HOOGEVEEN

The Dutch city of Hoogeveen was the venue of the annual Vam, Essent and Univé Chess festival. The festival included several competitions: a (double) round robin, a strong Open (international) tournament, an amateur competition and an event for youth. The winners of the top tournaments were: 1997 Emil Sutovsky; 1998 Judith Polgar; 1999 Jan Timman and Judit Polgar; 2000 Alexander Khalifman; 2001 Judit Polgar and Loek van Wely; 2002 Peter Acs; 2003 Judith Polgar; 2004 Ivan Sokolov; 2005 Pentalya Harikrishna;  2006 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov; 2007 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov; 2008 Ivan Sokolov; 2009 Sergei Tiviakov; 2010 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave; 2011 Vladimir Kramnik; 2012 Hikaru Nakamura; 2013 Wesley So; 2014 Anish Giri and Baadur Jobava; 2015 Jan Timman and Sopiko Guramishvili; 2016 Nigel Short and Ivan Sokolov; 2017 Vassili Ivantchouk and Jorden van Foreest; 2018 Peter Svidler and Vladimir Fedosseïev; 2019 Alireza Firouzja and Jan Timman.Crowngroup Essent 2007 Lucas
Ponomariov, Andriasian, Mamedyarov and Van Wely in 2007.