This followed an excellent result at the Vrnjacka Banja tournament the same year, where he took first place ahead of Leonid Stein and Ljubomir Ljubojević.

It was also the year that he finished fourth at the World Junior Chess Championship, a competition won by the Swiss player Werner Hug.

His international tournament record includes victories at Kragujevac 1974, São Paulo 1977, Kirovakan 1978, Las Palmas 1979, Manila 1981, Hastings 1982/83, Biel 1985 (the Interzonal), Leningrad 1987, Toronto 1990 and Ter Apel 1992.

At Moscow 1982 and Tallinn 1983, he shared first place with Mikhail Tal and at Næstved 1985 with Walter Browne and Bent Larsen.

It is estimated that he has won in excess of thirty tournaments in all, and in 2004, tied for first place in the Moscow's Aeroflot Open, one of Russia's premier events.