1989 in chess
Top players
    
Kasparov and Karpov remained the top two players in the world, positions that they had held since July 1982. Over the year, English players Nigel Short and Jonathan Speelman moved up the list, whilst Dutch player Jan Timman fell out of the top 10, having stood third in the January 1988 list.[1]
- January 1989 FIDE rating list – Top 10 players - Elo - FIDE Top Ten Men - FIDE Top Ten Women[2] - Elo - 2775  Garry Kasparov (URS) Garry Kasparov (URS) Judit Polgár (HUN) Judit Polgár (HUN)- 2555 - 2750  Anatoly Karpov (URS) Anatoly Karpov (URS) Maia Chiburdanidze (URS) Maia Chiburdanidze (URS)- 2520 - 2650  Nigel Short (ENG) Nigel Short (ENG) Susan Polgar (HUN) Susan Polgar (HUN)- 2510 - 2640  Alexander Beliavsky (URS) Alexander Beliavsky (URS) Pia Cramling (SWE) Pia Cramling (SWE)- 2480 - 2640  Jonathan Speelman (ENG) Jonathan Speelman (ENG) Nana Ioseliani (URS) Nana Ioseliani (URS)- 2480 - 2635  Vassily Ivanchuk (URS) Vassily Ivanchuk (URS) Nona Gaprindashvili (URS) Nona Gaprindashvili (URS)- 2435 - 2630  Valery Salov (URS) Valery Salov (URS) Elena Akhmilovskaya (URS) Elena Akhmilovskaya (URS)- 2430 - 2625  Zoltán Ribli (HUN) Zoltán Ribli (HUN) Irina Levitina (URS) Irina Levitina (URS)- 2400 - 2620  Ulf Andersson (SWE) Ulf Andersson (SWE) Anna Akhsharumova (USA) Anna Akhsharumova (USA)- 2395 - 2620  John Nunn (ENG) John Nunn (ENG) Ketevan Arakhamia (URS) Ketevan Arakhamia (URS)- 2395 
Events
    
The following major chess tournaments took place in 1989:
Grandmasters Association World Cup
    
The Grandmasters Association held six World Cup tournaments over 1988 and 1989, with some of the world's best players invited. The last three of these tournaments were held in 1989.
- 20 March - 20 April: The fourth tournament was held in Barcelona and won by Kasparov and Ljubomir Ljubojević, each with 11/16.[3]
- 3 June - 24 June: The fifth tournament was held in Rotterdam and won by Timman with 10½/15, ahead of Karpov with 9½.[4]
- 12 August - 3 September: The sixth and final tournament was held in Skellefteå, Sweden and won by Karpov and Kasparov, each with 9½/15. Kasparov won the World Cup series, and prize money of $175,000, with Karpov second.[5]
European Team Championship
    
- 23 November - 3 December: The 9th European Team Chess Championship in Haifa was won by the USSR, ahead of Yugoslavia in second and West Germany in third.[6]
The gold medal on the first board was won by Olivier Renet of France with 6/9. Valery Salov of USSR was second with 5/8.
Other major tournaments
    
- 18 February - 5 March: The Linares tournament was won by Ivanchuk with 7½/10, ahead of Karpov with 7.[7]
- 9 September - 16 September: The 9th World Microcomputer Chess Championship was held in Portorož, Slovenia, and won by Mephisto X from the United Kingdom with 6½/7.[8]
- 15 September - 2 October: The Tilburg tournament was dominated by Kasparov who won 10 games and drew only 4 to finish with 12/14. Viktor Korchnoi was second with 8½/14. This event took Kasparov's rating past Bobby Fischer's record of 2780.[9]
- 28 December - 9 January 1990: The Reggio Emilia tournament was won by Jaan Ehlvest with 7½/10, ahead of Ivanchuk with 6½.[10]
- The Wijk aan Zee tournament ended in a 4-way tie between Viswanathan Anand, Zoltán Ribli, Predrag Nikolić and Gyula Sax, each with 7½/13.[11]
Titles awarded
    
    Grandmaster
    
In 1989, FIDE awarded the Grandmaster title to the following 17 players:[12]
- Michael Adams (born 1971)  England England
- Evgeny Bareev (born 1966)  Soviet Union Soviet Union
- Branko Damljanovic (born 1961) .svg.png.webp) Yugoslavia Yugoslavia
- Alexey Dreev (born 1961)  Soviet Union Soviet Union
- Boris Gelfand (born 1968)  Soviet Union Soviet Union
- Alon Greenfeld (born 1964)  Israel Israel
- Alexander Goldin (born 1965)  United States United States
- Ferdinand Hellers (born 1969)  Sweden Sweden
- Daniel King (born 1963)  England England
- Bachar Kouatly (born 1958)  France France
- Zdenko Kožul (born 1966) .svg.png.webp) Yugoslavia Yugoslavia
- Michał Krasenkow (born 1963)  Poland Poland
- Stefan Mohr (born 1967)  Germany Germany
- Jeroen Piket (born 1969)  Netherlands Netherlands
- Miodrag Todorcevic (born 1940) .svg.png.webp) Yugoslavia Yugoslavia
- Evgeny Vladimirov (born 1957)  Soviet Union Soviet Union
- Alexey Vyzmanavin (born 1960)  Soviet Union Soviet Union
Woman Grandmaster
    
In 1989, FIDE awarded the title Woman Grandmaster to the following 2 players:[12]
- Anna Akhsharumova (born 1957)  Soviet Union Soviet Union
- Zsofia Polgar (born 1974)  Hungary Hungary
Births
    
The following chess grandmasters were born in 1989:[13]
- 19 January Maxim Rodshtein  Israel[14] Israel[14]
- 27 January Avetik Grigoryan  Armenia Armenia
- 10 February Manuel León Hoyos  Mexico Mexico
- 11 March Zaven Andriasian  Armenia Armenia
- 28 March Sergei Zhigalko .svg.png.webp) Belgium Belgium
- 29 March Geetha Narayanan Gopal  India India
- 6 April Robin Swinkels  Netherlands Netherlands
- 21 April Li Chao  China China
- 30 April Hrant Melkumyan  Armenia Armenia
- 4 August Wang Hao  China China
- 28 August Aleksandr Rakhmanov  Russia Russia
- 4 November Axel Bachmann  Paraguay Paraguay
- 27 December Kateryna Lahno  Ukraine Ukraine
- Abhijeet Gupta  India India
- Eduardo Iturrizaga  Venezuela Venezuela
- Davit Jojua  Georgia Georgia
- Rinat Jumabayev  Kazakhstan Kazakhstan
- Aleksandr Lenderman  United States United States
- Michal Olszewski  Poland Poland
- Tornike Sanikidze  Georgia Georgia
- Krisztian Szabo  Hungary Hungary
- Daniele Vocaturo  Italy Italy
Deaths
    
The following leading chess personalities died in 1989:
- 4 April Baruch Harold Wood (born 1909): founded British magazine CHESS in 1935
- 15 October Anatoly Lutikov (born 1933): Russian Grandmaster who finished third in the USSR Championships 1968-9[15]
- Karen Grigorian (born 1947): Armenian International Master who was champion of Moscow in 1975 and 1979. Committed suicide by jumping from the tallest bridge in Yerevan[16]
Other events
    
The game between Ivan Nikolić and Goran Arsović in Belgrade 1989 lasted for over 20 hours and consisted of 269 moves. This is still the record number of moves played in a single tournament game. The game was eventually drawn.[17]
References
    
- "Top men's ratings 1970–1997". Archived from the original on 26 November 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
- "History of Elo ratings 1971–2001". olimpbase.org. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
- www.chessgames.com. "Barcelona WC 1989". Retrieved 11 November 2009.
- www.chessgames.com. "Rotterdam WC 1989". Retrieved 11 November 2009.
- www.chessgames.com. "Skelleftea WC 1989". Retrieved 11 November 2009.
- www.olimpbase.org. "9th European Team Chess Championship, Haifa". Retrieved 11 November 2009.
- www.chessgames.com. "Linares 1989". Retrieved 11 November 2009.
- "9th World Microcomputer Chess Championship". Archived from the original on 9 October 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
- "Tilburg 1989". Retrieved 11 November 2009.
- www.chessgames.com. "Reggio Emilia 1989/90". Retrieved 11 November 2009.
- "Wijk aan Zee 1989". Archived from the original on 2010-06-09. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
- Wall, Bill. "List of rated players". Archived from the original on 2009-10-28. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
- FIDE. "Chess grandmasters born in 1989". Retrieved 6 August 2010.
- "Maxim Rodshtein on chessgames.com". Archived from the original on 28 October 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
- "Anatoly Lutikov at www.chessgames.com". Retrieved 12 November 2009.
- "Karen Grigoryan at www.chessgames.com". Retrieved 12 November 2009.
- chessgames.com. "Nikolic-Arsovic, Belgrade 1989". Retrieved 11 November 2009.
