Kortchnoi's victory came 40 years late

Kortchnoi wins Curaçao – 40 years late

By John Fernandez

There's an old saying: "Better late than never" and Viktor Kortchnoi proved that in Curaçao. After coming to the island forty years ago to compete in the Curaçao Candidate's Tournament, he was able to come back and win the 1962 – 2002 Curaçao Chess Tournament on Buchholz tiebreak over Israeli GM Yona Kosashvili. Trailing them by a half point were (on Buchholz), Polish GM Bartlomiej Macieja, Dutch GM Jan Timman, and Venezuelan IM Carlos Gallegos.

Another old saying is "A picture is worth a thousand words." Here are some pictures, ith a few words for you all.

Curaçao made a very fine vacation spot, and some families chose to take part.

Sofia Polgar with son Alon

Parents Yona Kosashvili and Sofia Polgar sincerely hope Alon doesn't turn into a 1.f4 player

The Meijer family, organizer Ger Jan Meijer and wife Lily Meijer-Goumaz with their two children

1962-2002 Curaçao Winner Viktor Kortchnoi with wife Petra

Local media gave a great deal of attention to the tournament, here interviewing IM Hans Bohm

There are also some fabulous places to go on Curaçao, for example, to the beach!

Not much explanation needed here- a beautiful picture of a beautiful beach

GM Bartek Macieja combining fun in the sun with serious chess analysis

GM Bartek Macieja, indoors, with his trophy for 3rd place in the 1962-2002 Curaçao Chess Tournament

GM Yona Kosashvili, 2nd place in the 1962-2002 Curaçao Chess Tournament, and winerr of the 2002 Curaçao Blitz Tournament

The Champion, GM Viktor Kortchnoi.

The Players of the 1962-2002 Curaçao Chess Tournament

Final standings

    Name                    Fed   Score Rating	Buch.
 1  Korchnoi, Viktor        SUI g   7.0	 2635	52.5
 2  Kosashvili, Yona        ISR g   7.0	 2543	48.0
 3  Macieja, Bartlomiej     POL g   6.5	 2615	53.5
 4  Timman, Jan H           NED g   6.5	 2594	53.0
 5  Gallegos, Carlos        VEN m   6.5	 2432	48.0
 6  Ligterink, Gert         NED m   6.0	 2401	48.5
 7  Polgar, Sofia           HUN wg  5.5	 2462	52.0
 8  Zapata, Alonso          COL g   5.5	 2556	47.5
 9  Sequera, Jose           VEN m   5.5	 2378	47.5
10  Molander, Riku          FIN f   5.5	 2301	47.0
11  Belakovskaia, Anjelina  USA wg  5.5	 2270	45.5
12  Grimm, Sascha           GER f   5.5	 2372	43.0
13  Hernandez, Alexander    VEN m   5.5	 2268	42.5
14  Gikas, Basilius         GER     5.0	 2254	40.5
15  Broehl, Stefan          GER     5.0	 2223	40.0
16  Neumann, Han            AHO     5.0	 2211	35.5
17  Salman, Joel            USA f   4.5	 2236	46.5
18  Duesterwald, Marc       GER     4.5	 2213	46.5
19  Fernandez, John C       USA     4.5	 2138	42.5
20  Mensing, Fabio          AHO     4.5	 2200	41.0
21  Malmdin, Nils-Ake       SWE     4.5	 2201	41.0
22  Loew, Gerald            GER f   4.5	 2260	40.0
23  Tol, Leo van            NED     4.5	 1883	39.0
24  Strijkers, Niek         NED     4.5	 2164	38.5
25  Vasquez, Rafael         VEN     4.0	        35.0
26  Hansch, Klaus Michael   GER     4.0	        34.5
27  Vlugt, Frans            NED     4.0	 2088	34.5
28  Popitz, Andreas         GER     4.0	 2164	34.0
29  Bet, Sjaak J.M.         AHO     3.5	 2131	38.0
30  Eckert, Heiko           GER     3.5	        34.0
31  Dekker, Marvin          AHO     3.5	        30.5
32  Sagredo, Claudio        AHO     3.5	        30.0
33  Dijk, Tijs van          NED     3.5	        27.5
34  Straschewski, Joerg     GER     3.0	        38.5
35  Tjong-a-Hung, Edwin     AHO     3.0	        36.5

• John Fernandez's previous report
• Official tournament site (with games and results)