1/11/2019 – The annual "Tata Steel Chess Tournament" starts on Saturday in the Dutch North Sea town of Wijk aan Zee. The "Masters" is super-strong this year: Of the 14 participants in the round-robin tournament, only the local hero GM Jorden van Foreest has an Elo rating below 2700; three players are over 2800 including World Champion Magnus Carlsen, the defending champion and six-time tournament winner. The average Elo of the tournament is 2753. The participants in the "Challengers" also has a mouthwatering field. Here you'll find all the details! | Photo: TataSteelChess.com
new: ChessBase Magazine 225
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more. ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post. Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #225 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.!
Winning starts with what you know The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
In this video course, kings will play a role of strong and active pieces. We will explore how Kings can be helpful in defence and prophylaxis, or even in attack!
€34.90
Carlsen tries to make it seven
The Tata Steel Chess tournament is the first chess highlight in the New Year. The venue Wijk aan Zee is located 20 km from Amsterdam on the Dutch North Sea coast. Chess tournaments have been held there since 1938; After World War II, they were sponsored by a steel company (Hoogovens). Later, the tournaments got the name Corus after a merger with British Steel in 1999, and it changed once again as "Corus" became "Tata Steel Europe" in 2010 after a merger with the Indian conglomerate's steel arm.
Meanwhile, a stable format has pit 14 players from the world elite in a single round-robin tournament ("Masters"). In a second tournament ("Challengers"), has evolved into a proving ground for young talents and experienced veterans and offers a chance to fight for a place in Masters of the following year. Wijk aan Zee hosts a slew of amateur tournaments which is key to its traditional festival atmosphere.
Magnus Carlsen won his sixth tournament in Wijk aan Zee in 2018 — a record
World Champion Magnus Carlsen is the headliner, as he tries to extend his record of six first-place finishes. He surpassed Viswanathan Anand last year, but the Indian ace is back to try once more himself.
As an appetiser, the organisers have produced this short video:
A live broadcast is available courtesy TataSteelMasters.com via live.chessbase.com or on the Playchess server. Anna Rudolf and Lawrence Trent will be the commentary duo from January 12th to 18th. Sopiko Guramishvilli and Robert Hess will take over from January 20th to 27th. And a surprise team is set to handle the January 19th show, to be announced.
ChessBase will provide daily video round-up shows by a variety of commentators (see Schedule below).
Pairings
A 14-player single round-robin means each player plays every other once for 13 rounds in all. The drawing of lots determines the colours for each game.
Masters
The drawing of lots for the Masters took place today.
Players receive 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 minutes for 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus 30 seconds bonus per move starting from move one.
Schedule
As has become traditional, there will be two 'Chess on Tour' days, this year in Alkmaar (Round 5) and Leiden (Round 10).
Day
Date
Round
Round-up show
Saturday
January 12
1
IM Merijn van Delft
Sunday
January 13
2
GM Daniel King
Monday
January 14
3
GM Daniel King
Tuesday
January 15
4
GM Daniel King
Wednesday
January 16
5
GM Daniel King
Friday
January 18
6
IM Merijn van Delft
Saturday
January 19
7
GM Daniel King
Sunday
January 20
8
GM Yannick Pelletier
Tuesday
January 22
9
GM Daniel King
Wednesday
January 23
10
IM Lawrence Trent
Friday
January 25
11
GM Yannick Pelletier
Saturday
January 26
12
IM Lawrence Trent
Sunday
January 27
13
GM Yannick Pelletier
All rounds in Wijk aan Zee start at 13:30 CET (12:30 UTC, 7:30 EST), except the last round, which starts at 12.00. The Chess-on-Tour rounds (5 and 10) start at 14:00 CET.
2nd Move Anti-Sicilian Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 12090 games from Mega 2025 or the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 874 are annotated.
Ruy Lopez Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 12092 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 1276 are annotated.
In this 60 Minutes, Andrew Martin guides you through all the key ideas you need to know to play with confidence. Whether you’re looking to surprise your opponents, or simply want a straightforward weapon against e5, the Centre Attack has you covered.
€9.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.