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, with the tournament changing its name in 2011. 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]
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 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.
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
Hoogovens Beverwijk
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, with the field expanded to ten, and invitations to Alberic O'Kelly de Galway (Belgium) and Gösta Stoltz (Sweden) along with a Dutch contingent of eight.
The tournament field was increased to twelve in 1953, 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.[5]
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.[6]
Winners of the top group:[7]
| # | 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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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
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
From 2011, the popular name for the tournament was changed from 'Corus' to 'Tata Steel'.
| # | Year | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| 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) |
| 87 | 2025 | R Praggnanandhaa (India) |
Multiple winners
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.[8]
| 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 |
See also
References
External links
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