Zoltán Ribli


Zoltán Ribli is a Hungarian chess grandmaster and International Arbiter. He was twice a World Championship Candidate and three times Hungarian Champion.

A career in chess

As a youngster, he was twice the European Junior Champion, in 1968/69 and 1970/71. In domestic competition, he has been three times the national champion of Hungary, sharing the honours in 1973 and 1977, while winning outright in 1974.
His International Master and Grandmaster titles were awarded in 1970 and 1973, respectively.
At the peak of his career, Ribli was twice a candidate for the World Championship, in 1984 and 1986. At London in 1984, he participated in the high-profile match between USSR and the Rest of the World, defeating his Soviet counterpart, Rafael Vaganian by a narrow margin.
In 1983, Ribli defeated Torre in Quarter Final Candidate Match, but lost to Smyslov in Semi-Final. Smyslov played against Garry Kasparov in the final in which Smyslov lost.
He became a fearsome competitor on the international tournament circuit of the 1970s and 1980s, chalking up victories at Kecskemét 1972, Budapest 1975, Mexico 1980, Baden-Baden 1981, Portorož/Ljubljana 1985, Dortmund 1986, Reggio Emilia 1987, and Wijk aan Zee 1989. Runner-up results include Amsterdam 1978, Bled/Portorož 1979, Wijk aan Zee 1983, Bugojno 1984 and Tilburg 1984.
Whilst not so active in tournament play during the 1990s and 2000s, he nevertheless maintained a competitive rating and has shown that he can still win grandmaster events, such as the Hotel Opatija tournament in Kastav, Croatia in 2002.
An almost ever-present member of the Hungarian Olympiad team between 1970 and 1994, he was playing second board when Hungary won the team gold medal in 1978. He also won team silver medals in 1970, 1972 and 1980.
As a writer on the topic of chess, his analysis and tournament reports have been published in magazine articles around the world. Additionally, he co-authored two books with Gabor Kallai: Winning with the Queen's Indian and Winning with the English.
Zoltán Ribli is married to Woman International Master Mária Grosch.