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.
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess grandmaster. He is the world #1 ranked player. He is a five-time World Chess Champion, the reigning five-time World Rapid Chess Champion, the reigning seven-time World Blitz Chess Champion, and the reigning Chess World Cup Champion. He trails only Garry Kasparov in time spent as the highest-rated player in the world, while holding the record for longest consecutive reign. His peak rating of 2882 is the highest in history. He also holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at an elite level in classical chess at 125 games.
Christopher Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess grandmaster, streamer, YouTuber, five-time U.S. Chess Champion, and the reigning World Fischer Random Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 15, the youngest American at the time to do so. With a peak rating of 2816, Nakamura is the tenth-highest-rated player in history.
Wesley Barbossa So is a Filipino and American chess grandmaster and three-time U.S. Chess Champion. He is also a three-time Philippine Chess Champion. On the March 2017 FIDE rating list, he was ranked number two in the world and had an Elo rating of 2822, making him the fifth-highest-rated player in history.
Fabiano Luigi Caruana is an Italian and American chess grandmaster who is the reigning three-time United States Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2844, Caruana is the third-highest-rated player in history.
Anish Kumar Giri is a Dutch chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he completed the requirements for the grandmaster title in 2009 at the age of 14 years, 7 months and 2 days. Giri is a five-time Dutch champion and won the Corus Chess B Group in 2010. He has represented the Netherlands at six Chess Olympiads. He has also won major international tournaments, including the 2012 Reggio Emilia tournament, 2017 Reykjavik Open, 2023 Tata Steel Chess, and shared 1st place in the 2015 London Chess Classic. In 2019 he won clear first at the Third Edition of the Shenzhen Masters.
Ding Liren is a Chinese chess grandmaster and the reigning World Chess Champion. He is the highest-rated Chinese chess player in history and also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion. He was the winner of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the finals and winning the 2019 Sinquefield Cup. Ding is the first Chinese player ever to play in a Candidates Tournament and pass the 2800 Elo mark on the FIDE world rankings. In July 2016, with a Blitz rating of 2875, he was the highest-rated Blitz player in the world. In July 2023, Ding became the No. 1 ranked Rapid player, with a rating of 2830.
The Bilbao Chess Masters Final is an annual chess tournament which between 2008-12 brought together the strongest players from the previous year's "Grand Slam" events. Series organisers Grand Slam Chess Association (GSCA) became defunct in 2012 due to the demise of the Grand Slam hosts and scheduling problems but the Bilbao Masters continued as an annual invitational event until 2016.
Nijat Azad oglu Abasov is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. In October 2023, he reached his all-time-highest rating of 2679 and was ranked No. 58 in the world.
Wei Yi is a Chinese chess grandmaster.
Nodirbek Abdusattorov is an Uzbek chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he qualified for the grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 1 month, and 11 days. FIDE awarded him the title in April 2018.
Jhr. Jorden van Foreest is a Dutch chess grandmaster. He was Dutch Chess Champion in 2016, and won the Tata Steel Masters in 2021. As of September 2023, Van Foreest is the No. 2 ranked Dutch player behind Anish Giri.
Andrey Evgenyevich Esipenko is a Russian chess grandmaster. He won the European U10 Chess Championship in 2012, and both the European U16 and World U16 Chess Championship in 2017.
Alireza Firouzja is an Iranian and French chess grandmaster. Firouzja is the youngest player to have surpassed a FIDE rating of 2800, beating the previous record set by Magnus Carlsen by more than five months.
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023 was the 85th edition of the annual chess tournament held in Wijk aan Zee. It was held from 13 January to 29 January 2023. The field of 14 players in the Masters section included the numbers one and two of the FIDE world rankings at the time, Magnus Carlsen and Ding Liren, as well as five teenage grandmasters. Iran’s Parham Maghsoodloo was a late substitute for Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda. For the first time since 2015, Carlsen lost two classical games in a row: first in round 4 against Dutch grandmaster and five-times runner-up Anish Giri, and then in round 5 against the Uzbek teenager Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Going into the last round Abdusattorov had a half point lead over Giri, but he lost his game against Dutch 2021 winner Jorden van Foreest, while Giri defeated Richárd Rapport, making Giri the tournament's winner. Germany's Alexander Donchenko won the Challengers section, securing an invitation to the 2024 Tata Steel Masters section. Both the Masters and Challengers sections were eligible for the 2023 FIDE Circuit.
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024 was the 86th edition of the annual chess tournament held in Wijk aan Zee from 13–28 January 2024. The competition followed a similar format to the previous year's edition, taking place at the Dorpshuis De Moriaan in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, while round 9 of the Masters section was played at the AFAS Circustheater in The Hague, Netherlands as part of the competition's "Chess on Tour" event.
The Candidates Tournament 2024 and Women's Candidates Tournament 2024 will be held concurrently for the first time to determine the challengers for the World Chess Champion Ding Liren and Women's World Chess Champion Ju Wenjun. The winner of the Candidates Tournament will play Ding in the World Chess Championship 2024, while Ju will defend her title in 2025.
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2016 was the 78th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. It was held in Wijk aan Zee from 16 to 31 January 2016.
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2015 was the 77th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. It was held in Wijk aan Zee from 10 to 25 January 2015.
The Corus Chess Tournament 2010 was the 72nd edition of the Corus Chess Tournament. It was the final year under this name, as from 2011 the tournament was known as the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, after Tata Steel purchased the Corus Group. It was held in Wijk aan Zee from 16 to 31 January 2010.
Magnus Carlsen (Masters)
Vidit Gujrathi (Challengers)
Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
Anish Giri (Netherlands)
Vladimir Kramnik (Russia)
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)
Viswanathan Anand (India)
Wesley So (United States)
Wei Yi (China)
Gawain Jones (England)
GM Anton Korobov (Ukraine)
GM Bassem Amin (Egypt)
GM Matthias Blübaum (Germany)
GM Michał Krasenkow (Poland)
