Wimbledon of Chess – Line-Up Announced

The lineup for the most prestigious tournament on the calendar has been announced.

Tata Steel Chess Tournament also known as the Wimbledon of Chess is back with its “87th” edition!

History

Hoogovens – Corus – Tata Steel, the name of the tournament has evolved over the years but never lost its prestige. The tournament takes place in a small village called Wijk aan Zee in Holland. Started in 1938 as Hoogovens, named after the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens, later merged with Corus group in 1999 the tournament got its new name. Following another name change, the tournament has been commonly referred to as Tata Steel Chess Tournament since 2011. Chess players also like to call it just “Wijk” since the village has been a constant in its huge legacy.

The tournament has two sections, Masters and Challengers (Earlier known as groups A and B). The tournament takes place as a 14-player round-robin.

Line-Up of Tata Steel Master 2025

Fabiano Caruana

Arjun Erigaisi

Gukesh D

Nodirbek Abdusattorov

Wei Yi

Vidit Gujrathi

Praggnanandhaa R

Vincent Keymer

Anish Giri

Vladimir Fedoseev

Jorden van Foreest

Alexey Sarana

Max Warmerdam

Leon Mendonca

It should be noted that there are many absences from the World Top 10 namely, Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja, Ian Nepomniachtchi, etc. It would be the second consecutive absence of the world no. 1 Magnus Carlsen who has been vocal about his dying desire of playing classical chess.

The tournament still stands super strong with the presence of notable rising prodigies, top Dutch players, and other Super GMs.

Chinese number 1 Wei Yi will be back as the defending champion, having won the previous edition after defeating Nodirbek Abdusattorov and the current World Championship Challenger D. Gukesh. Leon Luke Mendonca will be a wild card – who earned his spot in the Masters section after winning the Challengers in 2024!

The tournament is set to commence from January 17 – February 2 2025.