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🏆 Corus Group A (2003)

  PARTICIPANTS (sorted by highest achieved rating; click on name to see player's games)
Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, Alexander Grischuk, Teimour Radjabov, Vasyl Ivanchuk, Anatoly Karpov, Ruslan Ponomariov, Alexey Shirov, Evgeny Bareev, Judit Polgar, Loek van Wely, Jan Timman, Michal Krasenkow

Chessgames.com Chess Event Description
Corus Group A (2003)

The 65th tournament in Wijk aan Zee (Beverwijk from 1938-1967) was played in the De Moriaan Centre, Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands from January 11 (Round 1) to January 26 (Round 13), with rest days on January 13, 17 and 22. For the second year in a row it took place without the participation of Garry Kasparov (Elo rated #1 in the world), who preferred to play a match against the computer program 'Deep Junior' (FIDE Man - Machine WC (2003)). Missing were also Peter Leko (#5) and Michael Adams (#6). Seven Top 10 players took part: Classical World Champion Vladimir Kramnik (#2), Viswanathan Anand (#3), Veselin Topalov (#4), FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov (#7), Evgeny Bareev (#8), Alexey Shirov (#9) and Alexander Grischuk (#10). Also playing were: Judit Polgar (#13), Vassily Ivanchuk (#15), Anatoly Karpov (#20), Loek van Wely (#30), Michal Krasenkow (#56), 15-year-old Teimour Radjabov (#68) and Jan Timman (about #110). The drawing of lots took place in Velsen-Noord on January 10, with play to start at 1:30 pm the next day. First prize: 10,000 euros.

Former (2000-2001) FIDE World Champion Anand won with 8.5/13. A good result considering he had not played classical chess since Linares (2002) and the FIDE World Cup (2002). Polgar, who had reached 2700 in rating and was the world's best female player, took second place. It was probably her best ever result. In Round 4 (Karpov vs Judit Polgar, 2003) she had the privilege to ruin the castling of a former world champion:


click for larger view

16...Bb4+! 17.axb4 Bxb5 18.bxa5 Bc4

Last year's winner Bareev took 3rd place. The 15-year-old Radjabov, who had achieved a 2nd place in Corus Group B (2002), made a honorable 50% score (+3 =7 -3). Kramnik disappointed this time with 7/13. Ponomariov did not do well either, and possibly he was affected by the circumstances around his expected unification match against Kasparov. For Anand, it was third win in Wijk aan Zee, counting his shared wins in 1998 and 1989. He took home 10,000 euros, while Timman, who ended last, cashed in 250 euros.

Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands, 11-26 January 2003

Age Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 1 Anand 33 2753 * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 8½ 2 Polgar 26 2700 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 8 3 Bareev 36 2729 ½ ½ * 0 0 1 1 0 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 7½ =4 Shirov 30 2723 0 ½ 1 * 1 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 7 =4 Van Wely 30 2668 ½ ½ 1 0 * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 0 0 ½ 1 7 =4 Grischuk 19 2712 ½ 0 0 1 ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 7 =4 Ivanchuk 33 2699 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 7 =4 Kramnik 27 2807 ½ ½ 1 0 0 ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1 7 =9 Radjabov 15 2624 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * 0 ½ 1 1 1 6½ =9 Topalov 27 2743 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 1 * ½ ½ 1 1 6½ =11 Karpov 51 2688 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 1 ½ 6 =11 Ponomariov 19 2734 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 0 1 0 ½ 1 * ½ 1 6 13 Krasenkow 39 2633 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ * ½ 4½ 14 Timman 51 2594 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ * 2½

Category: XIX (2701). Chief arbiter: Thomas van Beekum.

Sources

Wikipedia article: Tata Steel Chess Tournament#2003
Chess-Results (http://chess-results.com/tnr1093.as...)
Official website (https://web.archive.org/web/2003020...)
Chess.gr website (https://web.archive.org/web/2003021...)
Ajedrez ND website (http://ajedreznd.com/2003/corus.html)
Judit Polgar video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsg...)
Szachowa Vistula website (http://szachowavistula.pl/vistula/c...)
FIDE rating list January 2003 (http://theweekinchess.com/html/twic...)
TWIC report 27 January 2003 (http://theweekinchess.com/html/twic...)
Jan de Zeeuw website January 2003 (https://web.archive.org/web/2003020...)
Leidsch Dagblad, 11 January 2003, p. 27 (https://leiden.courant.nu/issue/LD/...)
Leidsch Dagblad, 13 January 2003, p. 13 (https://leiden.courant.nu/issue/LD/...)
ChessBase Chess News 10 January 2003 (https://en.chessbase.com/post/wijk-...)
Malcolm Pein in The Telegraph, 17 January 2003 (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture...)
Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam in NRC, 27 January 2003 (https://web.archive.org/web/2021020...)
Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant, 27 January 2003, p. 21 (https://krantenbankzeeland.nl/issue...)
Kjell Krantz in Tidskrift för Schack, March 2003, pp. 148-156 (https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/2003...)
Lubomir Kavalek in The Washington Post, 27 January 2003 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...)

Original collections: Game Collection: Wijk aan Zee 2003 by User: Chessdreamer and Game Collection: Corus Group A 2003 by User: Tabanus.

Previous: Corus Group A (2002). Next: Corus Group A (2004). See also Corus Group B (2003) and Corus Invitation Tens (2003)

 page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 91  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Ponomariov vs Bareev 0-1592003Corus Group AB12 Caro-Kann Defense
2. Kramnik vs Ivanchuk ½-½412003Corus Group AB67 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack, 7...a6 Defense, 8...Bd7
3. Krasenkow vs Karpov 0-1292003Corus Group AE12 Queen's Indian
4. Shirov vs Timman  ½-½382003Corus Group AC18 French, Winawer
5. Grischuk vs Van Wely  ½-½382003Corus Group AB31 Sicilian, Rossolimo Variation
6. J Polgar vs Topalov  ½-½362003Corus Group AB33 Sicilian
7. Anand vs Radjabov ½-½282003Corus Group AC12 French, McCutcheon
8. Ponomariov vs Kramnik 1-0382003Corus Group AE46 Nimzo-Indian
9. Karpov vs Shirov  ½-½502003Corus Group AD20 Queen's Gambit Accepted
10. Van Wely vs J Polgar ½-½632003Corus Group AE15 Queen's Indian
11. Ivanchuk vs Krasenkow  ½-½362003Corus Group AC80 Ruy Lopez, Open
12. Timman vs Grischuk  ½-½242003Corus Group AE15 Queen's Indian
13. Topalov vs Anand 0-1612003Corus Group AC42 Petrov Defense
14. Bareev vs Radjabov 1-0322003Corus Group AE97 King's Indian
15. Radjabov vs Topalov 0-1612003Corus Group AE10 Queen's Pawn Game
16. Shirov vs Ivanchuk  ½-½202003Corus Group AB32 Sicilian
17. Krasenkow vs Ponomariov ½-½572003Corus Group AE12 Queen's Indian
18. Anand vs Van Wely  ½-½272003Corus Group AB33 Sicilian
19. Grischuk vs Karpov  ½-½352003Corus Group AC42 Petrov Defense
20. Kramnik vs Bareev 1-0482003Corus Group AB18 Caro-Kann, Classical
21. J Polgar vs Timman 1-0312003Corus Group AB46 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation
22. Timman vs Anand ½-½232003Corus Group AD55 Queen's Gambit Declined
23. Kramnik vs Krasenkow 1-0802003Corus Group AC53 Giuoco Piano
24. Ponomariov vs Shirov 0-1422003Corus Group AD44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
25. Karpov vs J Polgar 0-1332003Corus Group AE12 Queen's Indian
 page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 91  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
Dec-16-06  Karpova: All the information you need:
http://www.chessclub.com/resources/...

And by the way, the best performance ever of a female chessplayer.

Oct-06-11  Xeroxx: Looking forward
Dec-06-18  WorstPlayerEver: https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cor...
Dec-06-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  Tabanus: CG has the A group and B group mixed together. How charming is that.
Mar-04-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  Tabanus: Fixed.
Apr-18-24  notyetagm: Anyone know what the prize money was for the top finishers?

I cannot find it online anywhere.

Thanks for any response.

Apr-18-24  Olavi: Well, one response is that is not very relevant and can be misleading; they are just a fraction of the starting fees. That changed later, when the monies generally were put in the prizes.
Apr-19-24  FM David H. Levin: <<notyetagm>: Anyone know what the prize money was for the top finishers?>

The above-listed source "ChessBase Chess News 10 January 2003" gives the following for GM group A (where I changed the periods delimiting the thousands from the rest of the figure, to commas):

1st: € 10,000

2nd: € 7,000

3rd: € 3,500

4th: € 2,500

5th: € 2,000

6th: € 1,500

7th: € 1,300

The original post seems to imply (in mentioning Timman's winnings) that those finishing below 7th did receive something also.

Apr-19-24  notyetagm: <FM David H. Levin> Thank you.

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