First something about tournament categories : there is a classification, based on the average ELO-rating of the competitors. Each category has a span of 25 points, and it starts at 2250.
E.g. cat. 1 is 2251-2275, cat. 7 is 2401-2425, cat. 16 is 2626-2650.
Some examples : Linares 1993, cat. 18 ; AVRO 1938 cat. 17 ; St Petersburg Final 1914 cat. 16 ; St Petersburg 1895/1896 cat.15.
Let somebody else add category 18 and higher of the last 20-25 years, please !
Las Palmas 1996
Please mention the category as well, thanks !
New York 1924
Which, in your opinion, is the strongest chess tournament ever held?
In recent times Norway 2013.
How can we compare the tournaments when you don't mention the categories, or the average ELO-ratings ??? Please !
New York 1924 is cat. 13 , so not " the strongest " as asked for.
Thanks alexsmohr
So OP wanted to know the strongest based on ELO? Misread this one...
A tournament with Carlsen, Anand, Kramnik, Kasparov, Karpov, Fischer, Tal, Botvinnik, Alekhine and Capablanca would be the strongest tournament ever played.
Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine may have been the three greatest players between 1860 and 1970, and New York 1924 was probably the only event they played where they all were not too far from their peaks. Lasker was 56 years old, Capa 35 and Alekhine 31. So that was a great and memorable tournament, won clearly by Lasker.
My pick is Las Palmas 1996 because it had the two maybe greatest players ever close to their best, Kasparov (who won) and Karpov. It also had Kramnik, who reached shared first on the rating list the same year, and Anand, who played a title match the year before. Both future World Champions. It also had Topalov, who had won five tournaments the same year, and Ivanchuk, who had won Linares the year before.
My top three would be AVRO 1938, Linares 1993 and Las Palmas 1996, although in Las Palmas there were not many participants.
It just goes to show how great Garry Kasparov was, dominating the strongest tournaments in the 1990s until early 2000s.
In modern times, the tournaments have also been strong, but there are notable absences from the top ten players list, so they are not as super strong as it was back in the 1990s.
Notable exclusions: St. Petersburg 1914 (tailenders were weaker), Nottingham 1936 (Keres and Lilienthal did not play, and Keres won AVRO 1938 ahead of most of this field), Norway 2013 (Kramnik was replaced by Svidler at the last moment), Vienna 1882 (Rosenthal was not playing, and chess skill was at a lower level in the 1880s), New York 1924 (too many fishcakes), San Remo 1930 (too many fishcakes), Bled 1931 (too many fishcakes), Zurich 1953 (would have been the perfectly strongest tournament, but of course Botvinnik was not in it).
Nottingham 1936 is one that's hard to top. Five former, current, or future world champions and six other hall-of-fame players including Fine, Reshevsky, and Tartakower--a very tough field.
Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine may have been the three greatest players between 1860 and 1970, and New York 1924 was probably the only event they played where they all were not too far from their peaks. Lasker was 56 years old, Capa 35 and Alekhine 31. So that was a great and memorable tournament, won clearly by Lasker.
My pick is Las Palmas 1996 because it had the two maybe greatest players ever close to their best, Kasparov (who won) and Karpov. It also had Kramnik, who reached shared first on the rating list the same year, and Anand, who played a title match the year before. Both future World Champions. It also had Topalov, who had won five tournaments the same year, and Ivanchuk, who had won Linares the year before.
Really an amazing acheivement by the old man. Gives me hope anyway.
From Jeff Sonas ( post 8 ) I noticed the Tal Memorial 2009 in Moscow, category 21, up to that moment the highest ever.
By the way , that article by Jeff Sonas is great !
1994 Linares
London candidates 2013
Are we talking which is the best Tournament or Tournaments by year?
Zurich Chess challenge, concluded several weeks ago. Average rating 2801. Only cat 23 tournament to date so far.
Zurich Chess challenge, concluded several weeks ago. Average rating 2801. Only cat 23 tournament to date so far.
So how did you do in it? :)
This year's Norway Chess tournament and is shaping up as potentially the strongest of the modern era: World Champion Magnus Carlsen, former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, Fabiano Caruana, WCC Candidates Levon Aronian, Veselin Topalov, Sergey Karjakin and Peter Svidler are part of the 10-player field. These players are currently all in the top 10. If Anand, Nakamura and Grischuk fill the remaining spots it would be quite an exceptional field! Certainly Cat 22,and possibly 23.
Which, in your opinion, is the strongest chess tournament ever held?