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TOURNAMENT STANDINGS
Banja Luka Tournament

Garry Kasparov11.5/15(+8 -0 =7)[games]
Jan Smejkal9.5/15(+5 -1 =9)[games]
Ulf Andersson9.5/15(+4 -0 =11)[games]
Tigran Petrosian9/15(+3 -0 =12)[games]
Andras Adorjan8.5/15(+2 -0 =13)[games]
Milorad Knezevic8/15(+2 -1 =12)[games]
Aleksandar Matanovic7.5/15(+0 -0 =15)[games]
Walter Browne7.5/15(+2 -2 =11)[games]
Enver Bukic7/15(+2 -3 =10)[games]
Drazen Marovic6.5/15(+0 -2 =13)[games]
Milan Vukic6.5/15(+2 -4 =9)[games]
Slavoljub Marjanovic6.5/15(+3 -5 =7)[games]
Guillermo Garcia Gonzalez6.5/15(+3 -5 =7)[games]
Bojan Kurajica6/15(+1 -4 =10)[games]
Roman Hernandez Onna6/15(+0 -3 =12)[games]
Milenko Sibarevic4/15(+0 -7 =8)[games]
*

Chessgames.com Chess Event Description
Banja Luka (1979)

The Banja Luka Chess Tournament, held in Yugoslavia in 1979, was a category IX event. The round robin featured 14 grandmasters: Tigran Petrosian (2610), Ulf Andersson (2560), Jan Smejkal (2550), Walter Browne (2540), Andras Adorjan (2525), Bojan Kurajica (2515), Slavoljub Marjanovic (2505), Roman Hernandez (2500), Milorad Knezevic (2500), Enver Bukic (2495), Aleksandar Matanovic (2495), Guillermo Garcia Gonzales (2490), Milan Vukic (2485), and Drazen Marovic (2470); International Master Milenko Sibarevic (2355); and the unrated chess talent Garry Kasparov.

The little known Kasparov, who celebrated his sixteenth birthday during the event, stunned everyone by winning it decisively, without a single loss, with 11.5 points out of 15, a full two points clear of second place. His first international tournament, and a high level one at that, thus ended with a convincing victory. After this, Kasparov was immediately considered a likely future world champion.

One game decided by forfeit (Andersson's win over Bukic in the thirteenth round) is omitted from this collection.

Crosstable: https://www.perpetualcheck.com/show...

Based on Game Collection: Banja Luka 1979 by User: suenteus po 147.

 page 1 of 5; games 1-25 of 119  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Andersson vs B Kurajica 1-0331979Banja LukaE11 Bogo-Indian Defense
2. Kasparov vs Petrosian ½-½231979Banja LukaC97 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin
3. M Knezevic vs M Sibarevic  1-0371979Banja LukaD45 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
4. D Marovic vs E Bukic  ½-½291979Banja LukaA34 English, Symmetrical
5. A Matanovic vs G Garcia Gonzalez  ½-½181979Banja LukaC03 French, Tarrasch
6. Smejkal vs R Hernandez Onna  1-0321979Banja LukaA38 English, Symmetrical
7. M Vukic vs Adorjan  ½-½121979Banja LukaE15 Queen's Indian
8. M Sibarevic vs Kasparov 0-1321979Banja LukaB82 Sicilian, Scheveningen
9. Adorjan vs Andersson ½-½91979Banja LukaB52 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack
10. Browne vs M Knezevic  ½-½171979Banja LukaD43 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
11. E Bukic vs G Garcia Gonzalez  ½-½411979Banja LukaE94 King's Indian, Orthodox
12. R Hernandez Onna vs Marjanovic  ½-½221979Banja LukaE97 King's Indian
13. B Kurajica vs A Matanovic  ½-½411979Banja LukaE01 Catalan, Closed
14. D Marovic vs Smejkal  ½-½201979Banja LukaD91 Grunfeld, 5.Bg5
15. Petrosian vs M Vukic  ½-½671979Banja LukaE61 King's Indian
16. Marjanovic vs Browne  ½-½411979Banja LukaE12 Queen's Indian
17. A Matanovic vs Adorjan  ½-½211979Banja LukaB33 Sicilian
18. Kasparov vs Browne 1-0391979Banja LukaE12 Queen's Indian
19. Andersson vs Petrosian  ½-½131979Banja LukaA15 English
20. G Garcia Gonzalez vs B Kurajica 0-1271979Banja LukaD38 Queen's Gambit Declined, Ragozin Variation
21. M Knezevic vs R Hernandez Onna  ½-½141979Banja LukaE38 Nimzo-Indian, Classical, 4...c5
22. Marjanovic vs D Marovic  ½-½831979Banja LukaC09 French, Tarrasch, Open Variation, Main line
23. Smejkal vs E Bukic  0-1261979Banja LukaA34 English, Symmetrical
24. M Vukic vs M Sibarevic  1-0351979Banja LukaD27 Queen's Gambit Accepted, Classical
25. Adorjan vs G Garcia Gonzalez  1-0321979Banja LukaB46 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation
 page 1 of 5; games 1-25 of 119  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
May-05-22  CarlosCleto: "Sixteen grandmasters competed in a round robin format": No. Only Fourteen grandmasters, Sibarevic was only a IM, and Kasparov then was a unrated and untitled player.

"two unrated chess talents: Garry Kasparov and Guillermo Garcia Gonzales": Again, no... Kasparov, as said above, was a unrated and untitled player, but Garcia was a Grandmaster since 1976.

May-05-22  diagonal: Thanks, <CarlosCleto>!

Unrated, Untitled, Undefeated: 16 year young <Garry Kasparov> won at Banja Luka in 1979 with a full two points over second place. He had no loss, took seven draws and scored eight wins, already <the typical Kasparov rhythm>.

At Banja Luka in 1985, reigning Female World Chess Champion <Maia Chiburdanidze>, wins as first woman ever a male elite international invitation chess tournament (an even bigger upset than the Lone Pine Open in 1977 with co-winner Nona Gaprindashvili).

Chiburdanidze wins at Banja Luka in 1985 outright, is surpassing many grandmasters and reminds within 13 rounds unbeaten! She beats among others the two Brits Short and Plaskett. The pre-tournament favourites were Lev Psakhis, twice national champion of USSR in 1980 (together with Beliavsky) and 1981 (together with Kasparov), Bojan Kurajica and of course Nigel Short, already a strong and rising GM.

Like Garry and Maia, <Viktor Korchnoi> took Banja Luka at his very first participation, aged 76 in 2007 (he already was invited for 1979 but could not particpate because of the soviet tournament boycott against him). In 2007, it was the first international tournament held at Banja Luka after a twenty years break, followed by one further edition in 2008.

Albo d'Oro: Milan Vukić, winner of the inaugural edition (1974); Vlastimil Hort (1976); Garry Kasparov, with 16 years (1979); Vitaly Tseshkovsky (1981); Krunoslav Hulak, András Adorján, and Jonathan Speelman (1983); Maia Chiburdanidze (1985); Roland Ekström, and Krunoslav Hulak (1987); Viktor Korchnoi, with 76 years, and Zlatko Ilinčić (2007); Bartłomiej Heberla, winner of the latest and last edition (2008). If shared wins, first on tie-break is mentioned first.

Most notable participants, < not winning > at the Banja Luka tournament: Petrosian, Timman, Short, Sax, Nikolic, Smejkal, Ftacnik, Kuzmin, Bagirov, Inkiov, Browne, Lombardy, Tarjan, Farago, Csom, Matanovic, Matulovic, Parma, Kurajica, Cebalo, Velimirovic, Sznapik, Ruck, Stojanovic, Volkov, Gopal, Solodovnichenko, and Ulf Andersson who played in 1976, 1979, and again in 2007.

Famous games from Banja Luka:

Garry’s early years – Effective tactics combined with creative strategy: Kasparov vs Browne, 1979

Victor’s mature years – Legends never get too old for brilliance: Korchnoi vs M Stojanovic, 2007

Maia isn’t short minded – Nigel blunders: Short vs Chiburdanidze, 1985

Sudden blitz – Jan Timman mated by Milan Vukic on the spot: Timman vs M Vukic, 1974

Another world class blunder – Sergey Volkov got checkmated in two: S Volkov vs B Heberla, 2008

Immortal game of Milenko Sibarevic – horses, credo, erat ad portas: M Sibarevic vs Bukic, 1976

Dec-07-24
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: In 365chess, it is stated that Banja Luka was played from 11th-25th April, which I rather doubt.
Dec-07-24
Premium Chessgames Member
  Stonehenge: The right dates are here, I will work on it:

https://www.perpetualcheck.com/show...

<Errors in literature:

Megabase has the wrong result for the 9th round game Anderson - Marjanović, and it's not even the whole game. Mega also has the wrong dates for each round.>

https://www.perpetualcheck.com/show...

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