Back بطولة تاتا ستيل للشطرنج Arabic Veyk-an-Zee turniri Azerbaijani Šahovski turnir u Wijk aan Zeeu BS Torneig d'escacs Tata Steel Catalan Šachový turnaj ve Wijku aan Zee Czech Tata-Steel-Schachturnier German Σκακιστικό Τουρνουά Tata Steel Greek Torneo de ajedrez Tata Steel Spanish Tata Steeli maleturniir Estonian Tata Steel Chess Finnish
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands.[1] It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Steel to form the Corus Group in 1999, after which the tournament was renamed the Corus Chess Tournament. Corus Group was taken over by the Tata Group and became Tata Steel Europe in 2007,[2] with the tournament changing to its current name in 2011. It has also been referred to as "Wijk aan Zee" since the venue change from the town of Beverwijk to the town of Wijk aan Zee in 1968. Despite the name changes, the series is numbered sequentially from its Hoogovens beginnings; for example, the 2025 event was referred to as the 87th Tata Steel Chess Tournament.[3][4]
Top grandmasters compete in the tournament, but regular club players are welcome to play in the lower groups.[1] The Masters group pits fourteen of the world's best players against each other in a round-robin tournament, and has sometimes been described as the "Wimbledon of Chess".[5][6] Since 1938, there has been a long list of very strong winners; of the fifteen undisputed World Chess Champions since the first tournament in 1938, only five – Alexander Alekhine, Vasily Smyslov, Bobby Fischer, Ding Liren and Gukesh Dommaraju – have not won it. In 2001, nine of the top ten players in the world participated.[1]
Magnus Carlsen holds the record for most wins at the tournament, with eight. Viswanathan Anand is the only other player to have won the event five or more times, with five titles to his name. R Praggnanandhaa is the defending champion after defeating Gukesh in the tiebreaks in 2025.
Until recently, players ending on the same score shared the title. The first tie-break was held in 2018, with Magnus Carlsen defeating Anish Giri to clinch the title.[6] As of the 2025 edition, if two or more players lead with the same score at the end of the round-robin, they all take part in the tiebreaks to determine the sole winner. The time control of the tiebreaks is blitz, and then sudden death.[a][7]
- ^ a b c Frey, Eduard (13 January 2023). "Ten Trivia about the Tata Steel Tournament series, the Wimbledon of Chess". ChessBase. Archived from the original on 15 January 2025. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
- ^ "India media upbeat on Tata's win". BBC News. 1 February 2007. Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
- ^ "Masters & Challengers". Tata Steel Chess. 18 January 2025. Archived from the original on 18 January 2025. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
- ^ Ahmed, Shahid (2 February 2025). "Gukesh or Praggnanandhaa - Who will win 87th Tata Steel Masters?". ChessBase. Archived from the original on 11 February 2025. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
- ^ Barden, Leonard (12 January 2018). "Magnus Carlsen aims for strong showing at 'Wimbledon of chess' event". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 December 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
- ^ a b "Magnus Carlsen wins Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2018". FIDE. 29 January 2018. Archived from the original on 28 January 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
- ^ "Format". Tata Steel Chess. Archived from the original on 7 February 2025. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
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