikolić, Predrag Yugoslavia YUG 5 7 71.4
2. GM Petrosian, Tigran Soviet Union URS 5 70.0
3. GM Van der Wiel, John Netherlands NED 4 7 57.1

4th Board
no. name flag code pts gms %
1. GM Mestel, Andrew Jonathan England ENG 6 7 85.7
2. GM Vaganian, Rafael Soviet Union URS 4 5 80.0
3. GM Kovačević, Vlatko Yugoslavia YUG 5 7 71.4

5th Board
no. name flag code pts gms %
1. GM Adorján, András Hungary HUN 7 78.6
2. GM Beliavsky, Alexander Soviet Union URS 6 58.3
2. IM Kristiansen, Jens Denmark DEN 6 58.3

6th Board
no. name flag code pts gms %
1. Øst-Hansen, Jacob Denmark DEN 6 75.0
2. IM Ligterink, Gert Netherlands NED 5 7 71.4
3. GM Csom, István Hungary HUN 4 7 57.1

7th Board
no. name flag code pts gms %
1. GM Psakhis, Lev Soviet Union URS 5 7 71.4
2. IM Short, Nigel David England ENG 7 64.3
3. GM Ermenkov, Evgeny Bulgaria BUL 3 6 50.0

8th Board
no. name flag code pts gms %
1. GM Romanishin, Oleg Soviet Union URS 6 75.0
2. GM Ivanović, Božidar Yugoslavia YUG 5 7 71.4
3. IM Van Wijgerden, Cornelis Netherlands NED 6 58.3
3. GM Spiridonov, Nikola Bulgaria BUL 6 58.3

1st Reserve Board
no. name flag code pts gms %
1. GM Đurić, Stefan Yugoslavia YUG 4 87.5
2. GM Yusupov, Artur Soviet Union URS 7 78.6
3. IM Georgiev, Kiril Bulgaria BUL 4 6 66.7

2nd Reserve Board
no. name flag code pts gms %
1. GM Geller, Efim Soviet Union URS 3 4 75.0
2. IM Horváth, Tamás Hungary HUN 5 70.0
3. Fries-Nielsen, Jens Ove Denmark DEN 4 37.5


Interesting games


White conducted immediate Kingside attack.
Georgiev, Krum (BUL) - Keene, Raymond Dennis (ENG) 1 - 0

Nice tactics leading to quick end.
Timman, Jan (NED) - Mortensen, Erling (DEN) 1 - 0

Building a pawn wall at Kingside was not ample defence for White's attack.
Polugaevsky, Lev (URS) - Hansen, Curt (DEN) 1 - 0

A very sharp and exciting game full of surprising turnovers.
Timman, Jan (NED) - Portisch, Lajos (HUN) 1 - 0

White opened file for attack but Black managed to consolidate.
Ligterink, Gert (NED) - Psakhis, Lev (URS) 0 - 1

Double fianchetto led White to a sensational win.
Øst-Hansen, Jacob (DEN) - Beliavsky, Alexander (URS) 1 - 0

Quick wins are not uncommon in Sicilian Keres but this one looks so easy.
Sax, Gyula (HUN) - Fedder, Steen (DEN) 1 - 0

This was not the smothered mate but still winning for Black.
Inkiov, Ventzislav (BUL) - Vaganian, Rafael (URS) 0 - 1