11/20/2024 – The 87th Tata Steel Chess Tournament returns to Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, from 17 January to 2 February 2025, promising an electrifying start to the chess calendar. With five players from the world's top ten, including past champions Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri and Wei Yi, the field is stacked with talent. India's Dommaraju Gukesh, the youngest challenger for the World Championship in history, will also feature after his title clash in Singapore. Rising stars like junior world champions Kazybek Nogerbek and Divya Deshmukh, alongside prodigies Faustino Oro and Lu Miaoyi, will be playing in the Challengers. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Once again a top lineup
Press release by the organisers
Chess enthusiasts will be able to enjoy themselves again from 17 January to 2 February 2025 in Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands. The field of participants of the 87th Tata Steel Chess Tournament, with no less than five players from the world's top ten, is again extremely well filled this year. The event might also feature the newly crowned world champion. India's Dommaraju Gukesh will compete for the world title in Singapore from 23 November to 13 December and could become the youngest world champion in history.
Gukesh is a familiar face at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee: last year, he lost in the exciting final in the tiebreak to China's Wei Yi. Wei Yi will of course defend his title. Previous winners Fabiano Caruana from the United States and Dutchmen Anish Giri and Jorden van Foreest are also competing again for the title in the Masters tournament.
Tournament director Jeroen van den Berg is pleased with the field of participants:
I always strive for a balance between the well-known top players and promising talents. The Masters will feature Grandmasters who can still be regarded as talents in terms of age, but in terms of performance they have been outstanding for so long that they have actually already outgrown that status. I am referring especially to Praggnanandhaa, Abdusattorov and indeed Gukesh. I am proud of them when I see how, partly due to their previous participations in our tournament, they are now structurally among the world’s top players. In addition, my aim is to select as many players as possible with a strong mentality and willing to fight for the win. I think we can expect an interesting tournament on that front too.
Participants - Masters
Name
Country
World rank
Rating
Year of birth
Fabiano Caruana
USA
2
2805
1992
Arjun Erigaisi
India
4
2799
2003
Dommaraju Gukesh
India
5
2783
2006
Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Uzbekistan
6
2777
2004
Wei Yi
China
9
2753
1999
Vidit Gujrathi
India
15
2739
1994
R Praggnanandhaa
India
18
2737
2005
Vincent Keymer
Germany
21
2733
2004
Anish Giri
Netherlands
22
2733
1994
Vladimir Fedoseev
Slovenia
27
2712
1995
Jorden van Foreest
Netherlands
41
2687
1999
Alexey Sarana
Serbia
49
2679
2000
Max Warmerdam
Netherlands
78
2653
2000
Leon Luke Mendonca
India
114
2631
2006
Springboard to the world top
The currently more unknown talents play in the Challengers tournament. Among them are the two reigning junior world champions Kazybek Nogerbek (Kazakhstan) and Divya Deshmukh (India). Other notable invitees include the 11-year-old prodigy Faustino Oro (Argentina), 14-year-old Lu Miaoyi (China) and 16-year-old Ediz Gürel (Turkey).
Van den Berg:
I am very much looking forward to their arrival and I am curious to see if they can make the same great progress as the previously mentioned names at the Masters. Our tournament really turns out to be an exceptional springboard to the world top. We as an organisation are very proud of that.
In this course, you’ll learn how to take the initiative against the London and prevent White from comfortably playing their usual system by playing 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 Nh5.
London System Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains in all 11 285 games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 282 are annotated.
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The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 5.Bf4 has a great balance between positional play and sharp pawn pushes; and will be a surprise for your opponents while being easy to learn for you, as the key patterns are familiar.
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