diagonal: Hastings has been going on for three different centuries!<The Hastings inauguration chess tournament in 1895>, also called Hastings Summer Congress, was a round-robin tournament conducted in Hastings, England from August 5 to September 2, 1895.
This was arguably the strongest tournament in history at the time it occurred, and is also considered one of the greatest tournaments ever in the history of chess. Hastings 1895 was one of the first tournaments to include virtually all the top players, including former World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz and current champion Emanuel Lasker, Mikhail Chigorin, Siegbert Tarrasch, Karl Schlechter, Joseph Henry Blackburne, David Janowski, and others.
The final result of the 22-player round-robin was a big surprise, as young American Harry Nelson Pillsbury won with 16.5 points out of 21 games – ahead of Mikhail Chigorin and world champion Emanuel Lasker – despite playing in his first international tournament.
The four <Summer Congress> events (1895, 1919, 1922, and the hundred years jubilee Open in 1995) are kept separate from the annual <Winter (Christmas) Congress> Hastings events, beginning in 1920/21.
There was no tournament during the World War II in 1940/41, 1941/42, 1942/43, 1943/44, and 1944/45.
The main event at the Congresses is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally an invitation 10 to 16 player round-robin tournament, sometimes with an additional amateur Open, a youth, senior or women section and other events.
In 2004/05 the premium tournament was played in the knock-out format; since 2005/06 Hastings is played as an Open using the swiss system.
From its renowned inauguration event in 1895, the following Summer Congresses in 1919 and 1922, in the 1930s and the 1950s up to the 1970s, Hastings was a MUST for every top player. Today the series has lost its status as a world elite tournament.
Magesh Panchanathan won the <95th edition of the Hastings International Chess Congress 2019/20>.
The Indian Grandmaster finished in clear first place with 7½ out of 9 points. Sole second place went to Romain Edouard from France. Top seeded David Howell finished shared seventh.
Kibitzing
