Life at the Border

In a report to The Week in Chess (TWIC) dated April 28, 1996, International Master Siniša Joksić reviewed — with very little enthusiasm indeed — the first-ever International Fischerandom Tournament, which took place in the spring of that year in Kanjiža, a town in Serbia (then Yugoslavia) at the border with Hungary. The three-day 12-player round-robin featured two Grandmasters, four International Masters, four FIDE Masters, and two National Masters, with a time control of 25 minutes for 20 moves, plus 5 minutes for the remainder of the game. The random starting positions were generated by a set of four dice, signalling that not only Bobby Fischer did not reply to the organisers’ invitation for a symbolic attendance, but he did not even put his computerised shuffler to their disposal. Joksić adds that too often time scrambles prevented the organisers from collecting the games — in truth, some of them will appear in Svetozar Gligorić’s book “Shall We Play Fischerandom Chess?” (Batsford, London, 2002) — which implies that such a time control inevitably also affected the level of play.
The final standing was:

1. Péter Lékó GM (HUN) 9½/11;   2. Stanimir Nikolić GM (YUG) 9;   3. Goran Vojinović IM (YUG) 7;   4. Ervin Mozes IM (ROM) 6½   5. Gáspár Máthé IM (HUN) 6½   6. Vladimir Milošević FM (YUG) 6;   7. Tibor Farkas FM (HUN) 5½   8. Stevan Popov FM (YUG) 4½   9. Mirko Mamuzić NM (YUG) 4; 10. Lajos Ábel IM (HUN) 3½ 11. Vojislav Petrović FM (YUG) 2; 12. Sandor Lorinć NM (YUG) 2.

Finally, as a conclusion of the news release, the very short game between the only two Grandmasters competing was given almost without comment:

Stanimir Nikolić – Péter Lékó

1st International Fischerandom Tournament; time control: 25 minutes for 20 moves, plus 5 minutes for the remainder of the game; Kanjiža, 1996

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Position #67

1. d4 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Qh3 h5. Here one may only note that 3. ... e6 is also perfectly playable, owing to the fact that the h-Pawn is not en prise (for after 4. Qxh7? Bxd4! 5. Rxd4?? Rh8 the White Queen is trapped).
4. Bxd5 e6 5. Bg2 Rxd4 6. 0-0 Rxd1 7. Rxd1 Qe7 8. Nd3 Nd7 9. Nd2 Nd6 10. c4 Nf5 11. b3 Bxa1 12. Rxa1 0-0 13. g4 hxg4 14. Qxg4 b6

15. Nf3? Safer seems 15. Bxa8 Rxa8 16. Nf3 e5 17. e4 with balanced play.
15. ... Bxf3! 16. Bxf3 Kg7 17. Rd1 Rh8 ½ : ½. In his only comment on the game, Joksić stated that the draw was offered by Lékó, which may sound strange, especially as it seems likely that Black stands better.