List of strong chess tournaments explained

This article depicts many of the strongest chess tournaments in history.

The following list is not intended to be an exhaustive or definitive record of tournament chess, but takes as its foundation the collective opinion of chess experts and journalists over the strongest tournaments in history.

Events that merit inclusion have been largely judged according to the strength (and relative strength in depth) of their participants. Other factors were taken into account, but have less influence; for example the quality of chess played, the closeness of the contest and the number of world top 10 and/or 'big reputation' players who took part, the time control (no fast chess tournaments are listed). Inevitably, this introduces a degree of subjectivity, but the vast majority of tournaments in the list range from FIDE Category 10 to FIDE category 21 and beyond.

The names of the tournament winners have been included next to the year and venue. Many of the tournaments have had books written about them and whilst these will be mostly out of print, they are occasionally available at online auction sites, second-hand specialist book shops etc.

No attempt is made at comparing the relative strengths of tournaments in the list, as this is, and continues to be, the subject of inconclusive debate amongst experts.

While events are listed in year order, they are not listed chronologically within the same year.

Tournaments and winners

1850–1859

Year	Tournament	Location
1851		London
1851	London Club	London
1857
1857		New York
1858

1860–1869

Year	Tournament	Location	Winner
1861
1862		London	Adolf Anderssen
1865		Dublin
1867		Paris
1867
1868	WDSB Congress
1869	NDSB Congress
1869	WDSB Congress

1870–1879

Year	Tournament	Location
1870
1871	WDSB Congress
1872	NDSB Congress	Altona
1872		London
1873		Vienna
1874		Chicago
1876		New York
		Philadelphia
	Clipper	New York
	MDSB Congress	Leipzig
		London
1877	MDSB Congress	Leipzig
1878		Paris
1878	WDSB Congress	Frankfurt
1879		London
1879		Leipzig

1880–1889

Year	Tournament	Location
1880
1880	WDSB Congress
1881	Berlin 1881 chess tournament (DSB Congress)	Berlin
1882		Vienna
1883		London
1883
1885		Hamburg
1885
1886		London
	BCA Congress	London
		Belfast

1887		Frankfurt
1887		London
1888		Leipzig
1888		Bradford
1889		Amsterdam
		New York

1890–1899

Year	Tournament	Location
1890	Manchester
		Vienna

		Berlin
1891		Berlin
1892
1892		London
1893		New York
1894		Leipzig
1894		New York
1895
1895/96		St Petersburg
1896		Budapest
1896
1897	Schachverein Centrum	Berlin
1897		Berlin
1898		Budapest
		Cologne
		Vienna
1899		London
1899/1900		Vienna

1900–1909

Year	Tournament	Location	Winner(s)
1900		Paris
1900		Munich
1901
1901		Moscow
1902		Vienna
		Monte Carlo

1903		Monte Carlo
1904
		Monte Carlo

1905
1905
1906
		Stockholm
		Nuremberg
		St Petersburg
1907		Vienna


1908		Vienna
1908		Prague
1909

1910–1919

Year	Tournament	Location
1910
1910/11		Vienna
1911		New York


1912

		Budapest
		Vilnius

1913		New York
		Havana
		Vienna
	Vienna Club	Vienna
1914		St Petersburg
		St Petersburg

	DSB Congress (Mannheim 1914 chess tournament)
		Vienna
1915		New York
1916/17		Vienna
1917/18		Vienna
1918		Berlin
	Four Masters	Berlin

		New York
1919		Stockholm
1919

1920–1929

Year	Tournament	Location
1920		Amsterdam

		Berlin
1921

		Budapest

		Triberg (2)
1922
		London
		Vienna

		Hastings
1922/23		Hastings
1923

		Vienna

		Copenhagen
1924		New York

		Moscow
1924/25
1925

		Paris


		Moscow
		Leningrad
1925/26
1926
		Budapest
		Semmering

		Chicago
		Dresden
		Berlin
1927		London



		New York
1928		Budapest
		Vienna


		Berlin
	BSG	Berlin
1929

		Budapest
		Barcelona

1929/30

1930–1939

Year	Tournament	Location
1930		Frankfurt
		Stockholm

		Scarborough
		Amsterdam

1930/31
1931		New York
		Rotterdam

1931/32
1932
		London


		Mexico City
1932/33
1933		Paris
1933
1933/34
1934		Syracuse
		Zurich

		Leningrad
1934/35
1935		Moscow
1935
1935/36
1936
		New York


		Amsterdam

		Moscow


1936/37
1937





		Moscow
1937/38
1938
		New York
		Netherlands
1938/39
1939		Amsterdam
	VARA	Amsterdam
		Leningrad, Moscow
		New York



		Leningrad

1940–1949

Year	Tournament	Location	Winner(s)
1940		New York
1940		Moscow
1941	USSR Absolute Championship	Leningrad, Moscow

		Munich

1942

		Munich
		Prague
1943
		Sverdlovsk



1944

		Kyiv
		Moscow
1945

		Buenos Aires
		Moscow
1946
1946
1947		Moscow

		Warsaw


		Leningrad
1948			Erich Eliskases

		Venice
		The Hague, Moscow

		Moscow
1948/49		New York	Reuben Fine
1949		Moscow

1950–1959

Year	Tournament	Location	Winner(s)
1950		Amsterdam

		Venice
		Budapest
		Moscow
1951		New York
		Birmingham
		Moscow
1952		Havana
		Budapest

		Moscow
1953		Bucharest

		Zurich
1954		Belgrade
1954		Kyiv
1954/55
1955
		Zagreb
		Gothenburg
		Moscow
1955/56
1956		Moscow
		Amsterdam
		Leningrad
1957		Moscow
1957/58
1958		Riga
1958
1959		Moscow
		Zurich

		Riga
		Bled, Zagreb, Belgrade

1960–1969

Year	Tournament	Location
1960
		Buenos Aires
		Santa Fe
		Copenhagen
		Leningrad
		Córdoba
		Moscow
1961		Moscow


		Zurich

		Budapest
1961/62
1962		Havana
		Stockholm


1963		Los Angeles
		Havana
		Moscow

		Leningrad
1964		Belgrade
		Buenos Aires
	Zonal Tournament	Moscow
		Amsterdam
1964/65		Kyiv
1965
		Havana
		Santiago
		Zagreb
		Tallinn
1966	Piatigorsky Cup	Santa Monica

		Moscow


1966/67
1967
		Monte Carlo
		Havana
		Winnipeg
		Venice
		Moscow




1968
		Monte Carlo


		Gori

1968/69
1969

		San Juan

		Belgrade
		Moscow
1969/70

1970–1979

Year	Tournament	Location	Winner(s)
1970		Amsterdam
		Rovinj, Zagreb
		Buenos Aires
		Leiden


		Riga
1971

		Moscow
		Tallinn
		Amsterdam

		Leningrad
1971/72
1972
		Amsterdam



		Sarajevo
		San Antonio


1973		Amsterdam
		Tallinn



		Madrid
		Leningrad

		Moscow
1974		Manila


		Leningrad
1975
		Amsterdam

		Moscow
		Portorož, Ljubljana
		Milan

		Manila
		Budapest

1976

		Manila
		Manila
		Skopje


		Moscow
1977		Leningrad
		Portorož, Ljubljana

		Tilburg

		Leningrad
1977/78
1978


		Reykjavik

		Tilburg

		Vilnius

1979		Montreal
		Tilburg



		Munich
		Riga
		Rio de Janeiro
		Tallinn


		Buenos Aires
		Minsk

1980–1989

Year	Tournament	Location
1980

		Amsterdam




		London
		Tilburg
		Buenos Aires
1980/81		Vilnius
1981		Amsterdam

		Johannesburg


		Moscow
		Tilburg
		Moscow
1982
		London



		Chicago

		Tilburg
		Turin

		Moscow

1983
		Indonesia
		Tallinn


		Tilburg
		Moscow
1984
		Oslo



		London
		Sarajevo
		Tilburg
1984/85
1985		Amsterdam
		Portorož, Ljubljana


		Tilburg

		Moscow
		Zagreb
		Brussels




		Montpellier
1985/86
1986
		Brussels
	OHRA	Brussels

		Vienna


		Amsterdam
		Tilburg

		Sarajevo
		London
1986/87
1987
		Belgrade

		Sarajevo
		Leningrad
		Brussels
		Tilburg
		Reykjavik
		Amsterdam


		Zagreb
		Minsk
1987/88
1988
	Optiebeurs	Amsterdam
		Amsterdam
	GMA World Cup	Brussels

		Reykjavik

		Tilburg
		Moscow
1988/89
1988/89
1989
		Amsterdam
	OHRA	Amsterdam


	GMA World Cup	Barcelona
		Rotterdam


		Tilburg
		Belgrade
1989/90

1990–1999

Year	Tournament	Location	Winner(s)
1990

		Amsterdam

		Rotterdam
		Prague
		Tilburg
		Pamplona
		Manila
		Leningrad
1990/91
1991
		Amsterdam
		Harlingen

		Munich
		Belgrade	Boris Gelfand
		Reykjavik

		Tilburg

1991/92
1992

		Amsterdam


		Madrid
		Moscow
		Tilburg

1993
		Amsterdam




		Munich
		Madrid

	PCA Candidates Qualifier
		Tilburg
1994		Amsterdam




		Munich
		Madrid


		Tilburg
1995

		Leon
		Madrid
		Belgrade

		Amsterdam
	Donner Memorial	Amsterdam


		Riga




1996
		Amsterdam



	Donner Memorial	Amsterdam

		Belgrade

		Leon
		Madrid

		Vienna

		Tilburg
1997
		Belgrade




		Madrid


		Tilburg


1998


		Madrid


		Tilburg
		St Petersburg
1999



		Sarajevo
		Las Vegas

2000–2009

Year	Location	Winner(s)
2000





	Sarajevo
	New Delhi, Tehran
2001




2001/02	Moscow
2002	Cannes




2003
	Budapest


	Reykjavik


2004



	Tripoli
	Moscow
2005


	Sofia

	San Luis
	Moscow
2006




	Moscow
	Sofia
2007

	Sofia




	Moscow
	Mexico City
	Moscow
2008




	Sofia
		Magnus Carlsen


	Moscow


	Moscow
2009



	Sofia



		Levon Aronian

	Moscow

	London	Magnus Carlsen
	Moscow

2010–2019

Year	Location	Winner(s)
2010




	Shanghai


	Moscow
	London
	Moscow
2010/11
2011





	Moscow
	London
	Moscow
2011/12
2012
	Moscow


	London


	Bucharest
	London
	Moscow
2013



	Beijing
	Paris
	Zurich	Fabiano Caruana
	Paris, St Petersburg
	Moscow

	London




	Bucharest

2014
	Zurich









	Moscow
	London
	Doha

2015
	Gibraltar	Hikaru Nakamura

	Zurich	Hikaru Nakamura
		Hikaru Nakamura
	Tbilisi



	London


	Las Vegas


	Doha

2016
	Gibraltar
	Moscow






	London
	Moscow
2017
	Gibraltar


	Moscow
	Geneva







	Tbilisi

	London
2018
	Gibraltar
	Berlin







	London


2019
	Gibraltar




	Moscow
	Jerualem
	Riga
	Hamburg

	Zagreb

	London

2020–2029

Year	Tournament	Location
2020
		Gibraltar

		Moscow
2020/21
2021
		Bucharest





		Riga
2022
		Berlin
		Belgrade

		Buharest

		Madrid


2023
	WR Chess Masters 2023	Dusseldorf

		Bucharest



2024
		Toronto

Individual tournaments

Major recurring tournaments

World Cup

References

Book: Sunnucks, Anne . Anne Sunnucks . The Encyclopaedia of Chess . Hale . 1970 . 0-7091-1030-8.
Book: Kenneth Whyld . Kenneth Whyld . Guinness Chess, The Records . Guinness Publishing Ltd . 1986 . 0-85112-455-0.
Book: Szachy od A do Z (1. A-M) . Wydawnictwo Sport i Turystyka Warszawa . 1986 . 83-217-2481-7 . Litmanowicz, Władysław . Giżycki, Jerzy . amp.
Book: Szachy od A do Z (2. N-Z) . Wydawnictwo Sport i Turystyka Warszawa . 1987 . 83-217-2745-X . Litmanowicz, Władysław . Giżycki, Jerzy . amp.
British Chess Magazine (January 1978) – Your Hundred Best Chess Tournaments To 1960 (by Ken Whyld)
British Chess Magazine (August 1979) – Reflections on Montreal (by Raymond Keene)
British Chess Magazine (November 1987) – The 'Super-tournaments' in chess history (by Romelio Milian Gonzalez)