The match for the title of world champion in international drafts 1975/76

The Candidates Tournament to identify rival Tony Saybrands in the match for the world championship title was appointed by the World Drafts Federation in November 1974. The match for the world title was supposed to be held in 1975. But already on June 28, 1974, Saybrands made a statement to the Dutch press about his unwillingness to participate in major international competitions, his intention to abandon the duties of a national team coach and, finally, his decision not to defend his world title. On September 2 of the same year, Saybrands confirmed his decision in a letter published in Dutch newspapers. Thus, the November tournament of applicants with a high probability revealed not just the applicant, but the future world champion. The tournament ended on November 14, and the victory was won by the Soviet grandmaster Iser Kuperman . At the end of the tournament, Seybrands sent an official letter to the FMJD, once again confirming his renunciation of the title. ^[1] However, on August 9, 1975, the FMJD Assembly decided to hold a match between Seybrands and Kuperman in Holland in March 1976. ^[2] Seybrands did not refuse his decision, and on November 21, 1975 the FMJD proclaimed Cooperman the world champion. ^[3] The Kuperman Award Ceremony was held on December 16, 1975 at the Moscow Palace of Pioneers and Schoolchildren . FMJD President Hubert van der Freide handed Kuperman the gold medal of the champion and crowned him with a laurel wreath. ^[4] On the FMJD website, in the list of world champions Kuperman is indicated as the champion for 1974.

Grandmaster Anatoly Gantvarg believed that Ceibrands act was caused by a contradiction between the creative and sports sides of the game:

He dreamed not just of becoming a world champion, but of showing everything he was capable of. He won the Olympic tournament in 1972 brilliantly, but in the match with Andreiko, the aesthetic side lost to the sports one. This depressed the discerning artist. Depression has come, which I would describe as self-poisoning by success. In drafts, Ton achieved everything: with exceptionally good results he won the championships of Holland, Europe, and the world. Repeating all this was no longer any desire. ^[five]

In the Soviet weekly “64”, citing the Dutch magazine “In the World of Drafts”, it was reported that one of the reasons for the refusal was the decision of the Dutch Drafts Federation , according to which Seybrands was not allowed to enter the final of the national championship, but was forced to play in the semifinals before. As stated in the message, this decision does not correspond to the ideas of Seybrands about the rights of a world champion ^[6] . In a television interview with commentator Felix Heyzing, Saybrands stated that he had decided to end the fight for world championship after his match with Andreiko “was most offensively covered by journalists” (due to the large number of draws), as a result of which “the drafts lost part its popularity. ” ^[1] Former Cooperman coach Yuri Barsky believes that one of the reasons for Seybrands’ refusal to fight for world championship was a conspiracy between Andreiko and Kuperman, in which they began to intentionally lose each other in tournaments in tournaments. Barsky writes that in 1972, during the USSR-Netherlands match , Seybrands, already being the world champion, defiantly played on the fifth board so as not to meet Andreiko or Kuperman at the board ^[7] .

• The official list of world champions on the website of the FMJD