The Rilton Cup is Swiss chess tournament taking place annually, between the end of the year and the beginning of the next, in Stockholm, Sweden.The tournament is named after the Swedish doctor and chess player Tore Rilton.[1] Its first edition took place in 1971/1972 with Jan Timman being the winner.[2]

History

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In 1971, Tore Rilton sent a donation to the organisers of the Stockholm Open chess tournament, with the instructions to use them to "organise a strong chess tournament". Due to this donation the event was named Rilton Cup and its first edition took place in 1971/1972.[1][3] This inaugural version of the tournament was won by Jan Timman with 7.5 points; Walter Browne finished 2nd with 7 points and Einar Hatlebakk 3rd with 6.5.[1] After Rilton's death, the Rilton Cup continued to be funded by Dr. Tore Rilton's Memorial Fund.[4]

The Rilton Cup's 50th edition was to be played in 2020/2021, however it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In its place, an invitational knockout tournament, the Rilton Winners' Cup, was held.[5] The tournament took place on chess.com, with 16 participants. The time control for the matches was 15+10, and 5+3 for the tiebreaks. Krishnan Sasikiran won the event by defeating 2—0 the runner-up, Aleksandr Shimanov in the finals.[6] The Rilton Cup's 50th edition was cancelled again in 2021-2022 and was postponed for 2022–2023.

2022-2023 edition

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The 50th edition of Rilton Cup took place from 22 December 2022 to 5 January 2023. This edition of the tournament was also the first international tournament eligible for the 2023 FIDE Circuit.[7] Pranesh M won the tournament with 8 points in 9 rounds, scoring his final GM norm, with Kaan Kucusar finisingf 2nd and Nikita Meshkovs 3rd, both with 7 points.[8]

Winners

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No. Year Winner Points
1 1971/1972 Jan Timman 7½ (9)
2 1972/1973 Jan Timman 7½ (9)
3 1973/1974 István Bilek 7 (9)
4 1974/1975 Heikki Westerinen 7½ (9)
5 1975/1976 Börje Jansson (chess player) 7½ (9)
6 1976/1977 Sergio Mariotti 7½ (9)
7 1977/1978 Börje Jansson (chess player) 7½ (9)
8 1978/1979 Harry Schüssler 7½ (9)
9 1979/1980 Konstanty Kaiszauri 7½ (9)
10 1980/1981 Axel Ornstein 7½ (9)
11 1981/1982 Lars-Åke Schneider 7 (9)
12 1982/1983 Ralf Åkesson 7 (9)
13 1983/1984 Axel Ornstein 7 (9)
14 1984/1985 Caspar Carleson 6½ (9)
15 1985/1986 Michael Wiedenkeller 7 (9)
16 1986/1987 Juan Manuel Bellón López 6½ (9)
17 1987/1988 Mikhail Gurevich 7 (9)
18 1988/1989 Ilia Smirin 7 (9)
19 1989/1990 Tom Wedberg 7 (9)
20 1990/1991 Alexey Vyzmanavin 8 (9)
21 1991/1992 Margeir Pétursson 7½ (9)
22 1992/1993 Andrei Kharlov 7½ (9)
23 1993/1994 Lars Bo Hansen 7½ (9)
24 1994/1995 Michał Krasenkow 7½ (9)
25 1995/1996 Michał Krasenkow 7½ (9)
26 1996/1997 Joel Benjamin 7 (9)
27 1997/1998 Igor Khenkin 7½ (9)
28 1998/1999 Mikhail Ulibin 7½ (9)
29 1999/2000 Sergey Ivanov 7½ (9)
30 2000/2001 Yuri Yakovich 7 (9)
31 2001/2002 Evgeny Agrest 7 (9)
32 2002/2003 Jonas Barkhagen 7½ (9)
33 2003/2004 Ralf Åkesson 7 (9)
34 2004/2005 Sergey Volkov 7 (9)
35 2005/2006 Eduardas Rozentalis 7 (9)
36 2006/2007 Robert Fontaine 7½ (9)
37 2007/2008 Radosław Wojtaszek 6½ (9)
38 2008/2009 Radosław Wojtaszek 7 (9)
39 2009/2010 Eduardas Rozentalis 6½ (9)
40 2010/2011 Sergey Volkov 8 (9)
41 2011/2012 Aleksandr Shimanov 7½ (9)
42 2012/2013 Michał Krasenkow 7½ (9)
43 2013/2014 Jon Ludvig Hammer 7½ (9)
44 2014/2015 Jon Ludvig Hammer 7 (9)
45 2015/2016 Maxim Rodshtein 8 (9)
46 2016/2017 Krishnan Sasikiran 7½ (9)
47 2017/2018 Kirill Alekseenko 7½ (9)
48 2018/2019 Tamir Nabaty 8 (9)
49 2019/2020 Elshan Moradiabadi 7 (9)
-[a] 2020/2021 Krishnan Sasikiran 2-0 (KO)
50 2022/2023 Pranesh M 8 (9)
51 2023/2024 Vitaly Sivuk 7½ (9)

Notes

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  1. ^ In 2020/2021 the Rilton Cup was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however a special online edition, the Rilton Winners' Cup took place.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Rilton Cup Historia". www.rilton.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  2. ^ "Rilton Cup: Indian Grandmaster Raja Rithvik leads after five rounds". Chess News. 2 January 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  3. ^ Jesper Hall (2007). Tore och turneringen : historien om Rilton Cup. Göteborg: Tore Rilton Fond. p. 288. ISBN 9789185779970.
  4. ^ "Preview: The Story behind Rilton Cup 2016-17 - ChessBase India". www.chessbase.in. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  5. ^ "Rilton Cup 2020-2021". www.rilton.se. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  6. ^ "Krishnan Sasikiran wins Rilton Winners' Cup - ChessBase India". www.chessbase.in. 6 January 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  7. ^ "Pranesh M wins 2022/2023 Rilton Cup". www.fide.com.
  8. ^ "16-year old M Pranesh wins Rilton Cup to become India's 79th Grandmaster". Chess News. 6 January 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2024.