1/10/2020 – Starting tomorrow the chess world will look again towards the tiny Dutch village of Wijk aan Zee. There, the crème de la crème of the chess world will drink pea soup with some very hungry young players at the Tata Steel Chess tournament, which kicks off Saturday with Round 1 of both the Masters and Challengers groups.
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The year's super-tournament season is traditionally opened with the tournament in Wijk aan Zee, which holds its opening ceremony on Friday. The long history of tournaments in the tranquil spa town on the Dutch North Sea coast dates back to 1938. This year the 82nd tournament is being played. The main sponsor of the tournament remains the steel factory in Ijmuiden, which is now part of the Indian Tata group.
The Tata Steel chess tournament has a real festival character. In addition to the two majors — the Masters and Challengers, there are countless other tournaments over a fortnight. Indeed, the special folksy atmosphere in Wijk aan Zee arises in large measure from the fact that amateurs, club players, top professionals and the world elite all play in close proximity at the De Moriaan sports hall in the centre of town. If you play in one of the open tournaments here, you might meet Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Vishy Anand, or one of the many other top players on the planet in the hallway, or at the local restaurants. Maybe pick up a few Elo points through osmosis? Who knows?
Closing video from the 2019 festival
In addition, the tournament organization with Jeroen von den Berg at the top has a special knack for putting together interesting tournament fields. This year, the world's best players meet some ambitious young talents. And while bringing together the best players from all over the world, the organizers in the Netherlands never forget their own youngsters who get a phenomenal annual proving ground.
Wijk aan Zee is just 30 Km northwest of Amsterdam | Source: Google Maps
The Masters
The raking list of the Masters is topped by the number one and number two in the world rankings, Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. In addition to the current and 16th chess world champion, the 15th in the form of Viswanthan Anand is also returning. Anish Giri, Wesley So, Nikita Vitiugiv (replacing the withdrawn Ian Nepomniachtchi), Yu Yangyi, although still young, can be considered veterans. While Vladislav Kovalev, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vladislav Artemiev, Daniil Dubov, Jeffrey Xioang, Jorden van Foreest and especially Alireza Firouzja are all even younger and no-doubt relishing the chance to spar in such elite company.
The attention of spectators will be particularly focused on Firouzja, who is only 16 years old. Firouzja has just become the runner-up behind Carlsen in rapid chess. He is considered a possible future World Championship contender. This is his first big tournament where he meets the world's best players in a classical time control. But other young players have also attracted attention with their successes, not least the young Polish GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who shares the fifth spot on the starting list with Anand.
Players in the Masters
Name
Fed.
Rating
Rank
GM
Carlsen, Magnus
NOR
2872
1
GM
Caruana, Fabiano
USA
2822
2
GM
Giri, Anish
NED
2768
9
GM
So, Wesley
USA
2765
10
GM
Anand, Viswanathan
IND
2758
14
GM
Duda, Jan-Krzysztof
POL
2758
15
GM
Vitiugov, Nikita
RUS
2747
19
GM
Artemiev, Vladislav
RUS
2731
23
GM
Yu, Yangyi
CHN
2726
25
GM
Firouzja, Alireza
FID
2723
27
GM
Xiong, Jeffery
USA
2712
33
GM
Dubov, Daniil
RUS
2683
53
GM
Kovalev, Vladislav
BLR
2660
82
GM
Van Foreest, Jorden
NED
2644
110
Elo avg: 2741 Category: 20 FIDE ratings from January 2020
The Challengers
The Challengers in Wijk aan Zee is the undercard of the event, but with an average of over 2600 it is also a very strong top tournament. Here, too, young players compete in an interesting field along with experienced players. In addition to tournament veterans such as Pavel Eljanov, Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Rauf Mamedov, Erwin l'Ami, the young and younger participants include the world's best players for their age: Nodirbek Abdusattorov (15), Nihal Sarin (15), Anton Smirnov (18), Lucas van Foreest (18) and Vincent Keymer (15).
Lucas van Foreest is the reigning Dutch champion. Max Warmerdam (19) qualified through last year's "top nine-round event". This tournament is now called "Tata Steel Qualifiers". Jan Smeets also represents the Dutch colors.
Dinara Saduakassova is the only female participant. In October 2019, she received her first GM norm at the tournament on the Isle of Man and advanced as high as number 11 on the women's world rankings.
Players in the Challengers
Name
Country
Rating
GM
Anton Guijarro, David
ESP
2694
GM
Grandelius, Nils
SWE
2673
GM
Mamedov, Rauf
AZE
2659
GM
Eljanov, Pavel
UKR
2650
GM
Ganguly, Surya Shekhar
IND
2636
GM
Abdusattorov, Nodirbek
UZB
2635
GM
Nihal Sarin
IND
2618
GM
L'Ami, Erwin
NED
2606
GM
Smirnov, Anton
AUS
2604
GM
Smeets, Jan
NED
2585
IM
Keymer, Vincent
GER
2527
GM
Van Foreest, Lucas
NED
2523
IM
Saduakassova, Dinara
KAZ
2519
IM
Warmerdam, Max
NED
2498
Elo avg: 2602 Category: 15 FIDE ratings from January 2020
Schedule
The 82nd edition of the Tata Steel chess tournament will take place in Wijk aan Zee from January 10th to 26th, 2020. The 5th round on January 16th will be held at the Philips Stadium in Eindhoven. Entry to all rounds of the Tata Steel chess tournament is free of charge. The games can also be followed online at Live.ChessBase.com or the official website.
Rest days in the Masters and Challengers are on January 15th, 20th and 23rd. Rounds start at 12:30 UTC (13:30 CET / 7:30 AM EST), except January 16th in Eindhoven when it starts 30 minutes later.
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