🔵 Chess History - Tournaments
🔹 Wijk aan Zee Hoogovens 1998
🔹January 15th - February 1st

🔰 CHAMPION: Vladimir Kramnik | 8.5/13 (+6 -2 =5) |
🔰 SHARED WITH: Viswanathan Anand | 8.5/13 (+5 -1 =7) |

📚 The 60th Annual Hoogovens Chess Tournament was a Category XVII event held in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands from January 15th to February 1st 1998. 14 top grandmasters, including the reigning FIDE World Champion, competed in a round robin format in the prestigous A event.
◼️ The participants were (in order of Elo):
▪️ Vladimir Kramnik (2790)
▪️Vishwanathan Anand (2770)
▪️ Veselin Topalov (2740)
▪️ Anatoli Karpov (2735)
▪️ Alexey Shirov (2710)
▪️ Valery Salov (2680)
▪️ Boris Gelfand (2675)
▪️ Michael Adams (2670)
▪️ Judit Polgar (2670)
▪️ Jan Timman (2620)
▪️ Loek Van Wely (2605)
▪️ Friso Nijboer (2590)
▪️ Jeroen Piket (2580)
▪️ Paul Van der Sterren (2555)

The Tata Steel chess tournament was moved to the Dutch seaside town Wijk aan Zee in 1968. In this period, the tournament was popularly called both "Hoogovens" and "Wijk aan Zee".

♻️ Kramnik and Anand tied for first at the end of the tournament, each with 8.5/13, a full point over the rest of the field.
🌐 SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA & CHESSGAMES.COM

🔹 The final standings and crosstable was as above👆
🔹 Download "Hoogovens 1998 Games Database " by PGN format👇
🔹 Review our selected game from this tournament👇

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#Hoogovens1998
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UNITY CHESS INFOGRAPHIC

🔵 Chess History - Tournaments
🔹 San Remo 1930

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#SanRemo1930
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🔵 Chess History - Tournaments
🔹 San Remo 1930
🔹January 16th - February 4th

🔰 CHAMPION: Aleksander Alekhine | 14/15 (+13 -0 =2) |

📚San Remo 1930 was the first international chess tournament held in the famous San Remo casino. Sixteen chess masters from Europe and the Americas, including the World Champion, played a round robin tournament from 16 January to 4 February 1930. The games were played in the casino during the day, and in the evening the playing hall was used for dancing.

◼️ The participants of the round robin were:
▪️ Alexander Alekhine,
▪️ Aron Nimzowitsch,
▪️ Efim Bogoljubov,
▪️ Akiba Rubinstein,
▪️ Rudolph Spielmann,
▪️ Savielly Tartakower,
▪️ Geza Maroczy,
▪️ Milan Vidmar,
▪️ Edgar Colle,
▪️ Hans Kmoch,
▪️ Frederick D. Yates,
▪️ Karl Ahues,
▪️ Roberto Grau,
▪️ Mario Monticelli,
▪️ Massimiliano Romi,
▪️ Jose Joaquin Araiza Munoz.

Alexander Alekhine dominated the field with a score of 14/15, 3½ points ahead of second place Aron Nimzowitsch, and winning the grand prize of 10,000 lire.
🌐 SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA & CHESSGAMES.COM

🔹 The final standings and crosstable was as above👆
🔹 Download "San Remo 1930 Games Database " by PGN format👇
🔹 Review our selected game from this tournament👇

#chess_history_tornaments
#SanRemo1930
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UNITY CHESS INFOGRAPHIC

⚛️ Chess History - Tournaments
♦️ Groningen 1946

#chess_history_tornaments
#Groningen_1946

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⚛️⚛️⚛️⚛️


⚛️ Chess History - Tournaments
🔹 Groningen 1946

🔰 The tournament held at Groningen, Netherlands 13 Aug-7 Sept 1946, was a watershed in chess history. Not only was it the first major international tournament after World War II, it marked the first time the Soviet Union sent a team of players to a foreign event. Their results confirmed the growing recognition of the great strength of Soviet players: Smyslov finished third, Boleslavsky and Flohr tied for sixth; though Kotov finished out of the running, he defeated both of the top finishers.

🔰 These were Mikhail Botvinnik and Max Euwe, who were in a close race to the end. Botvinnik had a lead much of the way, but successive losses to Kotov and Yanofsky in rounds 14-15 let Euwe go ahead by a point. However, Euwe then drew three in a row while Botvinnik won three in a row to pull ahead by a half-point going into the last round.

🔰 And nerves took over. Botvinnik was outplayed by Najdorf, but Euwe blundered and lost a drawn position against Kotov leaving the final standings unchanged. For Botvinnik, it was his first outright victory outside the Soviet Union, on his road to the World Championship; for Euwe, it was his last great international success.

🔰 Groningen was the first tournament outside the Soviet Union to which the Soviets sent a team of masters to compete. The Soviet players were very successful, Botvinnik taking first, Vasily Smyslov third, and Isaac Boleslavsky and Salo Flohr tied for sixth and seventh, beginning an era of Soviet domination of international chess.

🔰 The tournament was a twenty-player round-robin. Although the field was strong, some top players were not present. From the United States Samuel Reshevsky and Reuben Fine were missing. From the Soviet Union Paul Keres was missing, as Soviet authorities would not let him play outside the country during this period.

🔹 The final standings and crosstable was as above👆
🔹 Download "Groningen 1946 Games Database" by PGN format👇


#chess_history_tornaments
#Groningen_1946
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
@unitychess

UNITY CHESS INFOGRAPHIC

🔵 Chess History - Tournaments
🔹 19th USSR Chess Championship
🔹 Moscow 1951

#chess_history_tornaments
#Moscow_1951
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✳️ Chess History - Tournaments
💢 19th USSR Chess Championship
💢 Moscow 1951
💢 November 11 – December 14

🔰 USSR Chess Championship (1948 ) - Moscow
CHAMPION: Paul Keres, 12/17 (+9 -2 =6)

✅ The 19th Soviet Chess Championship took place in the capital city of Moscow from November 11 to December 14, 1951. Eighteen of the Soviet Union's strongest players, including the reigning world champion, participated in the round robin event.

▪️ Fourteen of the players qualified from the semi-final tournaments played earlier in the year.
Nikolai Novotelnov, Isaac Lipnitsky, and Mark Taimanov qualified from Baku; Vasily Smyslov, Evgeny Terpugov, Oleg Moiseev, and Nikolai Kopilov qualified from Leningrad;
Lev Aronin, Vladimir Simagin, and Salomon Flohr qualified from Lvov;
Tigran Petrosian, Efim Geller, Yuri Averbakh, and Isaac Boleslavsky qualified from Sverdlovsk.
▪️ Boleslavsky fell ill before the final and was therefore replaced by Igor Bondarevsky, who had placed fifth in the Leningrad semi-final.
▪️ Four invitations were also sent to Paul Keres as returning Soviet Champion, Mikhail Botvinnik as world champion, David Bronstein as world vice-champion, and Alexander Kotov.

✅ The assembled field was the strongest in the history of the USSR championship at that time, which makes it an especially impressive victory for Keres. It was his second consecutive Soviet crown and his third overall. He edged out runners-up Petrosian and Geller by half a point, and finished two full points ahead of world champion Botvinnik, who only managed to finish in fifth place.

✅ This tournament was also a World Championship Zonal qualifier. As a result, Geller, Petrosian, Averbakh and Taimanov qualified for the 1952 Stockholm Interzonal. Keres, Smyslov and Bronstein were already qualified for the 1953 Candidates, and Botvinnik, as World Champion, was not eligible.
🌐 SOURCE: CHESSGAMES.COM / GRAEME.50WEBS.COM

🔹 The final standings and crosstable was as above👆
🔹 Download "Moscow 1951 Games Database" by PGN format👇
🔹 Review our selected game from Moscow 1951 tournament👇

#chess_history_tornaments
#Moscow_1951
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UNITY CHESS INFOGRAPHIC
◼️ Chess History - Tournaments
▪️ Zurich 1953

#chess_history_tornaments
#Zurich_1953
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🔷 Chess History - Tournaments
🔹 Zurich 1953
🔹 Switzerland
🔹 August 30 - October 24
🔹 CHAMPION: Vasily Smyslov |18/28 (+9 -1 =18) |

🔰 Zurich 1953 was a chess tournament won by Vasily Smyslov. It was a Candidates Tournament for the 1954 World Chess Championship, which led to the match between Smyslov and Mikhail Botvinnik. The tournament is famous for the strength of the players, the high quality of the games, and books on the tournament by David Bronstein and Miguel Najdorf that are regarded as among the best tournament books ever written. As of 2017, Yuri Averbakh is the only player from this tournament who is still alive, and the oldest living chess grandmaster.

🔰 The Swiss Chess Federation spent 100,000 Swiss francs in order to stage the event, which was one of the reasons they insisted that host countries pay the travel expenses for their respective players. Prize money for first place was 5,000 Swiss francs. Alois Nagler was tournament director.

♦️ The final standings and crosstable was as above👆
♦️ Download "Zurich 1953" Games database by PGN format👇

#chess_history_tornaments
#Zurich_1953
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
@unitychess

UNITY CHESS INFOGRAPHIC

⚛️ Chess History - Tournaments
♦️ Groningen 1946

#chess_history_tornaments
#Groningen_1946

@unitychess

⚛️⚛️⚛️⚛️


⚛️ Chess History - Tournaments
🔹 Groningen 1946

🔰 The tournament held at Groningen, Netherlands 13 Aug-7 Sept 1946, was a watershed in chess history. Not only was it the first major international tournament after World War II, it marked the first time the Soviet Union sent a team of players to a foreign event. Their results confirmed the growing recognition of the great strength of Soviet players: Smyslov finished third, Boleslavsky and Flohr tied for sixth; though Kotov finished out of the running, he defeated both of the top finishers.

🔰 These were Mikhail Botvinnik and Max Euwe, who were in a close race to the end. Botvinnik had a lead much of the way, but successive losses to Kotov and Yanofsky in rounds 14-15 let Euwe go ahead by a point. However, Euwe then drew three in a row while Botvinnik won three in a row to pull ahead by a half-point going into the last round.

🔰 And nerves took over. Botvinnik was outplayed by Najdorf, but Euwe blundered and lost a drawn position against Kotov leaving the final standings unchanged. For Botvinnik, it was his first outright victory outside the Soviet Union, on his road to the World Championship; for Euwe, it was his last great international success.

🔰 Groningen was the first tournament outside the Soviet Union to which the Soviets sent a team of masters to compete. The Soviet players were very successful, Botvinnik taking first, Vasily Smyslov third, and Isaac Boleslavsky and Salo Flohr tied for sixth and seventh, beginning an era of Soviet domination of international chess.

🔰 The tournament was a twenty-player round-robin. Although the field was strong, some top players were not present. From the United States Samuel Reshevsky and Reuben Fine were missing. From the Soviet Union Paul Keres was missing, as Soviet authorities would not let him play outside the country during this period.

🔹 The final standings and crosstable was as above👆
🔹 Download "Groningen 1946 Games Database" by PGN format👇


#chess_history_tornaments
#Groningen_1946
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
@unitychess

✅ Chess History - Tournaments
🔘 Los Angeles 1963

#chess_history_tornaments
#LosAngeles_1963

@unitychess

✅✅✅✅

✅ Chess History - Tournaments
▪️ Los Angeles 1963

▪️In 1963 famous cellist Gregor Piatigorsky and his wife Jaqueline gave a cup through the Piatigorsky Foundation for a chess tournament that would include two grandmasters from the USSR and two grandmasters from the USA.
Four grandmasters from other countries filled out the playing list.

▪️ The final player line-up consisted of:
🔻 Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian
🔻 Paul Keres
🔻 Samuel Reshevsky
🔻 Pal Benko
🔻 Fridrik Olafsson
🔻 Svetozar Gligoric
🔻 Oscar Panno
🔻 Miguel Najdorf

▪️ The tournament ran from the 2nd of July to the 30th of July 1963 in Los Angeles, USA. The players met in a double round all-play-all and the joint winners Petrosian and Keres returned to the Soviet Union with more than half of the $10,000 prize fund offered by the Piatigorsky Foundation. This tournament was the strongest to be held in the USA after New York 1927.

💢 The main source for this collection was the First Piatigorsky Cup tournament book edited by Isaac Kashdan.
💢 The Second Piatigorsky Cup (1966) was the next tournament that contested this trophy.

✔️ The final standings and crosstable was as above👆
✔️ Download " Los Angeles 1963 Games Database" by PGN format👇

.......................................................
#chess_history_tornaments
#LosAngeles_1963

@unitychess

UNITY CHESS INFOGRAPHIC

⚛️ Chess History - Tournaments
♦️ Groningen 1946

#chess_history_tornaments
#Groningen_1946

@unitychess