Barcza; 1957: 7½/13, shared fifth/six places, champion Barcza; 1958: shared first/third places with Barcza and L Szabó, won playoff; 1959: shared first/third places with Barcza and L Szabó, third after playoff, champion Szabó; 1961: shared first/second places with L Szabó, won playoff; 1962: 16½/22, champion; 1963: 13/19, fourth place, champion István Bilek; 1964: 14½/19, champion; 1965: 15½/21, champion; 1968: 14½/21, second place, champion Gyozo Forintos; 1971: 11/16, champion; 1975: 12½/17, champion; 1981: 5½/9, champion, shared first/second places with Istvan Farago; 1984: 6/10, shared second/fourth places, champion Andras Adorjan; 1991: 4½/9, sixth place, champion Judit Polgár; 2003: 5½/9, shared second/third places, champion Zoltán Almási. World Title Candidate In the World Chess Championship cycles, Portisch played in every Interzonal from 1962 to 1993, twelve in total. He qualified for the next stage, the Candidates Tournament, eight times: in the 1966, 1969, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1987 and 1990 cycles; with his best results when he reach the Candidates semi-finals in 1977 and 1980. Portisch entered the World Championship cycle for the first time with the Madrid 1960 Zonal, where he tied for second/third place, on 13½/21, along with Arturo Pomar; the winner was Svetozar Gligorić, as all three advanced. Portisch was awarded the grandmaster title by FIDE in 1961. Portisch's first Interzonal appearance was the 1962 Interzonal in Stockholm, where he tied for ninth/tenth places, after losing a late-round game to one of the tail-enders, and did not advance to the Candidates Tournament. Portisch won the Halle Zonal 1963 with 14/19 to advance to the next Interzonal. At the 1964 Interzonal in Amsterdam he finished in a tie for eighth/ninth, with 14½/23. Only six players qualified for the Candidates, but due to a rule limiting the number of players from a single country, the Soviet Union players Leonid Stein and David Bronstein were ineligible, so Portisch played a match against Samuel Reshevsky to determine who would be the sixth qualifier. Portisch won the match to the Candidates' series for the first time, but he lost his first round match against Mikhail Tal, by 2½–5½. Portisch won the 1967 Halle Zonal with 15½/19, to advance. He qualified through the Sousse Interzonal 1967, with 13½/21 for a solo fifth-place finish. The winner was Bent Larsen. Portisch then lost his first-round Candidates' match to Larsen at Porec 1968, by 4½–5½. He qualified from the Raach 1969 Zonal, after tying for second/fifth places, on 13½/21, then