[1] Șubă began playing chess at the late age of 19 years old, making him an anomaly among grandmasters.

At the 1982 Las Palmas Interzonal, he finished third, behind Ribli and former World Champion Vasily Smyslov, just missing qualification for the Candidates Matches.

At the Lloyds Bank Masters tournament in London in 1988, citing difficulties in obtaining visas and participation in tournaments, as well as blackmail threats by Romanian authorities, Șubă defected from Romania and applied for British political asylum for himself and his son, and planned to have his wife and younger son join them in the future.

At the 2008 World Senior Chess Championship, Larry Kaufman was named the winner on tiebreakers ahead of Șubă in second place.

The tie-breaking system used, erroneously interpreted as mandatory by FIDE, did not match the one published by the organizer, which was the valid one according to newer regulations and had the strength of a contract.