Gukesh leads Indian brigade at Tata Steel 2025 Wijk aan Zee
The dawn of new year 2025 has many connotations to sports lovers. The first tennis Grand Slam event, the Australian Open, takes off in Melbourne while the chess world looks to a much colder venue, Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands, to welcome the new year. The first classical Super GM tournament of the year – the Tata Steel Chess 2025 at Wijk aan Zee is called as the “Wimbledon of Chess” and the line-up this year is mouth-watering to say the least. The 87th edition, Tata Steel Chess 2025, is played at Dorpshuis De Moriaan, Wijk aan Zee from 17th January to 2nd February 2025.
The rising stature of Indian players will be on display at the 87th edition, with five GMs lined up in the Masters section viz., Erigaisi Arjun, Gukesh Dommaraju, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Pentala Harikrishna and Leon Luke Mendonca. FIDE Circuit points for the Candidates slot will be closely fought for with Erigaisi Arjun working to make amends for the narrow miss last year. Recently crowned women’s world blitz bronze medalist Vaishali Rameshbabu and Junior Women’s World Champion Divya Deshmukh will spear head India’s fortunes in the Challengers section.
All eyes will be on World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju (IND) who is set to play his first game since the historical 14th round victory over defending Champion Ding Liren in Singapore. Gukesh will be one of the many hungry lions who’d working to hold off the Chinese Grandmaster Wei Yi defending his Masters title. Top seed Fabiano Caruana (2805) along with Erigaisi Arjun, Praggnanandhaa, Anish Giri, Abdusattorov, Vincent Keymer is sure to give the Chinese a run for the money. Completing the lineup will be Fedoseev, Sarana, Harikrishna, van Foreest, Warmerdam and Mendonca. Having locked his sixth consecutive Candidates seat former champion Caruana can go on for a no holds barred push for the title.
The Challengers’ section has an interesting mix of players – youth and experience. Hungarian GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen (2673) is the top seed. But the fight for the next year’s Masters group slot will be intense. The impetus for the youth can seen with the inclusion of the World Junior Champions Kazybek Nogerbek and Divya Deshmukh. Others fighting for the podium include Nodirbek Yakubboev, Frederik Svane, Ediz Gurel, Aydin Suleymanli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Arthur Pijpers and Irina Bulmaga. Adding experience to the above will be Benjamin Bok and Erwin l’Ami respectively. Completing the list with be two prodigies Lu Miaoyi (CHN) and Faustino Oro (ARG).
Excellence and tradition go hand in this seaside town an hour away from the bustling Amsterdam. The G.O.A.T of chess Magnus Carlsen has won this major eight times, while five times winner Viswanathan Anand holds the record for most consecutive games played without a loss, 70 – from 1998 to 2004.
Other illustrious past champions include viz., Max Euwe, Jan Hein Donner, Genna Sosonko, Jan Timman, Jorden van Foreest, Anish Giri (all NED), Sawielly Tartakower (FRA), Bent Larsen (DEN), Lajos Portisch, Zoltán Ribli, Gyula Sax, Péter Lékó (all HUN), Paul Keres, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian, Efim Geller, Lev Polugaevsky, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Botvinnik (all USSR), Viktor Korchnoi (SUI), Ljubomir Ljubojevic (YUG), Nigel Short, John Nunn (both GBR), Ulf Andersson (SWE), Yasser Seirawan, Walter Browne, Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana (all USA), Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik, Garry Kasparov (all RUS), Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR), Veselin Topalov (BUL).
The Tata Steel Chess 2025 (Masters & Challengers) is a 14-player round-robin tournament. The players are awarded 100 minutes for 40 moves followed by 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move from move one.
The first round starts on Saturday 18th January at 8 AM ET / 2 PM CET / 6:30 PM IST and the days of rest fall after Round 5 (Jan 23), Round 8 (Jan 27) and Round 10 (Jan 30). The event concludes on Sunday 2nd February 2025.
Official Site: https://tatasteelchess.com/en
