The Tata Steel Chess Tournament, one of the most prestigious events in the international chess calendar, starts tomorrow with a very strong line-up in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. The event called “Wimbledon of Chess” celebrates this year its 80th anniversary.
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is composed of two main events, Tata Steel Masters and Tata Steel Challengers, and amateur event which attract and gather the very best chess Grandmasters in the world, thousands of amateur players and a lot of visitors from all around the world.
Traditionally, the event takes place in the coastal village of Wijk aan Zee, North Holland, and location of playing venues for the 80th anniversary are Beeld en Geluid in Hilversum and the Academy building of the University of Groningen.
Tata Steel Master tournament features 14 top World Grandmasters, among whom are six players from top 10: World number one Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 2834), #2Caruana Fabiano (USA, 2811), #3Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (AZE, 2804), #6Wesley So (USA, 2792), #7Kramnik Vladimir (RUS, 2787), #10Svidler Peter (RUS, 2768).
With participation of #11 Viswanathan Anand (IND, 2767), #14 Karjakin Sergey (RUS, 2753), #15 Giri Anish (NED, 2752), #22 Wei Yi (CHN, 2743), #32 Matlakov Maxim (RUS, 2718), #64 Hou Yifan (CHN. 2680), #96 Adhiban B. (IND, 2655) and #127 Jones Gawain (ENG, 2640) the event is declared as the tournament of 20th category with an average rating 2750.
The Tata Steel Challengers, qualification event for the next Tata Steel Masters tournament, features well known grandmasters as the top seeded Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (IND, 2718), four Dutch representatives L’Ami Erwin (NED, 2634), Van Foreest Jorden (NED, 2629), Bok, Benjamin (NED, 2607), Van Foreest, Lucas (NED, 2481), reigning World U20 Champion Tari Aryan (NOR, 2599). Besides them, two girl players will try themselves in a strong competition and a fight for a seat on the Masters Tournament for 2019: Harika Dronavalli (IND, 2497) and Girya Olga (RUS, 2489).
Both events, Masters and Challengers, will be played in 13 rounds by Robin round system and will take place from 12th-28th January, with a start of the first rounds on 13th of January.
All the games of the main events will be broadcasted live and can be followed through the official website of the event together with a live commentary of the games.
Last year, the President of the European Chess Union Mr. Zurab Azmaiparshvili was the guest of honor in the playing hall of the Tata Steel in Wijk aan Zee, along with the President of Dutch Chess Federation, Mrs. Marleen van Amerongen, where he officially started the 9th round by traditional hit of the gong.
Mr.Azmaiparashvili was also guest at the live coverage of the event, hosted by GM Yasser Seirawan, where he talked about the upcoming FIDE World Cup, the Chess Olympiad 2018, European Chess Union activities and analysed the ongoing games of the 9th round!
More about the last year activities of the Tata Steel Chess can be read here.
Besides the main event, Tata Steel Amateur events will take place at the same place, which is a unique opportunity for amateurs and chess lovers to play chess in a same venue as their chess idols and world top players. Around 1800 players will be competing on the various tournaments of Tata Steel Amateur tour which gives youngsters the chance to develop and improve their skills in a fun environment.
Besides the tournament, Tata Kids of Steel Chess events will be organized with idea to inspire children of all ages while coming face-to-face with their peers. This year, there are around 1000 children participating in simultaneous chess games throughout the event.