Xtracon Chess Open

Last updated

The Xtracon Chess Open (formerly the Politiken Cup) is an international chess tournament and the main feature event of the annual Copenhagen Chess Festival.

Contents

History

Organized by the Copenhagen Chess Federation (KSU), it was originally set up to give Danish players the opportunity of international experience and title norms. Starting from modest means in 1979, with just 22 contestants, it has grown to become one of the world's largest and most respected open chess tournaments, with numbers of participants rising to 200 in 2003, and nowadays reaching well in excess of 400.

The tournament has attracted many of the world's strongest grandmasters as well as promising youngsters. Former world champion Vassily Smyslov was among the winners in 1980 [1] and 1986, [2] while other notable winners have included Viktor Korchnoi as clear first in 1996 at the age of 65 and Nigel Short in 2006. [3] At the Politiken Cup in 2003, Magnus Carlsen achieved his third and final IM norm.

The early editions were held in Copenhagen and its suburbs, before moving to Helsingør. The tournament has always taken the format of a large "Open", accessible to both titled and non-titled players, except in 1983, when there was an invite-only, all-play-all Grandmaster event and a subsidiary Open tournament aimed at International Master level.

In later years the tournament has taken place during July/August, over 10 rounds, at the Konventum, a convention centre and resort set in the scenic surroundings of Helsingør.

From 1979 to 2015, the main sponsor was the Danish daily newspaper Politiken, but new arrangements have been announced for 2016–2018. The main sponsor is now Xtracon A/S, a Danish IT company with a chess playing owner. Accordingly, the tournament has been renamed to reflect the change, although it is anticipated that the format will remain broadly the same. [4]

List of winners (Politiken Cup)

#YearWinnersPoints
11979 Carsten Høi 7½ (10)
21980 Vassily Smyslov, Adrian Mikhalchishin 7½ (10)
31981 Petar Velikov, Tom Wedberg, Shaun Taulbut 7½ (10)
41982 Tom Wedberg 7½ (10)
51983 István Csom, Sergey Kudrin 5½ (9)
61984 Nick de Firmian, Aleksander Sznapik 7½ (10)
71985 Karel Mokry 7½ (10)
81986 Vassily Smyslov, Alexander Chernin, Evgeny Pigusov, Laszlo Cserna  7 (10)
91987 Bjørn Brinck-Claussen 7½ (10)
101988 Rafael Vaganian 8 (10)
111989 Lars Karlsson, Aleksander Sznapik, Jens Kristiansen 7½ (10)
121990 Konstantin Lerner 7½ (10)
131991 Yuri Dokhoian, Yuri Piskov 8 (10)
141992 Sergey Smagin, Matthew Sadler, John Emms, Avigdor Bykhovsky 7½ (10)
151993 Igor Khenkin, John Emms, Henrik Danielsen 7½ (10)
161994 Valery Neverov, Michail Brodsky 7½ (10)
171995 Lars Bo Hansen 8 (10)
181996 Viktor Korchnoi 8½ (11)
191997 Helgi Grétarsson, Carsten Høi, Erling Mortensen, Lars Schandorff 8½ (11)
201998 Hannes Stefánsson, Daniel Gormally, Tiger Hillarp Persson
Lars Schandorff, Nikolaj Borge
8½ (11)
211999 Alexander Baburin, Tiger Hillarp Persson 8½ (11)
222000 Boris Gulko, Lars Bo Hansen, Jonny Hector 8½ (11)
232001 Mikhail Gurevich, Alexander Rustemov, Peter Heine Nielsen
Lev Psakhis, Nick de Firmian
8½ (11)
242002 Sergei Tiviakov, Alexander Beliavsky, Rubén Felgaer 8½ (11)
252003 Krishnan Sasikiran 9 (11)
262004 Darmen Sadvakasov, Leif Johannessen, Nick de Firmian 8 (10)
272005 Konstantin Sakaev 8 (10)
282006 Vadim Malakhatko, Nigel Short, Jonny Hector 7½ (9)
292007 Michal Krasenkov, Gabriel Sargissian, Emanuel Berg
Nick de Firmian, Vladimir Malakhov
8 (10)
302008 Sergei Tiviakov, Vladimir Malakhov, Yuriy Kuzubov
Peter Heine Nielsen, Boris Savchenko, Jonny Hector
8 (10)
312009 Parimarjan Negi, Boris Avrukh 8½ (10)
322010 Pavel Eljanov 8½ (10)
332011 Igor Kurnosov 8½ (10)
342012 Ivan Cheparinov , Ivan Sokolov, Jonny Hector 8 (10)
352013 [5] Parimarjan Negi 9 (10)
362014 [6] Bu Xiangzhi 9 (10)
372015 [7] Markus Ragger , Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Jon Ludvig Hammer
Laurent Fressinet, Tiger Hillarp Persson, Sam Shankland
Sébastien Mazé, Mihail Marin, Sune Berg Hansen, Vitaly Kunin
8 (10)

List of winners (Xtracon Chess Open)

#YearWinnersPoints
12016 Matthias Blübaum , Alexei Shirov, Bassem Amin, Jonathan Carlstedt
Mihail Marin, Jon Ludvig Hammer, Jean-Marc Degraeve
8 (10)
22017 Baadur Jobava 8½ (10)
32018 Jon Ludvig Hammer , Dmitry Andreikin [8] 8½ (10)
42019 R Praggnanandhaa 8½ (10)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke McShane</span> English chess grandmaster (born 1984)

Luke James McShane is an English chess player. A chess prodigy, he was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2000, at the age of 16. McShane has become one of England's leading players and a member of the national team. He also worked as a trader in London's financial sector, and has previously been described as the world's strongest amateur chess player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krishnan Sasikiran</span> Indian chess grandmaster (born 1981)

Krishnan Sasikiran is an Indian chess grandmaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bu Xiangzhi</span> Chinese chess grandmaster (born 1985)

Bu Xiangzhi is a Chinese chess player. In 1999, he became the 10th grandmaster from China at the age of 13 years, 10 months and 13 days, at the time the youngest in history. In April 2008, Bu and Ni Hua became the second and third Chinese players to pass the 2700 Elo rating line, after Wang Yue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sergei Tiviakov</span> Dutch chess Grandmaster

Sergei Tiviakov is a Russian–Dutch chess grandmaster. He is a three-time Dutch Champion and was European Champion in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parimarjan Negi</span> Indian chess grandmaster (born 1993)

Parimarjan Negi is an Indian chess grandmaster. He achieved the grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 4 months, and 20 days, which made him the second youngest grandmaster in history at the time. As of September 2023, he is the seventh youngest player to achieve this feat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonny Hector</span> Swedish chess grandmaster

Jonny Hector is a Swedish chess player. In over-the-board chess, he received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 1991. In correspondence chess, he earned the ICCF title of Grandmaster (GM) in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pavel Eljanov</span> Ukrainian chess grandmaster (born 1983)

Pavel Eljanov is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He has won two team gold medals and one individual silver medal at the Chess Olympiads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivan Cheparinov</span> Bulgarian chess grandmaster (born 1986)

Ivan Cheparinov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He is a four-time Bulgarian champion. Cheparinov competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2015 and 2017. He switched his affiliation from Bulgaria to FIDE in 2017, then to Georgia in 2018, and back to Bulgaria in 2020.

Lone Pine International was a series of chess tournaments held annually in March or April from 1971 through 1981 in Lone Pine, California. The tournaments were formally known as the Louis D. Statham Masters, named after sponsor Louis D. Statham (1907–1983), an engineer and millionaire inventor of medical instruments who was also a Los Angeles based chess aficionado. The events were seven- to ten-round Swiss system tournaments, with entrance requirements that made them the strongest recurring Swiss tournaments in the U.S. in the 1980s. Grandmaster Isaac Kashdan served as the tournament director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Igor Kurnosov</span> Russian chess grandmaster (1985–2013)

Igor Kurnosov was a Russian chess grandmaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Ludvig Hammer</span> Norwegian chess grandmaster (born 1990)

Jon Ludvig Nilssen Hammer is a Norwegian chess grandmaster and three-time Norwegian Chess Champion. He was the main second for Magnus Carlsen in the World Chess Championship 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Chess Classic</span> Chess festival held in London

The London Chess Classic is a chess festival held at the Olympia Conference Centre, West Kensington, London. The flagship event is a strong invitational tournament between some of the world's top grandmasters. A number of subsidiary events cover a wide range of chess activities, including tournaments suitable for norm and title seekers, junior events, amateur competitions, simultaneous exhibitions, coaching, and lectures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Markus Ragger</span> Austrian chess grandmaster (born 1988)

Markus Ragger is an Austrian chess grandmaster. He won the Austrian Chess Championship in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and has played the first board for Austria in the Chess Olympiads since 2008. In October 2016, he became the first Austrian to reach a FIDE rating of 2700. His peak rating is 2703, which he reached in February 2017.

Evgeny Pigusov is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1987. He competed in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2002, where he reached the third round.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vidit Gujrathi</span> Indian chess grandmaster (born 1994)

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi is an Indian chess grandmaster. He attained the title of grandmaster in January 2013, becoming the 30th player from India to do so. He is the fourth Indian player to have crossed the Elo rating threshold of 2700.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helgi Dam Ziska</span> Faroese chess grandmaster

Helgi Dam Ziska is a Faroese chess Grandmaster. He is the first Faroese player to qualify for the Grandmaster title. Ziska is the top ranked and the highest ever rated player from his country, and has been rated number one amongst Faroese chess players since the age of 16. He has competed at the Chess Olympiad since 2006, representing the Faroe Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rasmus Svane</span> Danish-German chess grandmaster (born 1997)

Rasmus Svane is a German chess grandmaster living in Lübeck, Germany. He has represented Germany at the European Team Chess Championship and Chess Olympiad. He is the No. 5 ranked German player as of September 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moulthun Ly</span> Australian chess player (born 1991)

Moulthun Ly is an Australian chess player. He was awarded the Grandmaster title by FIDE in 2016 to become Australia's sixth grandmaster (GM). He is the first person born in Cambodia to become an International Master or a Grandmaster.

Gert Iskov is a Danish chess International Master (IM) (1979), Danish Chess Championship winner (1975).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kassa Korley</span> American-Danish chess player

Kassa Korley is an American-born Danish chess player who holds the title of International Master (IM).

References