The Moscow Interzonal was one of the 1982 qualifying tournaments for the world championship cycle, and it belonged to a teenager. Garry Kasparov, just nineteen, won it without losing a game and served notice that a new force had arrived at the top of the chess world.
The road to the Candidates
The interzonals were the broad middle stage of the world championship cycle: strong international fields playing off for a handful of places in the Candidates, from which a challenger would eventually emerge. Moscow gathered fourteen players for a single round-robin of thirteen rounds, held at the city's Sport Hotel, with the top two finishers advancing.
The field was formidable — former world champion Mikhail Tal, the granite-solid Ulf Andersson, the veteran Efim Geller, and a cast of grandmasters from across the Soviet Union and beyond. Into that company came the young Garry Kasparov, playing his first interzonal.
Kasparov runs away with it
Kasparov qualified easily. He finished on 10/13 with seven wins, six draws and no losses, a point and a half clear of the next player. Alexander Beliavsky took the second qualifying place on 8½, and Tal and Andersson shared third on 8. Kasparov and Beliavsky both went through to the Candidates.
For a nineteen-year-old to go undefeated and win outright against a field of this strength was extraordinary, and it confirmed what the chess world had begun to suspect about the young man from Baku.
What came next
Moscow sent Kasparov into the Candidates matches, where he beat a series of top opponents to earn the right to challenge Anatoly Karpov. Their matches, starting in 1984, dominated chess for the next decade, and it began with an Interzonal he won at nineteen without losing a game.
Final standings
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kasparov, Garry | 10/13 | +7 -0 =6 | games |
| 2 | Beliavsky, Alexander G | 8½/13 | +7 -3 =3 | games |
| =3 | Andersson, Ulf | 8/13 | +4 -1 =8 | games |
| =3 | Tal, Mikhail | 8/13 | +4 -1 =8 | games |
| =5 | Garcia Gonzales, Guillermo | 7½/13 | +5 -3 =5 | games |
| =5 | Geller, Efim P | 7½/13 | +4 -2 =7 | games |
| 7 | Murey, Jacob | 6½/13 | +4 -4 =5 | games |
| =8 | Christiansen, Larry Mark | 6/13 | +3 -4 =6 | games |
| =8 | Sax, Gyula | 6/13 | +3 -4 =6 | games |
| 10 | Velimirovic, Dragoljub | 5½/13 | +3 -5 =5 | games |
| =11 | Van der Wiel, John | 5/13 | +2 -5 =6 | games |
| =11 | Gheorghiu, Florin | 5/13 | +1 -4 =8 | games |
| 13 | Rodriguez, Ruben | 4½/13 | +3 -7 =3 | games |
| 14 | Quinteros, Miguel Angel | 3/13 | +0 -7 =6 | games |
Cross Table
| Rank | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kasparov, Garry | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | |
| 2 | Beliavsky, Alexander G | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 3 | Andersson, Ulf | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 4 | Tal, Mikhail | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | |
| 5 | Garcia Gonzales, Guillermo | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | |
| 6 | Geller, Efim P | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | |
| 7 | Murey, Jacob | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 8 | Christiansen, Larry Mark | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 9 | Sax, Gyula | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | |
| 10 | Velimirovic, Dragoljub | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | |
| 11 | Van der Wiel, John | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | |
| 12 | Gheorghiu, Florin | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | |
| 13 | Rodriguez, Ruben | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 14 | Quinteros, Miguel Angel | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 |
Each cell shows the row player's recorded results against the column player. ● = same player.