The Xtracon Chess Open (formerly the Politiken Cup) is an international chess tournament and the main feature event of the annual Copenhagen Chess Festival.
History Organized by the Copenhagen Chess Federation (KSU), it was originally set up to give Danish players the opportunity of international experience and title norms. Starting from modest means in 1979, with just 22 contestants, it has grown to become one of the world's largest and most respected open chess tournaments, with numbers of participants rising to 200 in 2003, and nowadays reaching well in excess of 400.
The tournament has attracted many of the world's strongest grandmasters as well as promising youngsters. Former world champion Vassily Smyslov was among the winners in 1980British Chess Magazine 1980, p.473 and 1986,British Chess Magazine 1986, p.392 while other notable winners have included Viktor Korchnoi as clear first in 1996 at the age of 65 and Nigel Short in 2006. At the Politiken Cup in 2003, Magnus Carlsen achieved his third and final IM norm.
The early editions were held in Copenhagen and its suburbs, before moving to Helsingør. The tournament has always taken the format of a large "Open", accessible to both titled and non-titled players, except in 1983, when there was an invite-only, all-play-all Grandmaster event and a subsidiary Open tournament aimed at International Master level.
In later years the tournament has taken place during July/August, over 10 rounds, at the Konventum, a convention centre and resort set in the scenic surroundings of Helsingør.
From 1979 to 2015, the main sponsor was the Danish daily newspaper Politiken, but new arrangements have been announced for 2016–2018. The main sponsor is now Xtracon A/S, a Danish IT company with a chess playing owner. Accordingly, the tournament has been renamed to reflect the change, although it is anticipated that the format will remain broadly the same.
List of winners (Politiken Cup) # Year Winners Points11979Carsten Høi7½ (10)21980Vassily Smyslov, Adrian Mikhalchishin7½ (10)31981Petar Velikov, Tom Wedberg, Shaun Taulbut7½ (10)41982Tom Wedberg7½ (10)51983István Csom, Sergey Kudrin5½ (9)61984Nick de Firmian, Aleksander Sznapik7½ (10)71985Karel Mokry7½ (10)81986Vassily Smyslov, Alexander Chernin, Evgeny Pigusov, Laszlo Cserna 7 (10)91987Bjørn Brinck-Claussen7½ (10)101988Rafael Vaganian8 (10)111989Lars Karlsson, Aleksander Sznapik, Jens Kristiansen7½ (10)121990Konstantin Lerner7½ (10)131991Yuri Dokhoian, Yuri Piskov8 (10)141992Sergey Smagin, Matthew Sadler, John Emms, Avigdor Bykhovsky7½ (10)151993Igor Khenkin, John Emms, Henrik Danielsen7½ (10)161994Valery Neverov, Michail Brodsky7½ (10)171995Lars Bo Hansen8 (10)181996Viktor Korchnoi8½ (11)191997Helgi Grétarsson, Carsten Høi, Erling Mortensen, Lars Schandorff8½ (11)201998Hannes Stefánsson, Daniel Gormally, Tiger Hillarp PerssonLars Schandorff, Nikolaj Borge8½ (11)211999Alexander Baburin, Tiger Hillarp Persson8½ (11)222000Boris Gulko, Lars Bo Hansen, Jonny Hector8½ (11)232001Mikhail Gurevich, Alexander Rustemov, Peter Heine NielsenLev Psakhis, Nick de Firmian8½ (11)242002Sergei Tiviakov, Alexander Beliavsky, Rubén Felgaer8½ (11)252003Krishnan Sasikiran9 (11)262004Darmen Sadvakasov, Leif Johannessen, Nick de Firmian8 (10)272005Konstantin Sakaev8 (10)282006Vadim Malakhatko, Nigel Short, Jonny Hector7½ (9)292007Michal Krasenkov, Gabriel Sargissian, Emanuel BergNick de Firmian, Vladimir Malakhov8 (10)302008Sergei Tiviakov, Vladimir Malakhov, Yuriy KuzubovPeter Heine Nielsen, Boris Savchenko, Jonny Hector8 (10)312009Parimarjan Negi, Boris Avrukh8½ (10)322010Pavel Eljanov8½ (10)332011Igor Kurnosov8½ (10)342012Ivan Cheparinov, Ivan Sokolov, Jonny Hector8 (10)352013Parimarjan Negi Wins Politiken CupParimarjan Negi9 (10)362014Bu Xiangzhi convincing in Politiken CupBu Xiangzhi9 (10)372015Markus Ragger Wins Politiken Cup (on tie-break from 9 others)Markus Ragger, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Jon Ludvig HammerLaurent Fressinet, Tiger Hillarp Persson, Sam ShanklandSébastien Mazé, Mihail Marin, Sune Berg Hansen, Vitaly Kunin8 (10)
List of winners (Xtracon Chess Open)
# Year Winners Points12016 Matthias Blübaum, Alexei Shirov, Bassem Amin, Jonathan CarlstedtMihail Marin, Jon Ludvig Hammer, Jean-Marc Degraeve8 (10)22017 Baadur Jobava8½ (10)32018 Jon Ludvig Hammer, Dmitry AndreikinSjakk-Hammer slo vidunderbarn (13) og vant turnering8½ (10)42019 R Praggnanandhaa8½ (10)
References
External links Xtracon Chess Open and Festival Website The Konventum Centre Chess Results: Politiken Cup 2015 Chess Results: Xtracon Open 2016