| Hoogovens Group A (1999) |
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The 61st Wijk aan Zee (Beverwijk from 1938 until 1967) chess festival took place in the De Moriaan community centre, Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands, from January 16 (Round 1) to January 31 (Round 13), with rest days on January 18, 22 and 27. There was not much resting on January 18, however, because of the blitz tournament that day, in which all the Group A players participated, except Shirov, who was occupied by the local dentist. For the last time, the main sponsor was the steel company Hoogovens, which would merge with British Steel later in the year and become Corus. Fourteen GMs competed in the elite A group event. They were World Champion Garry Kasparov (Elo ranked as world #1), Viswanathan Anand (#2), Vladimir Kramnik (#3), Alexey Shirov (#4), Vassily Ivanchuk (#8), Peter Svidler (#9), Veselin Topalov (#11), Jan Timman (#20), Loek van Wely (#42), Ivan Sokolov (#47), Jeroen Piket (#51), Rustam Kasimdzhanov (#71), Alex Yermolinsky (#87), and Dimitri Reinderman (#238). According to the newspapers, the world champion was paid an appearance fee of 100,000 Dutch guilders. The prize for winning the tournament was 20,000 Dutch guilders (about $10,290 or $15,613 in 2019 value). Games started at 1:30 pm, except the last round which started 10:30 am. Kasparov had played only blitz, rapid and exhibition games since Linares (1998) where he ended 4th. The rating difference between him and Anand had narrowed down to 31 points, which had altered the perceptions of the relative strength of the world's two strongest players. There was a feeling that Anand might have matured enough to renew the challenge to Kasparov's no. 1 status. The 1000-player poll conducted in advance of the tournament indicated that for every one chess player inclined to pick Kasparov as the victor, two picked Anand. Anand rewarded their faith by winning his first two games to take a half-point lead. Kasparov soon took over, however, when he won seven consecutive games (rounds 2-8). He still had to fight off the challenge of Anand in the closing rounds because he stumbled with a loss to Sokolov in Round 9. He made that up with a splendid victory over Svidler in Round 12, and held on to first place by a careful draw with Kramnik in Round 13. The tournament is best remembered for Kasparov's immortal win over Topalov in Round 4: 
click for larger view24.Rxd4!! cxd4 (24...Kb6 was better) 25.Re7+! Kb6 26.Qxd4+ Kxa5 27.b4+ Ka4 28.Qc3 Qxd5 29.Ra7, etc. Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands, 16-31 January 1999 Age Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
1 Kasparov 35 2812 * ½ ½ 0 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 10
2 Anand 29 2781 ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 9½
3 Kramnik 23 2751 ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 8
=4 Sokolov 30 2624 1 ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 7
=4 Piket 30 2619 0 0 ½ ½ * ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 7
=4 Shirov 26 2726 0 ½ 0 1 ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 7
=4 Timman 47 2670 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ * 1 ½ 0 1 1 1 1 7
=8 Ivanchuk 29 2714 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 6½
=8 Svidler 22 2713 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 6½
10 Topalov 23 2700 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ * ½ 1 0 1 6
11 Kasimdzhanov 19 2606 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ * 1 ½ ½ 5
12 Van Wely 26 2632 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 * 1 1 4½
13 Yermolinsky 40 2597 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 * ½ 4
14 Reinderman 26 2541 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ * 3
Category: XVIII (2678). https://web.archive.org/web/1999050...
Sources
Wikipedia article: Tata Steel Chess Tournament#1999
TWIC #220 (http://theweekinchess.com/html/twic...)
TWIC #221 (http://theweekinchess.com/html/twic...)
John Hurley in The Sunday Tribune (Dublin), 24 January 1999, p. 29
FIDE rating list January 1999 (http://www.olimpbase.org/Elo/Elo199...)
Tidskrift för Schack, 2/1999, pp. 66-76 (https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1999...)
Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant, 25 January 1999, p. 22 (https://krantenbankzeeland.nl/issue...)
Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant, 27 January 1999, p. 16 (https://krantenbankzeeland.nl/issue...)
Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant, 1 February 1999, p. 22
(https://krantenbankzeeland.nl/issue...)
Lost Boys reports archived by the Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org/web/1999050...)
Robert Eugene Byrne in New York Times, 7 February 1999 (https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nyt...)
Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov. Part III: 1995-2005. Everyman Chess, London 2014, pp. 222-243 (https://www.scribd.com/document/386...) Original collections: Game Collection: Wijk aan Zee Hoogovens 1999 by User: suenteus po 147 and Game Collection: Hoogovens Group A 1999 by User: Tabanus. Previous: Hoogovens Group A (1998). Next: Corus Group A (2000). See also Hoogovens Group B (1999) and Hoogovens Blitz (1999)
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| page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 91 |
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| Game |
| Result | Moves |
Year | Event/Locale | Opening |
| 1. Piket vs I Sokolov |
| ½-½ | 20 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | D97 Grunfeld, Russian |
| 2. Kasparov vs Ivanchuk |
 | ½-½ | 22 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | D36 Queen's Gambit Declined, Exchange, Positional line, 6.Qc2 |
| 3. Yermolinsky vs Svidler |
| ½-½ | 23 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | D85 Grunfeld |
| 4. Van Wely vs Kramnik |
| ½-½ | 26 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | D17 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav |
| 5. Shirov vs Kasimdzhanov |
| ½-½ | 24 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | B47 Sicilian, Taimanov (Bastrikov) Variation |
| 6. Topalov vs Timman |
 | 1-0 | 36 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | A20 English |
| 7. D Reinderman vs Anand |
| 0-1 | 37 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | B87 Sicilian, Fischer-Sozin with ...a6 and ...b5 |
| 8. Anand vs Piket |
| 1-0 | 41 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | C96 Ruy Lopez, Closed |
| 9. Ivanchuk vs Kasimdzhanov |
| ½-½ | 28 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | B47 Sicilian, Taimanov (Bastrikov) Variation |
| 10. Kasparov vs Van Wely |
| 1-0 | 44 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | B33 Sicilian |
| 11. Kramnik vs Yermolinsky |
| 1-0 | 40 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | E32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical |
| 12. I Sokolov vs Shirov |
| 0-1 | 52 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | D82 Grunfeld, 4.Bf4 |
| 13. Svidler vs Topalov |
| ½-½ | 37 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | B23 Sicilian, Closed |
| 14. Timman vs D Reinderman |
| 1-0 | 70 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | B31 Sicilian, Rossolimo Variation |
| 15. Piket vs Timman |
| 1-0 | 31 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | A10 English |
| 16. Yermolinsky vs Kasparov |
| 0-1 | 47 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | A34 English, Symmetrical |
| 17. Van Wely vs Ivanchuk |
| ½-½ | 39 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | E97 King's Indian |
| 18. Topalov vs Kramnik |
| ½-½ | 35 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | C67 Ruy Lopez |
| 19. Shirov vs Anand |
| ½-½ | 40 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | B49 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation |
| 20. D Reinderman vs Svidler |
| ½-½ | 26 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | B57 Sicilian |
| 21. Kasimdzhanov vs I Sokolov |
| ½-½ | 31 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | A29 English, Four Knights, Kingside Fianchetto |
| 22. Van Wely vs Yermolinsky |
| 1-0 | 31 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | E11 Bogo-Indian Defense |
| 23. Timman vs Shirov |
| ½-½ | 40 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | D85 Grunfeld |
| 24. Svidler vs Piket |
| ½-½ | 37 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | C95 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Breyer |
| 25. Kasparov vs Topalov |
| 1-0 | 44 | 1999 | Hoogovens Group A | B07 Pirc |
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| page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 91 |
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Sep-09-20
 | | MissScarlett: From Jules Welling's tournament report in <Chess Monthly>, March 1999, p.5: <Garry Kasparov had never participated here before. He had always disliked the idea of playing in the same arena as ordinary club players. But this was the Wijk way and it was not going to change, even for a world champion. The 'boss' had had a lean tournament schedule over the past year, having kept his commitments down in anticipation of having to play a title defence match in 1998. However this had fallen through due to difficulties with sponsorship and the champion had been left with time and energy to spare - but nowhere to play.Then, quite by chance, a couple of months before the tournament Nigel Short withdrew from the line-up. His wife was expecting a baby and he wanted to be present at the birth. When Kasparov was informed of this, he seized his chance and approached the organisers to see whether he could fill the vacancy. The reply was yes - and chess history was in the making. As for Nigel, the story has a bitter-sweet ending. His baby arrived early, and so, as it turned out, he could have played at Hoogovens after all. To add insult to injury, Nigel also lost his place in the forthcoming Linares super-tournament. FIDE had miscalculated the latest ratings and young Hungarian GM Peter Leko was wrongly placed above him on their ELO list, enabling him to get the coveted invitation instead.> |
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