Mecking Defeats Ivkov's Lopez

Henrique Mecking was born January 23, 1952 in Brazil and became an International Grandmaster in 1971. He won the Petropolis Interzonal in 1973 an the Manila Interzonal in 1976. After each interzonal win, he lost a quarterfinals  Candidates Match, first to Korchnoi and then to Polugaevsky. In 1977, he was the number three in the world with a rating of 2635. His career at the top level after that was curtailed by illness. In the following game his partner is Ivkov.

Borislav Ivkov was born November 12, 1933 in Belgrade. In 1951, he was World Junior Champion. He won the Yugoslav Championship in 1958 (shared), 1963 (shared), and 1972. He reached the candidates as a result of the Amsterdam Interzonal in 1964. He lost in the first round of the candidates matches to Larsen. He played in four out of the next five interzonals without advancing.

The game shown was played at the Sousse Interzonal in 1967. The news from that event indicated that the players believed that the best player there was Bobby Fischer. However, while clearly leading, Fischer quit the event. That left 22 participants. Bent Larsen triumphed with 13 wins and 2 losses for a score of 15.5/21. Next with 14 were Geller, Korchnoi, and Gligoric. Tied for places 11-12 were Mecking and Ivkov with 11. Everyone below them failed to score 50%.

The opening is the Ruy Lopez. The players follow the main line of the Closed Defense in a way that has long been fashionable.