# Rilton Cup

The Rilton Cup is a chess tournament that takes 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. Its first edition took place in 1971/1972 with Jan Timman being the winner. It uses a Swiss-system tournament format.

## History

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. 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. After Rilton's death, the Rilton Cup continued to be funded by Dr. Tore Rilton's Memorial Fund.
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. 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. The Rilton Cup's 50th edition was cancelled again in 2021-2022 and was postponed for 2022–2023.
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. Pranesh M won the tournament with 8 points in 9 rounds, scoring his final GM norm, with Kaan Kucusar finishing 2nd and Nikita Meshkovs 3rd, both with 7 points.

## Winners

| 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) |
| - | 2020/2021 | Krishnan Sasikiran | 2-0 (KO) |
| 50 | 2022/2023 | Pranesh M | 8 (9) |
| 51 | 2023/2024 | Vitaly Sivuk | 7½ (9) |