Golden Oldies

In addition to an outstanding field of current stars, the Corus super-tournament in Wijk aan Zee featured an “honorary” match among four old-timers: Victor Korchnoi, Ljubomir Ljubojevic, Jan Timman and Lajos Portisch. Without so much at stake in the outcome, these once-top grandmasters seemed to care less about following popular theoretical lines than about playing fighting chess. Ljubojevic’s encounter with Korchnoi is a prime example, and it reached a picturesque position in which both sides were simultaneously sacrificing knights on the same square on opposite sides of the board. The honorary match was won by Ljubojevic, who garnered four points. Korchnoi and Timman earned three, and Portisch two.