"When everything seemed to indicate that the Rotterdam tournament, valid for the GMA World Cup, would be another triumphant walk for the great Anatoly Karpov, catastrophe struck: the former world champion lost the last three games, and the victory went to Jan Timman, apparently fully recovered from his long slump of last year. Karpov lost to Salov in the 15th round, after having committed an opening blunder that left him inferior; but Anatoly's formidable resilience, demonstrated so many times, still made it difficult to predict how things would turn out. In the 16th round, Karpov had an impressive attack against Ljubojevic, but Ljubo held out by exchanging his queen for the opponent's rook pair, and in the ensuing zeitnot, Anatoly gave his all and ultimately lost. The collapse culminated in the final round, in which an unknown Anatoly lost to Nunn in 81 moves. It's the first time in Karpov's long and unparalleled tournament career that something like this has happened to him. There are no stars who shine forever, nor chimeras who live forever. We had gotten used to the idea that Anatoly was a rock of invincible morality, a gladiator who could lose a game occasionally, but no more; and the myth proved false. ... Timman, who only lost to Karpov, finished first a whole point ahead, in a clearly outstanding performance. Vaganian and Nunn also showed fine form; Yusupov, Ljubojevic and Hjartarson played far below their potential, particularly Ljubo, who had just played brilliantly in Barcelona." (Jaque 266, transl.)
World Trade Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 3-24 June 1989
Age Elo* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pts
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1 Timman 37 2610 ● 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 10½
2 Karpov 38 2750 1 ● ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 9½
3 Vaganian 37 2600 ½ ½ ● ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 9
4 Nunn 34 2620 0 1 ½ ● ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 8½
=5 Van der Wiel 29 2560 ½ ½ 0 ½ ● 0 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 8
=5 Salov 25 2630 0 1 ½ ½ 1 ● 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 8
=5 Ehlvest 26 2600 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ● ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 8
=5 Sokolov 26 2605 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ● 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 8
9 Short 24 2650 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1 1 ● 1 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 7½
10 Seirawan 29 2610 0 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ● ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 7
=11 Nogueiras 29 2575 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ● ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 6½
=11 Sax 38 2610 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ● ½ ½ ½ ½ 6½
=11 Yusupov 29 2610 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ● 1 ½ ½ 6½
=14 Ljubojevic 38 2580 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ● ½ ½ 6
=14 Portisch 52 2610 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ● ½ 6
16 Hjartarson 26 2615 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ● 4½
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Hübner 40 2600 ½ ½
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Boris Spassky withdrew a week before it started and Robert Huebner withdrew after Round 1 because of illness. The original schedule was upheld, with two byes each round (seven games per round except Round 6 which had eight). Seventeen rounds in 22 days, starting on Saturday 3 June (120 games). Rest days 7, 11, 15, 19 & 23 June. Chief arbiter: Geurt Gijssen. Karpov was leading but lost his last three games and ended 2nd. Timman lost to Karpov but won with 10.5/15 and earned 28 World Cup points.Other irregularities: A Yusupov vs Vaganian, 1989 was played 11 June, and Ljubojevic vs Salov, 1989 was played 19 June.
This was the 5th World Cup tournament organized by the breakaway Grandmasters Association (GMA). The 6th (and last) was Skelleftea World Cup (1989).
Sources
Wikipedia article: Beurs-World Trade Center
Dutchbase (https://maxeuwe.nl/files-dutchbase/...)
*FIDE rating list January 1989 (https://web.archive.org/web/2022112...)
Chess Life, 10/1989, pp. 40-45 (https://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/C...)
Sakkélet, 9/1989, pp. 286-291 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Sak...)
Skakbladet, 8/1989, pp. 163-164 (https://danbase.skak.dk/skakbladet/...)
Tidskrift för Schack, 6/1989, pp. 258-263 (https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1989...)
Jaque 265, 1 July 1989, pp. 420-422, 425 (https://www.olimpbase.org/leagueES/...)
Jaque 266, 15 July 1989, pp. 450-458 (https://www.olimpbase.org/leagueES/...)
Dutch newspapers (available at https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten)
Kibitzing
