Torre vs Ribli Candidates Match
Alicante, Spain
April 4-26, 1983
1 GM Zoltan Ribli HUN 2595 +3 -1 = 6
2 GM Eugene Torre PHI 2580 +1 -3 = 6
Shortly after it was confirmed that Wesley So would be playing in the 2018 Berlin Candidates tournament there was a loud cheer among Pinoy chess netizens. Surprisingly though I saw some Facebook/Twitter posts congratulating Wesley So for being the first ever Filipino chessplayer to play in the Candidates.
Of course that is not true. Eugene Torre was the first — this was back in 1983 in Alicante, a historical Mediterranean port in Valencia, Spain.
Similar to the system we have now eight players were qualified for the Candidates quarterfinal matches in 1983. Viktor Korchnoi was seeded into the Candidates by virtue of being the losing finalist to Karpov in the world title match the previous year, and Robert Huebner qualified as the loser of the Korchnoi-Hübner Candidates Final (1980). The other six players qualified from three interzonal tournaments: Las Palmas Interzonal 1982 (Zoltan Ribli and Vassily Smyslov), Toluca Interzonal 1982 (Lajos Portisch and Eugene Torre) and Moscow Interzonal 1982 (Garry Kasparov and Alexander Beliavsky).
The luck of the draw came out with the Candidates’ pairings:
Zoltan Ribli vs Eugene Torre
Viktor Korchnoi vs Lajos Portisch
Garry Kasparov vs Alexander Beliavsky
Vassily Smyslov vs Robert Huebner
After tying for first with Portisch in Toluca and qualifying for the Candidates’ matches there was a great outpouring of vows of all-out support from several local governments and chess clubs for Eugene Torre’s world title bid, but unfortunately it turned out that this support was mostly confined to press releases. There was one particularly touching moment though when GM Eugene received P2 in the mail from 6-year-old Francis Eugene Fernando of UP Bliss, who wanted to donate his pocket money to Torre’s quest for glory. To this day el Eugenio has not forgotten this P2.
Anyway, there were very unhappy circumstances before his departure for Alicante when he faced the prospect of being unable to leave for Spain due to lack of support. Financial difficulties hounded him every day and played havoc on his physical and mental preparation for the match. Finally, on literally the last minute the President of the Philippine Chess Federation Federico Moreno managed to come up with the tickets for Spain.
Shortly after the Toluca Interzonal one of the participants, the English GM John Nunn, noted that Eugene Torre was a gifted tactician but had deficiencies in opening play and clock handling, claiming that these factors would weigh against him in any Candidates match. That was exactly what happened, for example in game 6 Ribli won straight from the opening.
Ribli, Zoltan (2595) — Torre, Eugenio (2580) [D49]
Candidates qf4 Alicante (6), 1983
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 a6 9.e4 c5 10.e5 cxd4 11.Nxb5 Nxe5 12.Nxe5 axb5 13.Qf3 Bd7?
Three years later the German Peter Meyer decided to repeat this line against Torre, but this time he knew what to do: 13…Bb4+ and after 14.Ke2 Rb8 15.Qg3 Qd6 16.Nc6 Qxc6 17.Qxb8 0–0 Black had more than sufficient compensation for the exchange. Meyer,P-Torre,E/Lugano 1986 0–1 (35).
14.0–0 Bd6 15.Bf4
White has threats of Nxf7 or Nxd7.
15…Ra6?
The final mistake. Black’s only move is 15…0–0 16.Nxf7 Rxf7 17.Bxd6 Ne8 18.Qg3 Nxd6 19.Qxd6 Qg5! Black is on the way to recovery. I hope you noticed that it is bad advice For White to take the pawn, because after 20.Qxd4 Bc6 21.g3 (21.Be4 Ra4) 21…Rd8 complicates matters]
16.Nxd7 Nxd7 17.Bxb5 Rb6 18.Bxd6 Rxb5 19.Rac1 f6 20.Qe2 1–0
The double attack on b5 and e6 forces capitulation.
For the rest of the games we were to see a recurring pattern — Torre would get a good position and then Ribli would speed up his moves, causing his opponent to fall behind on time. When the inevitable panic time takes place almost without fail the Hungarian would gain the upper hand in the scramble to make the time control.
The only one which had a happy ending (for us Filipinos anyway) is game 7.
Torre, Eugenio (2580) —
Ribli, Zoltan (2595) [B42]
Candidates qf4 Alicante (7), 1983
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.0–0 d6 7.c4 Be7
For some reason Ribli spent 50 minutes on his 7th and 8th moves.
8.Nc3 0–0 9.Be3 Nbd7 10.f4 Nc5 11.Bc2 e5 12.Nf5 Bxf5 13.exf5 exf4 14.Rxf4 Rc8 15.Rd4 Ncd7 16.Be4
White invested 30 minutes of his time here, making sure that Black couldn’t open up the position with …d6–d5.
16…Nxe4 17.Nxe4 Nf6 18.Nc3
[18.Nxd6?! Bxd6 19.Rxd6 Qe7 and Ribli’s position is alive. Take note that the c4–pawn cannot be protected: 20.Qd3 Rxc4]
18…b5!?
Ribli made this double-edged pawn sacrifice and offered a draw. This is part of his psychological tactics, tempting White to waste time considering whether to accept it or not, especially since the position is going to be more complex now.
19.cxb5 axb5 20.Nxb5
GM Eugene was nervous and kept calculating and re-calculating the tactics, so much so that he spent an hour and 14 minutes over the last 3 moves, leaving myself with 15 minutes to reach move 40. Ribli’s situation was not much better — he had 10 minutes left. Once again Ribli started blitzing out his moves.
20…d5 21.Rd3 Re8 22.Kh1 Qd7 23.Nd4 Ne4 24.Qf3 Bf6 25.Rad1 Qa4 26.a3 h6 27.Bg1 Qa6 28.b4 Qa4 29.Ne2 Ng5 30.Qf1
By this time both players had a minute left for the last 10 moves.
30…Ne4 31.Nf4 Nc3 32.Ra1 Qd7! 33.Nh5 Be5 34.Re1 Qb5 35.Rf3 Qxf1 36.Rfxf1 d4 37.Ra1?
In a flash Eugene saw 37.Rxe5! Rxe5 38.Bxd4 but didn’t have time to calculate its consequences. All he wanted to do is to reach the 40th move and then win with his two connected passed pawns on the queenside. Please do not be too critical of the remaining moves leading to move 40 — both players had only seconds left and were banging out their moves.
37…Ra8? 38.Nf4? Bf6? 39.Nd3 Re2 40.Rf2 Re3 41.Rd2 Ne4 42.Rdd1 Re2 43.Nf4 Nf2+ 44.Bxf2
At this point one of Eugene’s seconds, IM Rico Mascariñas, visibly pale, re-entered the playing hall and asked his assistant National Master Ed Bernal if Torre’s flag had fallen. “No, the game is adjourned,” replied Ed. “You are kidding.” “No, I am not. Look, Eugene is about to make his sealed move.”
As Ed Bernal recounted later, the change in expression of Rico’s face from depression to pure joy was a sight to behold.
44…Rxf2
The adjourned position. The two passed pawns on the queenside are very threatening and the local press declared White winning. If only it were that easy! Eugene overheard Orso Miklos, one of Ribli’s seconds, answering a frantic phone call from Hungary asking for the adjourned position for an in-depth analysis. Obviously they were not going to give up without a fight. If only us Filipinos were as supportive as that!
45.Nd3! Rxf5 46.a4 Kf8 47.h3 Ke7 48.Rdc1 Kd8 49.a5 h5 50.Rc6 h4 51.Rac1 Be7 52.Kg1 Bg5
[52…Rb5 53.R6c4 and if now 53…Bf6 54.Rc5 more or less forces the exchange of a pair of rooks, simplifying the win]
53.R1c5?
He should have used the other rook, 53.R6c5. Why? I will show you.
53…Be3+ 54.Kh2 Rxc5?
This is why. With 54…Rf1! threatening mate with …Bg1+, …Bf4 and …Bg3 Black could have forced a draw, because after 55.Rd5+ Ke7 56.g4 Rd1 57.Ne5 Rf1 White’s king is stuck in the corner.
55.Rxc5 Kd7 56.g3! hxg3+ 57.Kxg3 Bd2 58.Rd5+ Ke6 59.Rb5
White could have taken the pawn on d4, but he had something in mind.
59…Kd6 60.Ne5!
OK, finally White has seen the winning maneuver.
60…Be1+ 61.Kf3 f6 62.Nc4+ Kc6?
[62…Kc7 63.Rc5+ Kd8 is better. Now Black is forced into the corner where the harmonious cooperation of rook, knight and pawn places the Black king in an untenable position]
63.Rc5+ Kb7 64.Nd6+ Ka6 65.Rc6+ Ka7 66.a6 Rd8 67.Nb5+ Ka8 68.Rc7! 1–0 <D>
FINAL POSITION
Eugene is threatening mate with 69.Ra7+ Kb8 70.Rb7+ Kc8 71.Na7#. The Black rook on d8 is blocking his own king’s escape square, but what to do? If he moves it up with 68…Rd7 he is mated 69.Rc8#. If he moves it to the side with 68..Rh8 then White wins just the same with 69.Ra7+ Kb8 70.Rb7+ Kc8 71.Nd6+ and wins. No choice but to resign.
Eugene Torre lost twice in Alicante: the match to Ribli and the battle for support from home. I hope the time will come when all of us chessplayers start supporting our country’s representatives in international chess competitions because when one reaches this far, it is no longer their fight alone, it becomes the fight of the Filipino people for honor, prestige, and history.
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
