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"In a football match, everything is complicated by the presence of the other team."
Jean-Paul Sartre
Chess players might relate to this insight by the French philosopher. But during the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee the chess players have a chance to test and to show their football skills. As the official tournament page announces, on Wednesday, January 18, "a special football match will take place at second division club Telstar’s stadium in Velsen-Zuid. ... Grandmasters from the Tata Steel Masters and the Tata Steel Challengers will walk onto the field, accompanied by Telstar players, to play a friendly football match. ... The match starts at 13.30 hours and is open to the public free of admission."
Magnus Carlsen (in white) and Loek van Wely (in blue) on
the football field (Photo: Tournament page Wijk aan Zee)
Last year, the grandmasters also fought against and with the Telstar second division players. But World Champion Magnus Carlsen, an ardent football fan, was unimpressed. In February 2016 he visited Hamburg to play a 70-board simul to celebrate the 70th birthday of the German weekly "Die Zeit". In the morning Carlsen prepared for the simul by playing indoors football with chess amateurs from Hamburg and when asked about the football players from Telstar, Carlsen said: "Well, they were not that strong."
Magnus Carlsen in action
Chessplayers and football players
Carlsen's preparation paid off: the World Champion won the simul 68-2. He won 67 games, drew two and lost one.
The famous football star and coach Felix Magath is a great chess fan.
But he lost against Carlsen.
| Name | Country | Rating | Position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GM | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2840 | 1 |
| GM | So, Wesley | USA | 2808 | 4 |
| GM | Karjakin, Sergey | RUS | 2785 | 8 |
| GM | Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2780 | 9 |
| GM | Giri, Anish | NED | 2773 | 10 |
| GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | RUS | 2767 | 11 |
| GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | IND | 2766 | 12 |
| GM | Eljanov, Pavel | UKR | 2755 | 15 |
| GM | Wojtaszek, Radoslaw | POL | 2750 | 18 |
| GM | Andreikin, Dmitri | RUS | 2736 | 24 |
| GM | Wei, Yi | CHN | 2704 | 38 |
| GM | Rapport, Richard | HUN | 2702 | 40 |
| GM | Van Wely, Loek | NED | 2695 | 49 |
| GM | Adhiban, Baskaran | IND | 2653 | 102 |
| Name | Country | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GM | Ragger, Markus | AUT | 2697 |
| GM | Smirin, Ilia | ISR | 2667 |
| GM | Xiong, Jeffery | USA | 2667 |
| GM | Jones, Gawain | ENG | 2665 |
| GM | Grandelius, Nils | SWE | 2642 |
| GM | Lu, Shanglei | CHN | 2612 |
| GM | van Foreest, Jorden | NED | 2612 |
| GM | Bok, Benjamin | NED | 2608 |
| GM | l'Ami, Erwin | NED | 2605 |
| GM | Hansen, Eric | CAN | 2603 |
| GM | Tari, Aryan | NOR | 2584 |
| GM | Dobrov, Vladimir | RUS | 2499 |
| WGM | Tingjie, Lei | CHN | 2467 |
| IM | Guramishvili, Sopiko | GEO | 2370 |
Time control
100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves. Then 15 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from the first move.
Both groups start on 14 January 2017. All rounds in Wijk aan Zee begin at 1.30pm, except for the last round on 29 January 2017, which begins at 12.00pm. Both rounds on the Chess On Tour days start at 2.00pm.
Saturday, 14. January, 1. Round
Sunday,15. January, 2. Round
Monday, 16. January, 3. Round
Tuesday, 17. January, 4. Round
Wednesday, 18. January, Rest Day
Thursday, 19. January, 5. Round in Rotterdam
Friday, 20. January, 6. Round
Saturday, 21. January, 7. Round
Sunday, 22. January, 8. Round
Monday, 23. January, Rest Day
Tuesday, 24. January, 9. Round
Wednesday, 25. January, 10. Round in Haarlem
Thursday, 26. January, Rest Day
Friday, 27. January, 11. Round
Saturday, 28. January, 12. Round
Sunday, 29. January, 13. Round
| Date | Round | Round Up (English) | Commentary | Live Commentary German | ||
| 14. Jan | Round 1 | 21:30 | Yannick Pelletier | 13.30 | G. Souleidis/D.Kollars | |
| 15. Jan | Round 2 | 21:00 | Daniel King |
13.30 | Klaus Bischoff | |
| 16. Jan | Round 3 | 21:30 | Yannick Pelletier | 13.30 | Klaus Bischoff | |
| 17. Jan | Round 4 | 21:00 | Daniel King |
13.30 | Klaus Bischoff | |
| 18. Jan | Free Day | |||||
| 19. Jan | Round 5 | 21:00 | Simon Williams | 14:00 | Klaus Bischoff | |
| 20. Jan | Round 6 | 21:00 | Daniel King |
13.30 | O. Reeh/G. Souleidis | |
| 21. Jan | Round 7 | 21:00 | Simon Williams | 13.30 | Klaus Bischoff | |
| 22. Jan | Round 8 | 21:30 | Yannick Pelletier | 13.30 | Klaus Bischoff | |
| 23. Jan | Free Day | |||||
| 24. Jan | Round 9 | 21:30 | Yannick Pelletier | 13:30 | Klaus Bischoff | |
| 25. Jan | Round 10 | 21:00 | Daniel King |
14:00 | Klaus Bischoff | |
| 26. Jan | Free Day | |||||
| 27. Jan | Round 11 | 21:00 | Daniel King |
13:30 | O. Reeh/K. Müller | |
| 28. Jan | Round 12 | 21:30 | Yannick Pelletier | 13:30 | Klaus Bischoff | |
| 29. Jan | Round 13 | 21:00 | Daniel King |
12:00 | Klaus Bischoff | |
