Corus Chess Tournament 2008 Explained

Corus Chess Tournament 2008
Venue:	Wijk aan Zee

The Corus Chess Tournament 2008 was the 70th edition of the Corus Chess Tournament.

It took place in the De Moriaan Community Centre in Wijk aan Zee in January 2008. The format of each of the three Grandmaster groups remained a 14 player single round robin. The participants in group A included eight of the world's top ten players (country, October 2007 rating and rank in brackets): Viswanathan Anand (India, 2801, 1), Vasyl Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2787, 2), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2785, 3), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria, 2769, 4), Peter Leko (Hungary, 2755, 5=), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan, 2752, 7), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan, 2742, 8) and Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2741, 9). The remaining players were Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2736, 11), Michael Adams (England, 2729, 13), Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2714, 16=), Judit Polgár (Hungary, 2708, 20), Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine, 2691, 26) and Loek van Wely (Netherlands, 2679, 31). The average rating of 2742 made it a Category 20 tournament. The only top ten players not participating were Alexander Morozevich (Russia, 2755, 5=) and Alexei Shirov (Spain, 2739, 10).

The tournament was won by Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen (both scoring 8 out of 13).^[1] ^[2]

Grandmaster group B was won by Sergei Movsesian of Slovakia with 9½ points, and group C by Italy's Fabiano Caruana with 10, two points ahead of his nearest rival. The Honorary group, a new category consisting of four former A group champions playing a double round robin, was won by Ljubomir Ljubojević with 4 points out of 6, ahead of Jan Timman, Viktor Korchnoi and Lajos Portisch.

The tournament was also notable for the "handshake incident", in which Nigel Short was awarded a win by forfeit after his opponent, Ivan Cheparinov, refused to shake his hand.^[3]

70th Corus Chess Tournament, grandmaster group A, 12–27 January 2008, Wijk aan Zee, Cat. XX (2742)^[4] ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! 11 !! 12 !! 13 !! 14 !! Total !! SB !! TPR
1	2739		½	½	1	½	½	½	0	1	½	½	½	1	1	8	50.00	2830
2	2733	½		0	½	0	½	½	1	½	1	1	1	1	½	8	48.50	2830
3	2799	½	1		0	½	½	½	½	1	1	½	½	½	½	7½	48.00	2795
4	2735	0	½	1		½	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	1	7½	46.50	2800
5	2753	½	1	½	½		½	½	½	0	½	1	½	½	½	7	46.00	2770
6	2751	½	½	½	½	½		½	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	7	44.50	2771
7	2726	½	½	½	½	½	½		½	½	0	½	½	1	½	6½	41.75	2744
8	2799	1	0	½	½	½	½	½		0	½	½	1	½	½	6½	41.75	2738
9	2780	0	½	0	½	1	½	½	1		½	½	0	0	1	6	39.00	2710
10	2707	½	0	0	½	½	½	1	½	½		½	0	½	1	6	38.00	2716
11	2760	½	0	½	½	0	½	½	½	½	½		½	1	½	6	37.50	2712
12	2692	½	0	½	0	½	0	½	0	1	1	½		½	0	5	32.00	2659
13	2681	0	0	½	½	½	½	0	½	1	½	0	½		½	5	31.75	2660
14	2737	0	½	½	0	½	½	½	½	0	0	½	1	½		5	31.75	2656

70th Corus Chess Tournament, grandmaster group B, 12–27 January 2008, Wijk aan Zee, Cat. XV (2618)^[5] ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! 11 !! 12 !! 13 !! 14 !! Total !! SB !! TPR
1	2677		½	½	½	½	½	1	1	1	1	½	½	1	1	9½		2789
2	2645	½		½	½	½	1	1	1	0	½	½	1	1	½	8½	52.50	2726
3	2700	½	½		½	½	½	½	1	1	½	½	½	1	1	8½	51.75	2722
4	2664	½	½	½		½	1	½	0	1	½	½	½	½	1	7½		2672
5	2600	½	½	½	½		0	½	0	½	1	½	1	½	1	7		2648
6	2713	½	0	½	0	1		0	0	½	1	½	½	1	1	6½		2611
7	2581	0	0	½	½	½	1		½	1	½	1	½	0	0	6	38.00	2592
8	2573	0	0	0	1	1	1	½		0	½	1	½	½	0	6	37.50	2593
9	2527	0	1	0	0	½	½	0	1		½	½	1	½	½	6	36.50	2596
10	2625	0	½	½	½	0	0	½	½	½		½	½	1	1	6	35.50	2589
11	2612	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	0	½	½		½	1	0	5½		2562
12	2676	½	0	½	½	0	½	½	½	0	½	½		0	1	5	31.75	2527
13	2636	0	0	0	½	½	0	1	½	½	0	0	1		1	5	28.25	2530
14	2424	0	½	0	0	0	0	1	1	½	0	1	0	0		4		2492

70th Corus Chess Tournament, grandmaster group C, 12–27 January 2008, Wijk aan Zee, Cat. X (2494)^[6] ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! 11 !! 12 !! 13 !! 14 !! Total !! SB !! TPR
1	2598		½	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	0	½	1	1	1	10		2696
2	2533	½		½	1	½	½	½	0	½	1	½	½	1	1	8	48.00	2577
3	2526	0	½		0	1	0	1	0	½	1	1	1	1	1	8	44.25	2578
4	2501	0	0	1		0	1	½	1	½	½	½	½	1	1	7½		2550
5	2473	1	½	0	1		1	1	0	½	0	0	½	½	1	7	45.25	2524
6	2536	0	½	1	0	0		½	1	1	½	0	1	1	½	7	42.00	2519
7	2490	0	½	0	½	0	½		1	½	1	1	½	1	½	7	41.25	2523
8	2578	0	1	1	0	1	0	0		0	1	½	½	1	1	7	40.75	2516
9	2389	0	½	½	½	½	0	½	1		1	1	½	0	½	6½		2502
10	2502	1	0	0	½	1	½	0	0	0		1	½	1	½	6	38.00	2464
11	2509	½	½	0	½	1	1	0	½	0	0		1	0	1	6	36.75	2463
12	2461	0	½	0	½	½	0	½	½	½	½	0		0	1	4½	26.50	2386
13	2484	0	0	0	0	½	0	0	0	1	0	1	1		1	4½	22.50	2384
14	2329	0	0	0	0	0	½	½	0	½	½	0	0	0		2		2210

70th Corus Chess, honorary group, 12–27 January 2008, Wijk aan Zee, Cat. XIII (2560)^[7] ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! Total !! SB !! TPR
1	2565		0 1	½ 1	½ 1	4		2683
2	2559	1 0		½ 1	½ 0	3	9.50	2560
3	2545	½ 0	½ 0		1 1	3	7.50	2565
4	2570	½ 0	½ 1	0 0		2		2431

Notes and References

Web site: The United States Chess Federation - Carlsen and Aronian Win Corus . 2024-01-28 . www.uschess.org.
Web site: Shabazz . Daaim . 2008-01-27 . 2008 Corus ends... Aronian, Carlsen on top! . 2024-01-28 . The Chess Drum . en-US.
Web site: Barden . Leonard . 2008-01-21 . Short handed win after opponent refuses to shake . 2024-01-28 . The Guardian . en-GB.
Web site: All-time Tournaments - Tata Steel Chess . 2024-01-28 . history.tatasteelchess.com.
Web site: All-time Tournaments - Tata Steel Chess . 2024-01-28 . history.tatasteelchess.com.
Web site: All-time Tournaments - Tata Steel Chess . 2024-01-28 . history.tatasteelchess.com.
Web site: Standings Corus Chess Tournament 2008 honorary group. Staff writer(s). Tata Steel Chess. 28 January 2008.