Sergio Mariotti
Encyclopedia
Sergio Mariotti is an Italian
Grandmaster of chess
and former national champion.
He became the Italian junior champion in 1965 at Turin
and in 1969 at San Benedetto
, the full Italian Champion
. One of his greatest tournament successes followed in 1971, when he finished second at Venice
(after Browne but ahead of Hort
, Kavalek and Gligorić
).
Mariotti represented his country at the Olympiads
of 1972, 1974, 1986 and 1988. At the Nice
Olympiad of 1974, he scored a double success. A board one score of 73.7% (+12 =4 −3) earned him the individual bronze medal (behind Karpov
and Delgado, equal with Torre
) also securing his final grandmaster norm. As no Italian before him had achieved the International Grandmaster
title, he gained overnight celebrity status when the honour was bestowed on him the same year. Around this time, British Chess Magazine
nicknamed him "The Italian Fury", due mainly to his formidable collection of tournament wins but also for his enterprising, tactical style of play.
He was victorious in many tournaments including Naples 1968, La Spezia
1969, Naples 1969, Reggio Emilia
1970, San Benedetto 1970, Bari
1971, Caorle
Zonal 1975 and Rovigo
1976.
His choice of chess opening
often revolved around the Sicilian Defence
or Ruy Lopez
, where he was comfortable with either colour. Occasionally, his fans were treated to old-fashioned romantic openings such as the Evans Gambit
and Albin Counter Gambit and these brought him surprising success.
His chess career continued on a positive note for a few years to follow and he finished joint 10th (with Spassky
, Uhlmann
and Gheorghiu
) at the prestigious Manila
Interzonal
of 1976, though this result was insufficient to advance to the Candidates Matches. At the Praia da Rocha
zonal tournament of 1978, he finished fourth, one place away from Interzonal qualification. He was a winner at Lugano
in 1979.
Mariotti became an advisor for an Italian publisher and worked for the Italian Chess Federation (FSI), where he was President between 1994 and 1996. As a precursor to the Turin
Olympiad of 2006, he played a website game against the 'Rest of the World' and won in 48 moves.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Na5 11.Ba2 c5 12.Nbd2 Nc6 13.Nf1 Bc8 14.c3 Be6 15.Bxe6 fxe6 16.b4 d5 17.exd5 exd5 18.Nxe5 Nxe5 19.Rxe5 Bd6 20.Re2 Qc7 21.Bg5 h6 22.Bxf6 Rxf6 23.Ne3 Qf7 24.d4 c4 25.a4 Rf8 26.axb5 axb5 27.Ng4 Re6 28.Rxe6 Qxe6 29.Qe1 Qf5 30.Ra6 Bf4 31.Rb6 Qd7 32.Ne5 Re8 33.Rb8 Bxe5 34.Qxe5 Rxb8 35.Qxb8+ Kh7 36.Qe5 g6 37.Kh2 h5 38.Kg3 Qf7 39.f4 Qd7 40.Kf3 Qf7 41.g4 hxg4+ 42.hxg4 Qd7 43.f5 Qf7 44.f6 Kg8 45.Kf4 Kh7 46.Qe7 Kg8 47.Qxf7+ Kxf7 48.Kg5 1-0
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Grandmaster of chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
and former national champion.
He became the Italian junior champion in 1965 at Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
and in 1969 at San Benedetto
San Benedetto
San Benedetto in Perillis is a town and comune in the province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, central Italy. The town is situated 43 kilometers away from the regional capital, L'Aquila.-History:...
, the full Italian Champion
Italian Chess Championship
The Italian Chess Federation , was established in 1920.The first Italian Chess Championship took place at Viareggio 1921.The 1998 Championship was held 21–29 November in Saint-Vincent....
. One of his greatest tournament successes followed in 1971, when he finished second at Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
(after Browne but ahead of Hort
Vlastimil Hort
Vlastimil Hort is a chess Grandmaster of Czech nationality. During the 1960s and 1970s he was one of the world's strongest players and reached the Candidates stage of competition for the world chess championship, but was never able to compete for the actual title.Hort was born in Kladno,...
, Kavalek and Gligorić
Svetozar Gligoric
Svetozar Gligorić is a Serbian chess grandmaster. He won the championship of Yugoslavia a record twelve times, and is considered the best player ever from Serbia...
).
Mariotti represented his country at the Olympiads
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...
of 1972, 1974, 1986 and 1988. At the Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
Olympiad of 1974, he scored a double success. A board one score of 73.7% (+12 =4 −3) earned him the individual bronze medal (behind Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
and Delgado, equal with Torre
Eugenio Torre
Eugenio Torre is a chess Grandmaster . He is considered the strongest chess player the Philippines has ever produced during the 1980s and 1990s period, following the heels of Fischer-era Filipino chess champions National Master Ramon Lontoc, International Master Renato Naranja, IM Rodolfo Tan...
) also securing his final grandmaster norm. As no Italian before him had achieved the International Grandmaster
International Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....
title, he gained overnight celebrity status when the honour was bestowed on him the same year. Around this time, British Chess Magazine
British Chess Magazine
British Chess Magazine is the world's oldest chess magazine in continuous publication. First published in January 1881, it has appeared at monthly intervals ever since. It is frequently known in the chess world as BCM....
nicknamed him "The Italian Fury", due mainly to his formidable collection of tournament wins but also for his enterprising, tactical style of play.
He was victorious in many tournaments including Naples 1968, La Spezia
La Spezia
La Spezia , at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the Liguria region of northern Italy, is the capital city of the province of La Spezia. Located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and hosts one of Italy's biggest military...
1969, Naples 1969, Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia chess tournament
The Reggio Emilia chess tournament is a chess tournament played in Reggio Emilia, Italy. In Italian the tournament is called Torneo di Capodanno , as it starts just after Christmas and ends on the day of Epiphany...
1970, San Benedetto 1970, Bari
Bari
Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...
1971, Caorle
Caorle
Caorle is a coastal town in the province of Venice, Veneto, Italy, located between the estuaries of the Livenza and Lemene rivers. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea between two other famous touristic towns, Eraclea and Bibione.-History:...
Zonal 1975 and Rovigo
Rovigo
Rovigo is a town and comune in the Veneto region of North-Eastern Italy, the capital of the eponymous province. -Geography:...
1976.
His choice of chess opening
Chess opening
A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...
often revolved around the Sicilian Defence
Sicilian Defence
The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4...
or Ruy Lopez
Ruy Lopez
The Ruy Lopez, also called the Spanish Opening or Spanish Game, is a chess opening characterised by the moves:-History:The opening is named after the 16th century Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura, who made a systematic study of this and other openings in the 150-page book on chess Libro del...
, where he was comfortable with either colour. Occasionally, his fans were treated to old-fashioned romantic openings such as the Evans Gambit
Evans Gambit
The Evans Gambit is a chess opening characterised by the moves:The gambit is named after the Welsh sea Captain William Davies Evans, the first player known to have employed it. The first game with the opening is considered to be Evans - McDonnell, London 1827, although in that game a slightly...
and Albin Counter Gambit and these brought him surprising success.
His chess career continued on a positive note for a few years to follow and he finished joint 10th (with Spassky
Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...
, Uhlmann
Wolfgang Uhlmann
Wolfgang Uhlmann is a prominent German International Grandmaster of chess. Despite being a dedicated professional chess player, and undoubtedly the GDR's most successful ever, he has also had a career in accountancy.-Chess career:...
and Gheorghiu
Florin Gheorghiu
Florin Gheorghiu is a Romanian chess player and university lecturer in foreign languages.Born in Bucharest, his prodigious talent for the game was evidenced by his many early achievements; he became an International Master in 1963 and Romania's first Grandmaster just two years later...
) at the prestigious Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
Interzonal
Interzonal
Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle.- Zonal tournaments :...
of 1976, though this result was insufficient to advance to the Candidates Matches. At the Praia da Rocha
Praia da Rocha
Praia da Rocha is the beach and built up area on the Atlantic Ocean which is the southern section of the municipality/concelho of Portimão, Algarve, southern Portugal....
zonal tournament of 1978, he finished fourth, one place away from Interzonal qualification. He was a winner at Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
in 1979.
Mariotti became an advisor for an Italian publisher and worked for the Italian Chess Federation (FSI), where he was President between 1994 and 1996. As a precursor to the Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
Olympiad of 2006, he played a website game against the 'Rest of the World' and won in 48 moves.
Sample game
Sergio Mariotti vs Rest of the World, 2006 - Ruy Lopez1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Na5 11.Ba2 c5 12.Nbd2 Nc6 13.Nf1 Bc8 14.c3 Be6 15.Bxe6 fxe6 16.b4 d5 17.exd5 exd5 18.Nxe5 Nxe5 19.Rxe5 Bd6 20.Re2 Qc7 21.Bg5 h6 22.Bxf6 Rxf6 23.Ne3 Qf7 24.d4 c4 25.a4 Rf8 26.axb5 axb5 27.Ng4 Re6 28.Rxe6 Qxe6 29.Qe1 Qf5 30.Ra6 Bf4 31.Rb6 Qd7 32.Ne5 Re8 33.Rb8 Bxe5 34.Qxe5 Rxb8 35.Qxb8+ Kh7 36.Qe5 g6 37.Kh2 h5 38.Kg3 Qf7 39.f4 Qd7 40.Kf3 Qf7 41.g4 hxg4+ 42.hxg4 Qd7 43.f5 Qf7 44.f6 Kg8 45.Kf4 Kh7 46.Qe7 Kg8 47.Qxf7+ Kxf7 48.Kg5 1-0