Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - aikin Sokolov ya fi dacewa shi ne gasar zakarun duniya ta 1987
, inda ya kai wasan karshe na gasar 'yan takara. Bayan cancanta ta hanyar Gasar 'Yan takara ta Interzonal da zagaye-zagaye, ya lashe wasanni da Rafael Vaganian (6<unk>2), da Artur Yusupov (71⁄2<unk>61⁄2). Duk da haka, a wasan karshe duk da haka ya rasa Anatoly Karpov, 31⁄2 <unk> 71⁄2. Bayan ya doke Karpov a Bugojno 1986, ya ji cewa yanayin da yake ciki kafin wasan ya kasance mai kyakkyawan fata kuma ya bayyana rashin nasararsa a matsayin "mai tsanani".