Almost 30 years ago, at the 1995 edition of the Hoogovens Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Roberto Cifuentes and Vadim Zvjaginsev played an astounding game. Known as the ‘Pearl of Wijk aan Zee’, the encounter features a number of sacrifices, including a successful queen sacrifice. Zvjaginsev went all-in for the attack once Cifuentes made an innocent-looking move. Unmissable!
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Kortschnoi was one of the best players in chess history, and he was feared, respected and admired for his fighting spirit and pugnacious nature, but in the game against Caruana he was nevertheless a clear underdog. After all, Caruana was already one of the world s best players at the time, and had almost 200 Elo points more than Kortschnoi. Moreover, he had won all three previous encounters between the two.
Kortschnoi at the Hoogovens Tournament 1985 | Photo: Rob Croes / Anefo
The last time the two had played each other was at the Chess Olympiad in Dresden in 2008 in the match between Switzerland and Italy, and in that game Kortschnoi had suffered a crushing defeat with Black.