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TOURNAMENT STANDINGS
Hoogovens Tournament

Lajos Portisch8/11(+5 -0 =6)[games]
Viktor Korchnoi7.5/11(+5 -1 =5)[games]
Ulf Andersson6.5/11(+3 -1 =7)[games]
Hans Ree6/11(+1 -0 =10)[games]
Jan Timman6/11(+2 -1 =8)[games]
Oscar Panno5.5/11(+2 -2 =7)[games]
Tony Miles5/11(+2 -3 =6)[games]
Miguel Najdorf5/11(+2 -3 =6)[games]
Henrique Mecking5/11(+2 -3 =6)[games]
Gennadi Sosonko4.5/11(+0 -2 =9)[games]
Lubomir Kavalek4/11(+0 -3 =8)[games]
Paul van der Sterren3/11(+1 -6 =4)[games]
*

Chessgames.com Chess Event Description
Hoogovens (1978)

"By winning the strong 40th Hoogovens tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Lajos Portisch proved again that he is one of the best tournament players in the world. This was his fourth victory in this traditional tournament. There is a danger, however, that it may be his last, for Hoogovens, the Dutch steel company which sponsors the event, has lately been plagued with economic difficulties and almost did not organize the tournament at all this year. The tournament which finally was held was an abridged version of events in the past: although there was still a strong grandmaster section and a few sections of more or less amateur competitors, the sections for international masters and women had to be eliminated. The grandmaster tournament was quite strong, a FIDE Category 13 with an average rating of 2564. Portisch was the only representative from Eastern Europe. The Soviet Chess Federation sent no one, perhaps because of Viktor Korchnoi's participation. Korchnoi came to Wijk aan Zee after having had only a week's rest following his victory over Spassky in the Candidates Finals. Many experts nonetheless expected Korchnoi to win this event and he might have but for a loss to the last-place finisher van der Sterren. Korchnoi played well, though he must surely have been tired after his Belgrade battle. Portisch, however, played better, scoring five victories (all with White!) and drawing the rest of his games. Lajos was well rested and well prepared. He had had plenty of time since his match with Spassky to put his game thoroughly together. He was hungry to win it all and did so in a very energetic manner." (Kavalek)

Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands, 20 January - 2 February 1978

Age Elo* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————— 1 GM Portisch 40 2630 • ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 8 2 GM Korchnoi 46 2665 ½ • ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 0 7½ 3 GM Andersson 26 2545 ½ ½ • ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 6½ =4 IM Ree 33 2500 ½ ½ ½ • ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 6 =4 GM Timman 26 2585 0 ½ ½ ½ • ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 6 6 GM Panno 42 2580 0 0 ½ ½ ½ • ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 5½ =7 GM Miles 22 2565 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ • 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 5 =7 GM Najdorf 67 2525 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 • ½ ½ ½ 1 5 =7 GM Mecking 26 2630 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ • ½ ½ 1 5 10 GM Sosonko 34 2575 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ • ½ ½ 4½ 11 GM Kavalek 34 2570 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ • ½ 4 12 V d Sterren 21 2400 0 1 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ • 3 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Eleven rounds in 14 days, starting on Friday 20 January (66 games). Rest days 23, 27 January & 1 February. Portisch won with 8/11. Ree earned his first GM norm.

Photo (Portisch & Korchnoi): https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...

Sources
Tata Steel website (https://history.tatasteelchess.com/...)
Perpetual Check website (https://www.perpetualcheck.com/show...)
*FIDE rating list January 1978 (https://web.archive.org/web/2022102...)
Chess Life & Review, 5/1978, p. 246 (https://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/C...)
Magyar Sakkélet, 4/1978, pp. 73-75 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Sak...)
New York Times, 17 April 1978, p. 20 (https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/17/...)
Jaque 75, March 1978, pp. 2-7 (https://www.olimpbase.org/leagueES/...)
Dutch newspapers (available at https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten)

Previous: Hoogovens (1977). Next: Hoogovens (1979). The was no B-group in 1978, 1979 and 1980, but the usual 4-player 'C-group' was held (cf. Hoogovens-C (1978))

 page 1 of 3; games 1-25 of 66  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Najdorf vs Miles 0-1481978HoogovensA34 English, Symmetrical
2. Portisch vs Panno 1-0341978HoogovensE53 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3
3. Van der Sterren vs Mecking  0-1371978HoogovensB92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation
4. Andersson vs Timman  ½-½331978HoogovensD78 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.O-O c6
5. Korchnoi vs Sosonko  ½-½521978HoogovensA13 English
6. Kavalek vs H Ree  ½-½181978HoogovensB40 Sicilian
7. Panno vs Van der Sterren 1-0321978HoogovensE45 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Bronstein (Byrne) Variation
8. Sosonko vs Najdorf  ½-½301978HoogovensE06 Catalan, Closed, 5.Nf3
9. Timman vs Miles  1-0601978HoogovensB32 Sicilian
10. Mecking vs Korchnoi 0-1461978HoogovensC18 French, Winawer
11. H Ree vs Portisch  ½-½161978HoogovensE15 Queen's Indian
12. Andersson vs Kavalek 1-0341978HoogovensA04 Reti Opening
13. Kavalek vs Timman  ½-½231978HoogovensD87 Grunfeld, Exchange
14. Miles vs Sosonko  ½-½341978HoogovensA28 English
15. Van der Sterren vs H Ree  0-1571978HoogovensC91 Ruy Lopez, Closed
16. Najdorf vs Mecking ½-½431978HoogovensA15 English
17. Portisch vs Andersson  ½-½561978HoogovensA17 English
18. Korchnoi vs Panno  1-0291978HoogovensA17 English
19. H Ree vs Korchnoi  ½-½261978HoogovensE11 Bogo-Indian Defense
20. Panno vs Najdorf  ½-½161978HoogovensA04 Reti Opening
21. Andersson vs Van der Sterren  1-0741978HoogovensA15 English
22. Mecking vs Miles 1-0251978HoogovensB17 Caro-Kann, Steinitz Variation
23. Kavalek vs Portisch  ½-½381978HoogovensC09 French, Tarrasch, Open Variation, Main line
24. Timman vs Sosonko  ½-½331978HoogovensB76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack
25. Sosonko vs Mecking  ½-½291978HoogovensD97 Grunfeld, Russian
 page 1 of 3; games 1-25 of 66  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

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