78th Tata Steel tournament begins on Friday

The 78th Tata Steel Chess Tournament takes place from January 15 to 31, 2016, in the coastal village of Wijk aan Zee, North Holland. It is one of the most prestigious events in the international chess calendar. The "Wimbledon of Chess" attracts the very best chess grandmasters in the world, along with thousands of amateur players, live event visitors and online visitors from around the world.

The tournament has two main player groups, each with 14 players. They are known as the Tata Steel Masters and the Tata Steel Challengers. The event attracts the very best chess grandmasters in the world. Visitors to the tournament have witnessed the domination of the biggest names in the chess world including Magnus Carlsen and Gary Kasparov. Below are the masters participating in the 2016 tournament (with FIDE ratings January 2016):

The Masters Group

Unlike most of the elite events where all the players are hovering somewhere around the top ten in the world, Tata Steel provides a refreshing change. There are the super-elite guys like Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Sergey Karjakin, Michael Adams and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and there are also players who knocking on the doors of becoming the best in the world, like Ding Liren, Pavel Eljanov and Evgeny Tomashevsky. To add to the spice we have the best woman player on the planet Hou Yifan, the most promising youngster Wei Yi, the winner of last year’s B group David Navara and the local boy Loek van Wely. They will all be fighting for a total prize fund of €25,500 and the first prize of €10,000. Let’s have a look at the participants:

The Ultimate King

Many people said 2015 wasn’t particularly Carlsen’s year. Yet he was adjudged by many experts as the best player of the year! This means that Magnus’ bad is better than other people’s good! With the London Chess Classic, Grand Chess Tour and the Qatar Masters Open under his belt in December 2015, the World Champion is without a doubt the biggest favourite at the Tata Steel 2016. Magnus has played in all the Tata Steel editions barring 2014 and has won it four times. This year he will be looking to equal Vishy Anand’s record of five victories in Wijk aan Zee.

Magnus Carlsen recaps year 2015

The super solid trio

Fabiano Caruana, Michael Adams, Anish Giri

We all know how solid Anish Giri is. One example of this is the Grand Chess Tour where the Dutch grandmaster remained unbeaten in 27 rounds, against the best players in the world. Not a single loss! While Michael Adams is also super-solid, what is Fabiano doing here? Well, Caruana and Adams both had the unique distinction of drawing all the nine games at the London Chess Classic 2015! Caruana and Giri are real threats to Carlsen in his bid to win the title.

Number 10, 11 and 13!

Wesley So, Sergey Karjakin, Pavel Eljanov

Wesley So, Sergey Karjakin, Pavel Eljanov are ranked number 10, 11 and 13 on the rating lists as on January 2016! Wesley had a mixed year when he had some personal issues, but he came out strong and won the Bilbao Masters in November 2015. Sergey Karjakin will be remembered for his heroic victory against Peter Svidler after being 2-0 down at the World Cup finals. And what do we say about Pavel Eljanov? He started 2015 being a super strong grandmaster with a rating of 2726 and ended the year as one of the elite with 2760! It is not very often that we see Eljanov playing in the same tournament as top guys like Carlsen, Caruana, Giri, Karjakin and So. It will be interesting to see how he fares.

The entertainers

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Evgeny Tomashevsky, David Navara and Loek van Wely

At the Qatar Masters 2015 Mamedyarov seemed to have come with only one intention – to entertain the audience! His games against Lenderman and Khismatullin are definitely worth a look. Tomashevsky’s games as White in the past year are also something that we can learn a lot from. His attacks have a trademark style – he plonks his knight to e5, pushes his h-pawn down the board, brings his queen into the danger zone and a rook lift usually finishes things off. It would be interesting to see how Evgeny fares against the best in the world. The game of the year in 2015 was surely Navara’s amazing king march as white to the h8 square against Wojtaszek! He has the capacity to play such crazy games against the best in the world. Loek van Wely is the last seed and is no longer as strong as he used to be, but he is ambitious and will surely give all the players a run for their money.

The Chinese!

Ding Liren, Hou Yifan and Wei Yi

There are three Chinese grandmasters in the elite section and only two Russians – amazing, isn’t it! And these three are the best in their country. Ding Liren is the highest rated Chinese player in the world, Hou Yifan is the best woman on the planet (by quite a margin), and Wei Yi is easily the most talented youngster in the chess world today! Chess lovers are excited to see a Magnus Carlsen vs Wei Yi game, which is bound to happen here!

Pictures of Ding Liren and Loek van Wely by Alina L’Ami
Picture of Pavel Eljanov by Anastasia Karlovich
Rest of the pictures of eleven players by Amruta Mokal

Playing schedule + Playchess commentary

The two main tournaments are round robins. Both groups start on the 16th of January 2016 in Wijk aan Zee. The Masters move to Amsterdam on January 21, and to Utrecht on January 27. All rounds in Wijk aan Zee begin at 1.30 p.m., except for the last round on 31 January 2016, which begins at 12.00 p.m. Round five will take place in the Science Center NEMO in Amsterdam, and round ten in the Spoorwegmuseum in Utrecht. Both these external rounds start at 2.00 p.m.

Links Official tournament site Download all games in PGN: Masters – Challengers The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.