Baden-Baden 1981 Chess Tournament (Score Sheets)

13 hand written score sheets of tony Miles (complete set) Octavo (8 1/4 x 6") single sheets. In most cases the score sheets are signed by both Miles and his opponent. Not all of these games are listed in chessgames.

Miles and Ribli shared first place with scores of 9 1/2 out of thirteen. Korchnoi was a clear third with 8 1/2; followed by Gheorghiu, Hort, Ivkov and Unzicker, tied for fourth through seventh with scores of 8. Bastian who won against Korchnoi was a clear ninth with 7 1/2, followed by Honfi 5 1/2, Kestler 4 1/2, and Stajcic and Borik tied for twelfth and thirteenth with scores of 3. Roos in last place had scored 1 1/2.

Miles produced his first GM norm by winning the Category VIII London tournament in October 1975 ahead of Timman, Adorjan and Sax. He scored his second and final norm in February 1976 in Dubna in the USSR scoring 9/15 in an event with amongst others Gipslis, Tseshkovsky, Suetin, Savon and Kholmov. Miles' achievement seemed to aid others in British chess as in the next five years Keene, Stean, Nunn, Mestel and Speelman were to follow him to the GM title. Miles was never a World Championship Candidate but he played four times in Interzonals in Riga 1979 scoring 9/17, Tunis 1985 around 50%, Zagreb 1987 6.5/16 and Manilla 1990 6.5/13 and he played once in the new format FIDE knockout event in 1999 when he was eliminated by Krasenkow in the second round after a speed playoff. 1980 saw Miles play tournaments in Las Palmas (+6=5 1st equal with Geller and Petrosian) and Vrbas (+4=6-1 ahead of Petrosian). It was also in this year that he beat reigning World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov in the first round of the European Team Championships with black using an incredibly provocative opening (1.e4 a6?! 2. d4 b5) which he dubbed the Birmingham Defence after his home town. Its choice was probably more to do with a loss of faith in his opening repertoire against Karpov who administered many fearful drubbings to Miles. In 1981 Miles finished first equal in the Baden-Baden tournament with +6=7 with Ribli and ahead of Korchnoi. In the same year he took 2nd place in the Porz tournament behind Tal. 1982 saw him win his only British Chess Championship. He won the event which took place in Torquay with a score of 9/11 a point clear of Jon Speelman. For a player who was England's top player for a decade it seems strange that he only won the title once.

Condition: Some light edge wear else a very nice set.