Strong fields set for Tata Steel 2019

81st Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee

Last January, the 80th Tata Steel tournament was won by Magnus Carlsen for a record sixth time. After 13 rounds, he was tied with Anish Giri for first place with 9 points out of 13 but prevailed in the subsequent tiebreak match. It was the first time that a playoff was used in the tournament — previously they crowned joint winners.

Carlsen surpassed the previous record set by Viswanathan Anand who won the tournament five times. Other repeat winners include Max Euwe, Viktor Korchnoi, Levon Aronian and Lajos Portisch who each won four times, and Garry Kasparov to took first in Wijk aan Zee on three occasions.

The Masters

From January 11th to 27th, 2019, the small Dutch seaside village of Wijk aan Zee will once again take centre stage. This year's field of players is especially attractive, featuring three world champions — Carlsen and Anand are back, joined by Vladimir Kramnik. 2800-players Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Ding Liren, plus Anish Giri make for six of the top ten in the World. 

My Career Vol. 1

The first DVD with videos from Anand's chess career reflects the very beginning of that career and goes as far as 1999. It starts with his memories of how he first learned chess and shows his first great games (including those from the 1984 WCh for juniors). The high point of his early developmental phase was the winning of the 1987 WCh for juniors. After that, things continue in quick succession: the first victories over Kasparov, WCh candidate in both the FIDE and PCA cycles and the high point of the WCh match against Kasparov in 1995.
Running time: 3:48 hours

Former World Champions back in action in January

But the supporting cast is also interesting. Teimour Radjabov has not played since April's Shamkir Chess, Ian Nepomniachtchi had a strong 2018 including his Dortmund win, and it was a breakout year for US Champion Sam Shankland. Top young talents, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vladimir Fedoseev and Vidit Gujrathi will all be making their 'Master' debut. The last player announced today was Hungarian Richard Rapport, the next ACP qualifier after Shankland who was previously invited. Rapport played previously in 2014 and 2017 but finished a disappointing 11th and 13th places respectively.

Players in the Masters 2019

My Path to the Top

On this DVD Vladimir Kramnik retraces his career from talented schoolboy to World Champion in 2006. With humour and charm he describes his first successes, what it meant to be part of the Russian Gold Medal team at the Olympiad, and how he undertook the Herculean task of beating his former mentor and teacher Garry Kasparov.

The Challengers

The Beasty Botvinnik Variation in the Semi-Slav!

On this DVD you will be taken on a journey through what is arguably the sharpest opening line known to men.

We can only praise the selection of players in the Challengers group as well. Anton Korobov, Erwin l'Ami and Evgeny Bareev are this year's crop of veteran grandmasters. The latter played for many years for Russia and at his peak in 2003 was number four in the world rankings. Later, Bareev worked as a coach for the Russian Chess Federation and since 2015 he has played under the flag of Canada where he emigrated. Erwin l'Ami is a regular second to Anish Giri (and has also proven his profound opening credentials in a string ChessBase video series!).

There are two women: Elisabeth Pähtz is already one of the 'experienced' players though just 30 years old and Dinara Saduakassova from Kazakhstan is the 22-year-old world number 18 among women.

Pragg and Paehtz

How to play the Sicilian Defence!

The continuous stream of new ideas in the Sicilian makes 1..c5 the most popular answer to 1.e4. On this DVD I do give an introduction to the most important Sicilian systems.

Stefan Kuipers and Lucas van Foreest represent the Dutch colours in the Challengers field. Van Foreest follows in the footsteps of his older brother Jorden. Among the other debutants are two very young players, Vincent Keymer and Praggnanandhaa, both about the same age.

Keymer is the biggest German talent who surprisingly won the Grenke Open last year and also garnered attention at the Isle of Man Open with a victory over Boris Gelfand. So far, however, the young IM has not had so much opportunity to distinguish himself in invitational tournaments.

And it will not be easy, because there are quite a few other young and hungry players in the field: Benjamin Gledura, Andrey Esipenko and junior world champion Parham Maghsoodloo will provide tough competition. The final player — the ACP qualifier — was added today: 22-year-old Maksim Chigaev.

Players in the Challengers 2019

The Tarrasch Defence

Are you looking for an active defence against 1.d4? Look no further! The Tarrasch Defence (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5) is one of Black's most ambitious ways to meet 1.d4.

FIDE ratings of December 2018

Schedule

As has become traditional, there will be two 'Chess on Tour' days, this year in Alkmaar and Leiden.

• 12 January 2019 - Round 1
• 13 January 2019 - Round 2
• 14 January 2019 - Round 3
• 15 January 2019 - Round 4
• 16 January 2019 - Round 5 (Alkmaar)
• 17 January 2019 - Rest day
• 18 January 2019 - Round 6
• 19 January 2019 - Round 7
• 20 January 2019 - Round 8
• 21 January 2019 - Rest day
• 22 January 2019 - Round 9
• 23 January 2019 - Round 10 (Leiden)
• 24 January 2019 - Rest day
• 25 January 2019 - Round 11
• 26 January 2019 - Round 12
• 27 January 2019 - Round 13

Andre Schulz contributed reporting

Links

• Official site
• All stories on Tata Steel Chess 2018