Zoltan Ribli
Zoltán Ribli (born
September 6,
1951 in
Mohács) is a Hungarian
chess grandmaster and three times national champion.
His International Master and
International Grandmaster titles were awarded in 1970 and 1973 respectively. He became a fearsome tournament competitor during the 1970s and 1980s, chalking up victories at Kecskemet 1972 (with
Suetin), Budapest 1975 (with
Polugaevsky), Mexico 1980, Baden Baden 1981 (with
Miles), Portoroz/Ljubliana 1985 (with Miles and
Portisch), Dortmund 1986, Reggio Emilia 1987 and Wijk aan Zee 1989 (with
Anand,
Sax and
Nikolic). Runner-up results include Amsterdam 1978 (behind
Timman), Bled/Portoroz 1979 (with
Larsen, behind Timman), Wijk aan Zee 1983 (behind
Andersson), Bugogno 1984 (behind Timman) and Tilburg 1984 (with
Beliavsky,
Hubner and
Tukmakov, behind Miles).
Whilst not so active in tournament play in the 1990s and 2000s, Ribli has maintained a very competitive rating (his July 2006
elo rating was 2589) and has shown that he can still win grandmaster events, such as the Hotal Opatija tournament in
Kastav, Croatia 2002.
Aside from regular tournaments, he was a European Junior Champion twice in 1968/69 (joint) and 1970/71, the national champion of Hungary in 1973 (joint), 1974 and 1977 (joint) and a World Championship
Candidate in 1983 and 1985. At
London 1984, he participated in the high profile match between USSR and the Rest of the World, defeating his Soviet counterpart,
Rafael Vaganian by the odd game.
An almost ever-present member of the Hungarian
Olympiad Team between 1970 and 1994, he was second board when Hungary won the team gold medal in 1978. He also won team silver medals in 1970, 1972 and 1980.
Zoltan Ribli is married to Woman International Master, Maria Grosch.
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Olimpbase - Olympiads and other Team event information*
Zoltan Ribli games at Chessgames.com
