The World Cup of 1988-1989 was an effort by the Grandmasters' Association (GMA) to establish a tournament circult of lucrative events for top grandmasters. Six events were held in all: Brussels 1988 (April 1-22), Game Collection: Belfort World Cup 1988 (June 14-July 3), Game Collection: Reykjavik World Cup 1988 (October 3-24), Game Collection: Barcelona World Cup 1989 (March 20-April 20), Game Collection: Rotterdam World Cup 1989 (June 3-24), and Game Collection: Skelleftea World Cup 1989 (August 12-September 3). Special thanks to <suenteus po 147> for quickly building collections for these tournaments.
The twenty-five invited players were: Ulf Andersson, Alexander Beliavsky, Jaan Ehlvest, Johann Hjartarson, Robert Huebner, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Viktor Korchnoi, Ljubomir Ljubojevic, Predrag Nikolic, Jesus Nogueiras, John Nunn, Lajos Portisch, Zoltan Ribli, Valery Salov, Gyula Sax, Yasser Seirawan, Nigel Short, Andrei Sokolov, Boris Spassky, Jonathan Speelman, Mikhail Tal, Jan Timman, Rafael Vaganian, and Artur Yusupov. Each played in four of the six events, with his best three results counting in the World Cup standings.
At Brussels, 17 World Cup players were invited, with 'local player' Luc Winants participating to provide an even number of players. However, Vaganian withdrew after four rounds due to the death of his brother. The games (draws against Tal, Portisch, Beliavsky, and Timman) are given in the collection, but do not appear in the tournament crosstable below:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 Karpov * = 1 = 0 = = 1 1 = = 1 = 1 1 = 1 11.0
2 Salov = * 1 = 1 = = = = = = = 1 = = = 1 10.0
3 Ljubojevic 0 0 * 1 = = 1 = 1 = = 1 1 = = = = 9.5
4 Nunn = = 0 * 1 = = = = 1 = = = = = 1 1 9.5
5 Beliavsky 1 0 = 0 * = = = = 1 = = 1 1 = = 1 9.5
6 Andersson = = = = = * = = = = = = 1 = 1 = = 9.0
7 Portisch = = 0 = = = * = 0 = 1 1 = = = 1 1 9.0
8 Speelman 0 = = = = = = * 1 = = = = = 1 0 1 8.5
9 Sokolov 0 = 0 = = = 1 0 * 0 1 = = = = 1 1 8.0
10 Tal = = = 0 0 = = = 1 * = 0 0 1 = 1 = 7.5
11 Nikolic = = = = = = 0 = 0 = * = = 0 1 = 1 7.5
12 Timman 0 = 0 = = = 0 = = 1 = * = = 0 1 1 7.5
13 Seirawan = 0 0 = 0 0 = = = 1 = = * = 1 = 1 7.5
14 Nogueiras 0 = = = 0 = = = = 0 1 = = * 0 = 1 7.0
15 Korchnoi 0 = = = = 0 = 0 = = 0 1 0 1 * 0 1 6.5
16 Sax = = = 0 = = 0 1 0 0 = 0 = = 1 * 0 6.0
17 Winants 0 0 = 0 0 = 0 0 0 = 0 0 0 0 0 1 * 2.5
Vaganian = = = =
World Cup points were awarded only for results between World Cup players. To understand this, it is helpful to redo the tournament table by including only World Cup players: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pts Cup*
1 Karpov * = 1 = = 0 = 1 = 1 = 1 = = 1 1 10.0 27.5
2 Salov = * 1 = = 1 = = = = = = 1 = = = 9.0 25.0
3 Ljubojevic 0 0 * 1 = = 1 = = 1 = 1 1 = = = 9.0 25.0
4 Nunn = = 0 * = 1 = = 1 = = = = 1 = = 8.5 22.0
5 Andersson = = = = * = = = = = = = 1 = = 1 8.5 22.0
6 Beliavsky 1 0 = 0 = * = = 1 = = = 1 = 1 = 8.5 22.0
7 Portisch = = 0 = = = * = = 0 1 1 = 1 = = 8.0 19.5
8 Speelman 0 = = = = = = * = 1 = = = 0 = 1 7.5 18.0
9 Tal = = = 0 = 0 = = * 1 = 0 0 1 1 = 7.0 16.0
10 Sokolov 0 = 0 = = = 1 0 0 * 1 = = 1 = = 7.0 16.0
11 Nikolic = = = = = = 0 = = 0 * = = = 0 1 6.5 13.0
12 Timman 0 = 0 = = = 0 = 1 = = * = 1 = 0 6.5 13.0
13 Seirawan = 0 0 = 0 0 = = 1 = = = * = = 1 6.5 13.0
14 Sax = = = 0 = = 0 1 0 0 = 0 = * = 1 6.0 10.0
15 Nogueiras 0 = = = = 0 = = 0 = 1 = = = * 0 6.0 10.0
16 Korchnoi 0 = = = 0 = = 0 = = 0 1 0 0 1 * 5.5 8.0
*The number at the end of each line is the number of Grand Prix points awarded. There were three sources of these:(1) The number of points scored against other World Cup players;
(2) Place points, ranging from 17 for first place to 1 for 17th. If players tied for a place, the respective points were divided equally;
(3) If a tournament had fewer than 17 World Cup players, an extra 1/2 point was given for each game less than 16 played.
So Karpov received 10 points for his score, 17 points for finishing sole 1st, and an extra 1/2 point for playing only 15 games, hence a total of 27.5.
Salov and Ljubojevic each received 9 game points, 15.5 place points for splitting second (16 points) and third (15 points), and got their 1/2-point bonus for playing only 15 games, for a total of 25.
Note that Korchnoi, who finished ahead of Sax in the general crosstable, actually wound up with fewer Grand Prix points since he scored fewer points against World Cup players.
The most points a player could win in one tournament was 33, Kasparov coming closest to this by scoring 29 at Belfort.
Source: World Cup chess: the Grandmasters Grand Prix / Lubomir Kavalek. North Pomfret, Vt.: Trafalgar Square Publishing, 1990. 0-943955-31-9.
Original Collection: Game Collection: Brussels World Cup, 1988, by User: Phony Benoni.
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