Standout interviews from Wijk aan Zee

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
1/22/2026 – Post-game, thoughtful interviews from the Tata Steel Chess Tournament offer insight into form, temperament and longevity at the top level, guided by the calm questioning of Fiona Steil-Antoni. Carissa Yip speaks openly about nerves during critical moments, Faustino Oro displays unusual poise for his age, while Vasyl Ivanchuk gives an account of a notable incident in round three - his making the time control with just one second on the clock! | Image: Tata Steel Chess
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Carissa Yip

The four-time US women's chess champion scored a fine win with black over top seed Velimir Ivic. She is now a half point behind the co-leaders, and is set to face one of them in Friday's sixth round: her compatriot Andy Woodward.

In this interview, the witty 22-year-old made Fiona Steil-Antoni laugh, as she noted while referring to a critical moment in the game, "I was nervous, girl! I was hiding it".

At the end of the conversation, we also find out that her father thought himself to play chess when she wanted to learn the game as a kid.

Faustino Oro

After defeating Eline Roebers in round four, Oro went over his game with Steil-Antoni.

The game itself was a demonstration of cool-headed positional play followed by a precise tactical sequence to punish his opponent's tactical mistake. But perhaps even more remarkable is the maturity shown by the 12-year-old in the post-game interview.

The "Messi of chess" is self-confident yet realistic. And he is shooting for the stars.

Vasyl Ivanchuk

At 56 years of age, Vasyl Ivanchuk continues to show a childlike passion for chess.

Following his tension-packed victory in round three, Ivanchuk confesses, "I'm just very tired, I want to eat, I want to relax". However, he also mentions that he is excited about playing checkers in Holland, his other passion.

The Ukrainian legend also talks about the incident in the round-three game, when he made his 40th move with just 1 second on the clock. Ivanchuk notes, like the commentators had done in the booth, that Ivic could have tried to win the game by making a random, unexpected move at that point - though such behaviour is not characteristic of strong GMs!

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Topics: Fiona Steil-Antoni, Tata Steel Chess 2026
Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.