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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  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Andersson vs B Kurajica 1-0 33 1979 Banja Luka E11 Bogo-Indian Defense 2. Kasparov vs Petrosian ½-½ 23 1979 Banja Luka C97 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin 3. M Knezevic vs M Sibarevic   1-0 37 1979 Banja Luka D45 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 4. D Marovic vs E Bukic   ½-½ 29 1979 Banja Luka A34 English, Symmetrical 5. A Matanovic vs G Garcia Gonzalez   ½-½ 18 1979 Banja Luka C03 French, Tarrasch 6. Smejkal vs R Hernandez Onna   1-0 32 1979 Banja Luka A38 English, Symmetrical 7. M Vukic vs Adorjan   ½-½ 12 1979 Banja Luka E15 Queen's Indian 8. M Sibarevic vs Kasparov 0-1 32 1979 Banja Luka B82 Sicilian, Scheveningen 9. Adorjan vs Andersson ½-½ 9 1979 Banja Luka B52 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack 10. Browne vs M Knezevic   ½-½ 17 1979 Banja Luka D43 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 11. E Bukic vs G Garcia Gonzalez   ½-½ 41 1979 Banja Luka E94 King's Indian, Orthodox 12. R Hernandez Onna vs Marjanovic   ½-½ 22 1979 Banja Luka E97 King's Indian 13. B Kurajica vs A Matanovic   ½-½ 41 1979 Banja Luka E01 Catalan, Closed 14. D Marovic vs Smejkal   ½-½ 20 1979 Banja Luka D91 Grunfeld, 5.Bg5 15. Petrosian vs M Vukic   ½-½ 67 1979 Banja Luka E61 King's Indian 16. Marjanovic vs Browne   ½-½ 41 1979 Banja Luka E12 Queen's Indian 17. A Matanovic vs Adorjan   ½-½ 21 1979 Banja Luka B33 Sicilian 18. Kasparov vs Browne 1-0 39 1979 Banja Luka E12 Queen's Indian 19. Andersson vs Petrosian   ½-½ 13 1979 Banja Luka A15 English 20. G Garcia Gonzalez vs B Kurajica 0-1 27 1979 Banja Luka D38 Queen's Gambit Declined, Ragozin Variation 21. M Knezevic vs R Hernandez Onna   ½-½ 14 1979 Banja Luka E38 Nimzo-Indian, Classical, 4...c5 22. Marjanovic vs D Marovic   ½-½ 83 1979 Banja Luka C09 French, Tarrasch, Open Variation, Main line 23. Smejkal vs E Bukic   0-1 26 1979 Banja Luka A34 English, Symmetrical 24. M Vukic vs M Sibarevic   1-0 35 1979 Banja Luka D27 Queen's Gambit Accepted, Classical 25. Adorjan vs G Garcia Gonzalez   1-0 32 1979 Banja Luka B46 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation  page 1 of 5; games 1-25 of 119    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   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    perfidious: In 365chess, it is stated that Banja Luka was played from 11th-25th April, which I rather doubt. Dec-07-24    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... NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion. Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members. No trolling. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers. 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