Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa, Adhiban and Vaishali ready for 85th Tata Steel Chess 2023
The first major chess event of the year 2023 is 85th Tata Steel Chess. As Vishy Anand tweeted, it is not January without Tata Steel Chess. The 'Wimbledon of Chess' starts on Saturday 14th January 2023. D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa will be seen in action in the Masters section along with Carlsen, Ding Liren, Caruana, Giri, So, Rapport, Aronian, Parham, Abdusattorov, Keymer and Jorden van Foreest. The Tata Steel Challengers 2016 winner, GM B Adhiban will be making a return to the Challengers section. Tata Steel Chess 2022 Women Blitz winner, IM Vaishali will be making her debut in the Challengers section. Who are your picks to win the Masters and Challengers sections? Round 1 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST for both Masters and Challengers section. Photo: Official site
Highest number of Indians to take part at 85th Tata Steel Chess
Vishy Anand is attending the tournament as a guest of honor. Last year, in the 84th edition of Tata Steel Chess, three Indian took part - one in Masters and two in Challengers. The 85th edition will witness the highest number of Indians in the 'Wimbledon of Chess'. A total of five - three in Master and two in Challengers. All five of them delivered strong performances in 2022. Adhiban and Vaishali have a great opportunity to win the Challengers section and secure their place in the Masters section of the 86th edition.
Schedule
Starting from Saturday, 14th January, all round starts at 6:30 p.m. IST, only Sunday 29th January, the final round will start at 4:30 p.m. IST. Rest days are - 18th (Masters), 19th (Challengers), 23rd and 26th January.
Participants
Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren, Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri and Wesley So are the five players among the World top ten who will be seen in action. Romania no.1 Richard Rapport, the only two-time World Cup winner in history, Levon Aronian, 44th Olympiad Individual Gold medalist on Board #1 and Team Bronze medalist, GM D Gukesh, Tata Steel Challengers 2022 winner, Arjun Erigaisi, Iran no.1 and former World Junior champion,Parham Maghsoodloo, 44th Chess Olympiad Gold medalist and former World Rapid champion, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Germany no.1 and World Rapid 2022 Silver medalist, GM Vincent Keymer, 44th Chess Olympiad double Bronze medalist, R Praggnanandhaa and 83rd Tata Steel Masters winner, Jorden van Foreest. Parham Maghsoodloo replaced Jan-Krzysztof Duda who had to withdraw due to personal reasons.
Vishy Anand with the 'boys'
Challengers
The Tata Steel Challengers line-up is also stellar. It is full of promising players who has had a great 2022. Asian Continental 2022 Bronze medalist, GM B Adhiban and Tata Steel Chess India 2022 Women Blitz winner, IM Vaishali R will be the two Indians fighting for the top spot along with GM M Amin Tabatabaei (IRI), GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB), GM Jergus Pechac (SVK), GM Alexander Donchenko (GER), GM Erwin l'Ami (NED), GM Max Warmerdam (NED), GM Mustafa Yilmaz (NED), GM Lui Paulo Supi (BRA), GM Velimir Ivic (SRB), GM Abhimanyu Mishra (USA), IM Thomas Beerdsen (NED) and IM Eline Roebers (NED). GM Velimir Ivic replaced GM Salem Saleh who had to withdraw due to personal reasons.
Round 1 pairings
Time Control
100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from the first move.
