Information and schedule
This event starts with an opening ceremony on Friday January 13th. The first
round is played on Saturday 14th, the last on Sunday, January 29th, 2012. The
venue is as usual the traditional De Moriaan Center in Wijk aan Zee. The tournament
has taken place since 1938 and was known as the Corus Chess Tournament. The
Indian company Tata Steel bought Corus (for US $7.6 billion) in 2006 and the
chess event way renamed accordingly.
Wijk aan Zee (pronounced vyke ahn zeh – to rhyme with "bike on say")
is a small wind-swept town on the coast
of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk in the province of North
Holland of the Netherlands.
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The tournament takes place in three Grandmaster Groups, with a number of amateur
events being held at the same time. The three Grandmaster tournaments have 14
players each and are full round robins (each competitor plays against every
other).
History
The event has been held since 1938, when it was a four-player round robin played
on three days. The sponsor was Hoogoven and the venue Beverwijk, a town close
to Wijk where many players today take their dinner. From 1940 on Max Euwe participated,
but the tournament, which in 1942 turned into a six player event, and in 1943
to eight. The final year of WWII, 1945, was the only time the tournament was
not staged. From 1946 it becames a ten-player event, with some exceptions: 12
players in 1953, 18 in 1963, and then 16 players from 1964 onwards. In 1980
the first 14-player tournament was held (and won by Walter Brown and Yasser
Seirawan), and that's the way it stayed, with some exceptions from 1993-1995.
From 1996 onwards it reverted to fourteen players and has stayed that way until
today. In 1968 it moved to Wijk aan Zee, and in 2000 it was renamed Corus, after
the main sponsor. You can click on any of the tournaments listed below for participants,
results, cross tables, etc.
In the lists below you can also click the players for full information
Tournament victories |
Name |
wins |
Anand,
Viswanathan |
5 |
Euwe,
Max |
4 |
Korchnoi,
Viktor |
4 |
Portisch,
Lajos |
4 |
Donner,
Johannes |
3 |
Geller,
Efim |
3 |
Kasparov,
Garry |
3 |
Nunn,
John D.M. |
3 |
Carlsen,
Magnus |
2 |
Aronian,
Levon |
2 |
Karpov,
Anatoly |
2 |
Larsen,
Bent |
2 |
Nikolic,
Predrag |
2 |
Olafsson,
Fridrik |
2 |
Polugaevsky,
Lev |
2 |
Salov,
Valery |
2 |
Short,
Nigel |
2 |
Sosonko,
Gennadi |
2 |
Timman,
Jan H |
2 |
Topalov,
Veselin |
2 |
Van
Scheltinga, Theo |
2 |
Browne,
Walter S.
| 2 |
|
|
Most games wons |
Name |
Gms |
Donner,
Johannes |
85 |
Timman,
Jan H |
62 |
Korchnoi,
Viktor |
60 |
Anand,
Viswanathan |
58 |
Van
Scheltinga, Theo |
57 |
Portisch,
Lajos |
51 |
Ivkov,
Borislav |
43 |
Hort,
Vlastimil |
41 |
Piket,
Jeroen |
41 |
Langeweg,
Kick |
36 |
Ree,
Hans |
36 |
Topalov,
Veselin |
36 |
Adams,
Michael |
35 |
Browne,
Walter S. |
35 |
Kramnik,
Vladimir |
34 |
Andersson,
Ulf |
33 |
Nikolic,
Predrag |
33 |
Van
Wely, Loek |
33 |
O'Kelly
de Galway, A. |
32 |
Olafsson,
Fridrik |
30 |
Shirov,
Alexei |
30 |
Larsen,
Bent
| 29 |
|
Highest win percentage |
Name |
Score |
% |
Van
den Hoek, Arnold |
5.5/7 |
78.57 |
Spassky,
Boris V. |
11.0/15 |
73.33 |
Polugaevsky,
Lev |
19.0/26 |
73.08 |
Kasparov,
Garry |
28.5/39 |
73.08 |
Stoltz,
Gosta |
6.5/9 |
72.22 |
Tartakower,
Savielly |
6.5/9 |
72.22 |
Keres,
Paul |
21.5/30 |
71.67 |
Euwe,
Max |
35.0/49 |
71.43 |
Taimanov,
Mark E |
19.0/27 |
70.37 |
Lutikov,
Anatoly |
10.5/15 |
70.00 |
Bilek,
Istvan |
10.5/15 |
70.00 |
Botvinnik,
Mikhail |
10.5/15 |
70.00 |
Beliavsky,
Alexander |
18.0/26 |
69.23 |
Bronstein,
David I |
11.5/17 |
67.65 |
Schmidt,
Paul |
6.0/9 |
66.67 |
Petrosian,
Tigran V |
16.0/24 |
66.67 |
Nei,
Iivo |
20.0/30 |
66.67 |
Portisch,
Lajos |
84.0/127 |
66.14 |
Balashov,
Yuri S |
18.5/28 |
66.07 |
Geller,
Efim |
37.0/56 |
66.07 |
Parma,
Bruno |
20.5/32 |
64.06 |
Larsen,
Bent
| 36.0/57 |
63.16 |
|
You will find full statistics for all players in all tournaments here.
Participants of Tata Steel 2012
Grandmaster Group A
Title |
Player |
Nat. |
WRk |
Rating |
|
GM |
Carlsen, Magnus |
NOR |
1 |
2823 |
1990 |
GM |
Aronian, Levon |
ARM |
3 |
2807 |
1982 |
GM |
Karjakin, Sergey |
RUS |
5 |
2772 |
1990 |
GM |
Topalov, Veselin |
BUL |
6 |
2768 |
1975 |
GM |
Ivanchuk, Vassily |
UKR |
7 |
2765 |
1969 |
GM |
Gashimov, Vugar |
AZE |
10 |
2756 |
1986 |
GM |
Kamsky, Gata |
USA |
11 |
2756 |
1974 |
GM |
Nakamura, Hikaru |
USA |
12 |
2753 |
1987 |
GM |
Radjabov, Teimour |
AZE |
13 |
2752 |
1987 |
GM |
Gelfand, Boris |
ISR |
15 |
2746 |
1968 |
GM |
Giri, Anish |
NED |
23 |
2722 |
1994 |
GM |
Caruana, Fabiano |
ITA |
32 |
2712 |
1992 |
GM |
Navara, David |
CZE |
42 |
2705 |
1985 |
GM |
Van Wely, Loek |
NED |
55 |
2689 |
1972 |
Average rating: 2752 – Category:
21 |
The average rating in Group A is twelve points higher that in the
previous year, and the category has climbed from 20 to 21, making it the
strongest in Wijk's history. The world's highest ranked player, Magnus Carlsen,
is there, as are number three, Levon Aronian, and 5-7. Missing, of course, are
the world's number two and four, Anand and Kramnik, but the organisers can be
rightfully proud that ten of the top fifteen players are participating. Bulgarian
GM Veseiln Topalov, who has been playing very little since his failed World
Championship title challenge (to Viswanathan Anand in Sofia last April/May),
comes back big time by accepting the invitation this this tournament. Interestingly
Anand's 2012 challenger Boris Gelfand is also playing. Hikaru Nakamura, the
winner of last year's edition, will of course also be in Wijk aan Zee.
Grandmaster Group B
Title |
Player |
Nat. |
Rating |
Born |
GM |
Motylev, Alexander |
RUS |
2690 |
1979 |
GM |
Bruzon, Lazaro |
CUB |
2682 |
1982 |
GM |
Harikrishna, Pentala |
IND |
2672 |
1986 |
GM |
Potkin, Vladimir |
RUS |
2671 |
1982 |
GM |
Tiviakov, Sergei |
NED |
2647 |
1973 |
GM |
Reinderman, Dimitri |
NED |
2594 |
1972 |
GM |
L'Ami, Erwin |
NED |
2592 |
1985 |
GM |
Ernst, Sipke |
NED |
2581 |
1979 |
GM |
Nyzhnyk, Illya |
UKR |
2561 |
1996 |
GM |
Timman, Jan |
NED |
2555 |
1951 |
GM |
Lahno, Kateryna |
UKR |
2554 |
1989 |
GM |
Vocaturo, Daniele |
ITA |
2537 |
1989 |
GM |
Cmilyte, Viktorija |
LIT |
2525 |
1983 |
GM |
Dronavalli, Harika |
IND |
2505 |
1991 |
Average rating: 2597 – Category:
14 |
This group is considerably weaker than last year, the average rating dropping
by 62 points and the category from 17 to 14. But there are some quite interesting
players participating: GM Illya Nyzhnyk, the 15-year-old boy wonder, Jan Timman,
the chess legend coming out of semi-retirement, and three ladies: world number
five Kateryna Lahno of Ukrain, reigning European champion Viktorija Cmilyte
of Lithuania and Harika Dronavalli of India, who is just 20 years old. All three
carry full-blown grandmaster titles.
Grandmaster Group C
Title |
Player |
Nat. |
Rating |
Born |
GM |
Turov, Maxim |
RUS |
2643 |
1979 |
GM |
Sadler, Matthew |
ENG |
2625 |
1974 |
GM |
Tikkanen, Hans |
SWE |
2591 |
1985 |
GM |
Brandenburg, Daan |
NED |
2522 |
1987 |
GM |
Danielian, Elina |
ARM |
2517 |
1978 |
IM |
Grover, Sahaj |
IND |
2514 |
1995 |
IM |
Paehtz, Elisabeth |
GER |
2461 |
1985 |
IM |
Sachdev, Tania |
IND |
2419 |
1986 |
|
Hopman, Pieter |
NED |
2351 |
1972 |
|
Ootes, Lars |
NED |
2340 |
1991 |
WIM |
Schut, Lisa |
NED |
2290 |
1994 |
WIM |
Haast, Anne |
NED |
2264 |
1993 |
FM |
Goudriaan, Etienne |
NED |
2250 |
1990 |
|
Winner of the CVT |
|
|
|
Average rating: 2507 – Category:
11 |
In 2009 this group had an average rating of 2455, in 2010 it climbed to 2507,
and now it is back to 2455 (for 13 players – the winner of the Cultural
Village Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, to be held from November 21 to 30 November,
will join them). Five ladies are playing, including the 17-year-old Lisa Schut
and 18-year-old Anne Haast. This is a very encouraging trend – last year
there were just two females in all three categories, this time eight! However,
we should mention that 37-year-old comeback
kid Matthew Sadler is the player to watch.
Rate of play
For all three groups the rate of play is 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 minutes
for 20 moves and finally 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30 seconds/move
increment starting with the first move of the game.
Location: The tournament takes place in the De Moriaan Community
Centre (Dorpsduinen 4, 1949 EG Wijk aan Zee). There is running commentary on
the games of the Grandmaster Groups in a special Chess Pavilion, on the Village
Green in Wijk aan Zee (one minute walk from De Moriaan).
Schedule (playing days)
January 2012 |
M |
T |
W |
T |
F |
S |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
Games begin at 13:30h local time (CET), except for the last round on January
29th, which begins at 12:00h. There are three rest days, on January 18th, 23th,
and 26th.
Commentary
There will be full broadcast of all games on the official site and on the Playchess
server, which will provide live audio commentary of the most interesting
games (free for Premium members) starting at 15:00h for each round, 14:00h for
the final round.
Links