Tata Steel Chess Tournament

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The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. 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 called the Corus Chess Tournament. Corus Group became Tata Steel Europe in 2007. Despite the name changes, the series is numbered sequentially from its Hoogovens beginnings; for example, the 2011 event was referred to as the 73rd Tata Steel Chess Tournament.[1][2]

Playing hall of the 80th Tata Steel Tournament, 2018

Top grandmasters compete in the tournament, but regular club players are welcome to play as well. The Masters group pits fourteen of the world's best against each other in a round-robin tournament, and has sometimes been described as the "Wimbledon of Chess".[3][4] Since 1938, there has been a long list of famous winners, including Max Euwe, Bent Larsen, Tigran Petrosian, Paul Keres, Lajos Portisch, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, Viktor Korchnoi, Jan Timman, Anatoly Karpov, Vasyl Ivanchuk, Vladimir Kramnik, Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, Levon Aronian, Sergey Karjakin, and Magnus Carlsen. Of the ten World Chess Champions since the first tournament in 1938, only four – Alexander Alekhine, Vasily Smyslov, Bobby Fischer, and Ding Liren – have not won it. In 2001, nine of the top ten players in the world participated.

Magnus Carlsen holds the record for most wins at the tournament, with eight titles to his name. Anand is the only other player to have won the event five or more times. Anand also holds the record of most consecutive games played at the tournament without a loss (70 – from 1998 to 2004).

Tournament history

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Hoogovens Beverwijk

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The early tournaments were very small, starting with groups of four in 1938, and entry restricted to Dutch players. The first five tournaments continued this way, with the contest held annually early in January. In 1943 and 1944 the tournament field was doubled in size to eight players. No tournament was held in 1945 due to World War II. The first international tournament was held in 1946. The main tournament field was expanded to ten, with invitations to Alberic O'Kelly de Galway (Belgium) and Gösta Stoltz (Sweden) along with a Dutch contingent of eight.

The tournament field remained at ten until 1953 when it was increased to twelve, and an international women's tournament was also held. In 1954 the tournament field was returned to ten players, but the strength of the competitions increased. The field was greatly enlarged to 18 in 1963, and although it reduced to 16 in 1964, the event had become the strongest international chess tournament in the world (Golombek 1977, p. 143).

As the tournament grew in stature, the ancillary women's tournament became a regular feature, as did a 'Masters' event and 'Masters Reserves' events. There also began a tradition to operate a year on year invitation policy that resembled the system used in football 'league tables'; the winner of a lesser category event would receive an invitation to the next higher event the following year.

The 1946 tournament was one of the first European international chess tournaments after World War II. Food shortages were still a problem in Europe, so the post-tournament banquet featured pea soup, inexpensive fare of the common people. In subsequent years pea soup has been served as the first course of the concluding banquet, a tradition continued when the tournament was moved from Beverwijk to Wijk aan Zee (Damsky & Sugden 2005, p. 164).

 
Tigran Petrosian, Hoogovens 1960
 
Jan Hein Donner vs. Bruno Parma, Hoogovens 1963

Winners of the top group:[5]

# Year Winner(s)
1 1938   Jilling Van Dijk (Netherlands)
  Philip Bakker (Netherlands)
2 1939   Nicolaas Cortlever (Netherlands)
3 1940   Max Euwe (Netherlands)
4 1941   Arthur Wijnans (Netherlands)
5 1942   Max Euwe (Netherlands)
6 1943   Arnold van den Hoek (Netherlands)
7 1944   Theo van Scheltinga (Netherlands)
1945 No competition (due to World War II)
8 1946   Alberic O'Kelly de Galway (Belgium)
9 1947   Theo van Scheltinga (Netherlands)
10 1948   Lodewijk Prins (Netherlands)
11 1949   Savielly Tartakower (France)
12 1950   Jan Hein Donner (Netherlands)
13 1951   Hermann Pilnik (Argentina)
14 1952   Max Euwe (Netherlands)
15 1953   Nicolas Rossolimo (France)
16 1954   Hans Bouwmeester (Netherlands)
  Vasja Pirc (Yugoslavia)
17 1955   Borislav Milić (Yugoslavia)
18 1956   Gideon Ståhlberg (Sweden)
19 1957   Aleksandar Matanović (Yugoslavia)
20 1958   Max Euwe (Netherlands)
  Jan Hein Donner (Netherlands)
21 1959   Friðrik Ólafsson (Iceland)
22 1960   Bent Larsen (Denmark)
  Tigran Petrosian (Soviet Union)
23 1961   Bent Larsen (Denmark)
  Borislav Ivkov (Yugoslavia)
24 1962   Petar Trifunović (Yugoslavia)
25 1963   Jan Hein Donner (Netherlands)
26 1964   Paul Keres (Soviet Union)
  Iivo Nei (Soviet Union)
27 1965   Lajos Portisch (Hungary)
  Efim Geller (Soviet Union)
28 1966   Lev Polugaevsky (Soviet Union)
29 1967   Boris Spassky (Soviet Union)

Hoogovens Wijk aan Zee

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Mark Taimanov, Hoogovens 1970
 
Mikhail Tal, Hoogovens 1973
 
Nigel Short, Hoogovens 1986

The tournament was moved to the Dutch seaside town Wijk aan Zee in 1968. In this period, the tournament was popularly called both "Hoogovens" and "Wijk aan Zee". Winners of the Grandmaster A group since 1968 have been:

# Year Winner(s)
30 1968   Viktor Korchnoi (Soviet Union)
31 1969   Mikhail Botvinnik (Soviet Union)
  Efim Geller (Soviet Union)
32 1970   Mark Taimanov (Soviet Union)
33 1971   Viktor Korchnoi (Soviet Union)
34 1972   Lajos Portisch (Hungary)
35 1973   Mikhail Tal (Soviet Union)
36 1974   Walter Browne (United States)
37 1975   Lajos Portisch (Hungary)
38 1976   Ljubomir Ljubojević (Yugoslavia)
  Friðrik Ólafsson (Iceland)
39 1977   Gennadi Sosonko (Netherlands)
  Efim Geller (Soviet Union)
40 1978   Lajos Portisch (Hungary)
41 1979   Lev Polugaevsky (Soviet Union)
42 1980   Walter Browne (United States)
  Yasser Seirawan (United States)
43 1981   Gennadi Sosonko (Netherlands)
  Jan Timman (Netherlands)
44 1982   John Nunn (United Kingdom)
  Yuri Balashov (Soviet Union)
45 1983   Ulf Andersson (Sweden)
46 1984   Alexander Beliavsky (Soviet Union)
  Viktor Korchnoi (Switzerland)
47 1985   Jan Timman (Netherlands)
48 1986   Nigel Short (United Kingdom)
49 1987   Nigel Short (United Kingdom)
  Viktor Korchnoi (Switzerland)
50 1988   Anatoly Karpov (Soviet Union)
51 1989   Viswanathan Anand (India)
  Predrag Nikolić (Yugoslavia)
  Zoltán Ribli (Hungary)
  Gyula Sax (Hungary)
52 1990   John Nunn (United Kingdom)
53 1991   John Nunn (United Kingdom)
54 1992   Valery Salov (Russia)
  Boris Gelfand (Belarus)
55 1993   Anatoly Karpov (Russia)
56 1994   Predrag Nikolić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
57 1995   Alexey Dreev (Russia)
58 1996   Vasyl Ivanchuk (Ukraine)
59 1997   Valery Salov (Russia)
60 1998   Viswanathan Anand (India)
  Vladimir Kramnik (Russia)
61 1999   Garry Kasparov (Russia)

Corus tournament

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From 2000, the popular name for the tournament was more or less equally shared between "Wijk aan Zee" and "Corus".

# Year Winner(s)
62 2000   Garry Kasparov (Russia)
63 2001   Garry Kasparov (Russia)
64 2002   Evgeny Bareev (Russia)
65 2003   Viswanathan Anand (India)
66 2004   Viswanathan Anand (India)
67 2005   Peter Leko (Hungary)
68 2006   Viswanathan Anand (India)
  Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)
69 2007   Levon Aronian (Armenia)
  Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)
  Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan)
70 2008   Levon Aronian (Armenia)
  Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
71 2009   Sergey Karjakin (Russia)
72 2010   Magnus Carlsen (Norway)

Tata Steel tournament

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Magnus Carlsen, Tata Steel 2013

From 2011, the popular name for the tournament was changed from 'Corus' to 'Tata Steel'.

# Year Winner(s)
73 2011   Hikaru Nakamura (United States)
74 2012   Levon Aronian (Armenia)
75 2013   Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
76 2014   Levon Aronian (Armenia)
77 2015   Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
78 2016   Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
79 2017   Wesley So (United States)
80 2018   Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
81 2019   Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
82 2020   Fabiano Caruana (United States)
83 2021   Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands)
84 2022   Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
85 2023   Anish Giri (Netherlands)
86 2024   Wei Yi (China)

Multiple winners

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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 1½–½. The two players sharing first place after the regular games play two Blitz games and then possibly also an Armageddon game to decide a sole winner.[6]

Winners
Player Wins Tournaments Won
  Magnus Carlsen 8 (1 shared) 2008, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022
  Viswanathan Anand 5 (3 shared) 1989, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2006
  Max Euwe 4 (1 shared) 1940, 1942, 1952, 1958
  Levon Aronian 4 (2 shared) 2007, 2008, 2012, 2014
   Viktor Korchnoi 4 (2 shared) 1968, 1971, 1984, 1987
  Lajos Portisch 4 (1 shared) 1965, 1972, 1975, 1978
  Jan Hein Donner 3 (1 shared) 1950, 1958, 1963
  Efim Geller 3 (3 shared) 1965, 1969, 1977
  Garry Kasparov 3 1999, 2000, 2001
  John Nunn 3 (1 shared) 1982, 1990, 1991
  Walter Browne 2 (1 shared) 1974, 1980
   Anatoly Karpov 2 1988, 1993
  Bent Larsen 2 (2 shared) 1960, 1961
   Predrag Nikolić 2 (1 shared) 1989, 1994
  Friðrik Ólafsson 2 (1 shared) 1959, 1976
  Lev Polugaevsky 2 1966, 1979
  Valery Salov 2 (1 shared) 1992, 1997
  Gennadi Sosonko 2 (2 shared) 1977, 1981
  Nigel Short 2 (1 shared) 1986, 1987
  Jan Timman 2 (1 shared) 1981, 1985
  Veselin Topalov 2 (2 shared) 2006, 2007
  Theo van Scheltinga 2 1944, 1947

Summary by year

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2010s

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2010

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Magnus Carlsen finished first with a score of 8½/13, winning his second title.

2011

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Hikaru Nakamura finished first with a score of 9/13, winning his first title and his first super-tournament.

2012

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Levon Aronian finished first with a score of 9/13, winning the title for a third time.

2013

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Magnus Carlsen finished first with a score of 10/13, winning the title for a third time and matching Garry Kasparov's record score for the event, set in 1999.

2014

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Levon Aronian finished first with a score of 8/13, winning the title for a fourth time.

2015

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Magnus Carlsen finished first with a score of 9/13, winning the title for a fourth time.

2016

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Magnus Carlsen finished first with a score of 9/13, winning the title for a record-equalling fifth time.

2017

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Wesley So defeated defending champion Magnus Carlsen by one point, with a score of 9/13.

2018

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Magnus Carlsen won for a record sixth time, defeating Anish Giri on tiebreak after both finished with a score of 9/13.

2019

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Magnus Carlsen was the winner of this tournament, with a score of 9/13.

2020s

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2020

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Fabiano Caruana was the winner of this tournament, with a score of 10/13.

2021

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Jorden van Foreest was the winner of this tournament, with a score of 8½/13. He defeated Anish Giri in an Armageddon playoff.

2022

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Magnus Carlsen was the winner of this tournament, with a score of 9½/13.

2023

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Anish Giri won the 85th edition Tata Steel Chess 2023 finishing the tournament with 8½ out of 13 points. He defeated the world's top two ranked players (Magnus Carlsen and Ding Liren) in the process.

2024

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Wei Yi was the winner of this tournament, with a score of 8½/13. He was tied with Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Gukesh D, and Anish Giri, but won against Abdusattorov and then Gukesh (who had defeated Giri) in the blitz single-elimination tiebreak.

See also

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References

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Notes

  1. ^ "Anand leads at Tata Steel Chess". IndiaVoice. 25 January 2011. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  2. ^ "Participants Tata Tournament announced". ChessVibes. 21 October 2010. Archived from the original on 24 October 2010.
  3. ^ Barden, Leonard (12 January 2018). "Magnus Carlsen aims for strong showing at 'Wimbledon of chess' event". The Guardian.
  4. ^ "Magnus Carlsen wins Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2018". FIDE. 29 January 2018. Archived from the original on 28 January 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2018. the Tata Steel Chess, often called as "Wimbledon of Chess", celebrated its 80th anniversary
  5. ^ "All-time Tournaments – Tata Steel Chess".
  6. ^ "Tournament – Tata Steel Chess Tournament".

Bibliography

  • Kings, Queens & Rookies. The Tata Steel Chess Tournament. A Celebration of 85 Years.. Ed.: Peter Boel & Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam. Alkmaar, New in Ches, 2023. ISBN 9789493257771
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