Anish Giri will face D Gukesh in the first round of 87th Tata Steel Chess 2025
The first major chess event of the year 2025 is 87th Tata Steel Chess. Seven Indians - five in Masters and two in Challengers will be seen in action. More eyes will be on the newly crowned world champion - GM D Gukesh, than ever before. This will be his first tournament since he became the 18th world champion. He will be competing against his Gold medal winning teammates - Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, Pentala Harikrishna and also his second Vincent Keymer. The reigning World Junior Girls champion - IM Divya Deshmukh will be making her second consecutive appearance. Divya's Gold medal winning teammate, GM R Vaishali will also be in action in the Challengers. Speaking of Challengers, the winner of last year - Leon Luke Mendonca will be making his Masters debut. Round 1 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST for both Masters and Challengers section. Photo: Jeroen Van Den Berg
Seven Indians in action
The 87th edition will witness the highest number of Indians in the 'Wimbledon of Chess'. A total of seven, one more from last year - five in Masters and two in Challengers. D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa delivered strong performances in 2024. World no.4 GM Arjun Erigaisi and his Gold medal winning teammate, GM Pentala Harikrishna will be seen in action. He replaced GM Vidit Gujrathi who withdrew due to personal reasons. GM Leon Luke Mendonca won the Challengers last year which earned him a place in the Masters this year. Reigning World Junior Girls champion, IM Divya Deshmukh will be returning in the Challengers. She will be joined by her Olympiad Gold medalist teammate, GM R Vaishali. The time control remains the same as last year - 40 moves in 100 minutes followed by 50 minutes each with 30 seconds increment from move no.1.
Players
One of the primary reasons why Tata Steel Chess is an exciting event in the calendar is because the field is a mix of World's best players and the promising talent. It is becoming stronger and younger as the days pass by. The average rating and age in Masters is - 2726/25, for Challengers it is - 2547/24. Check out the five-time World Champion and Tata Steel Masters winner, Vishy Anand's message
Masters: World no.2 - Fabiano Caruana (USA), World no.4 - Arjun Erigaisi, reigning World Champion - D Gukesh, World no.6 - Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), defending champion and World no.9 - Wei Yi (CHN), World no.13 - R Praggnanandhaa, Germany no.1 and World no.20 - Vincent Keymer, Netherlands no.1 and World no.22 - Anish Giri (NED), Slovenia no.1 and World no.26 - Vladimir Fedoseev, India no.7 and World no.36 - Pentala Harikrishna, Netherlands no.2 and World no.46 - Jorden van Foreest, Serbia no.1 and World no.47 - Alexey Sarana, Netherlands no.2 and World no.82 - Max Warmerdam, and winner of Tata Steel Challengers 2024, India no.11 and World no.95 - Leon Luke Mendonca.
Challengers: Czech Republic no.2 and World no. 56 - GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen, Germany no.2and World no.62 - GM Frederik Svane, Uzbekistan no.5 and World no.67 - GM Nodirbek Yakubboev, Turkey no.1 - GM Ediz Gurel, Azerbaijan no.4 - GM Aydin Suleymanli, Netherlands no.4 - GM Erwin l'Ami, Netherlands no.7 - GM Benjamin Bok, reigning World Junior champion and Kazakhstan no.3 - GM Kazybek Nogerbek, reigning World Junior Girls champion, India no.2 and World no.14 among women - IM Divya Deshmukh, India no.4 and World no.19 among women - GM R Vaishali, winner of Tata Steel Amateur Qualifiers 2024 - IM Arthur Pijpers (NED), IM Faustino Oro (ARG), IM Miaoyi Lu (CHN) and IM Irina Bulmaga (ROU).
Schedule
Starting from Saturday 18th January to 2nd February, all round starts at 2 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Rest days are same for both Masters and Challengers section - 23rd, 27th and 30th January 2025.
Our very own Cofounder and CEO, IM Sagar Shah travelled to Wijk aan Zee for the first time. Check out the vlog that he created. He will also do live commentary from the location.
Watch Live stream
Round 1 pairings
Masters
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2695 | GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2801 | 14 | ||
| 2 | 2 | 2741 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2768 | 13 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 2639 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | GM | Keymer, Vincent | 2733 | 12 | ||
| 4 | 4 | 2646 | GM | Warmerdam, Max | GM | Sarana, Alexey | 2677 | 11 | ||
| 5 | 5 | 2751 | GM | Wei, Yi | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2803 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 6 | 2680 | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | 2717 | 9 | ||
| 7 | 7 | 2777 | GM | Gukesh, D | GM | Giri, Anish | 2731 | 8 |
Challengers
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2490 | IM | Divya, Deshmukh | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | 2659 | 14 | ||
| 2 | 2 | 2668 | GM | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | IM | Pijpers, Arthur | 2474 | 13 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 2623 | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | GM | Bok, Benjamin | 2583 | 12 | ||
| 4 | 4 | 2624 | GM | Gurel, Ediz | IM | Bulmaga, Irina | 2386 | 11 | ||
| 5 | 5 | 2614 | GM | L'Ami, Erwin | GM | Svane, Frederik | 2664 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 6 | 2447 | IM | Oro, Faustino | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 2476 | 9 | ||
| 7 | 7 | 2429 | IM | Lu, Miaoyi | GM | Nogerbek, Kazybek | 2514 | 8 |
Time Control
100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds increment for each move starting from the first move.
Links
|
Tata Steel 2025 R2: Praggnanandhaa scores as Harikrishna falters in the endgame, Gukesh draws
@ 20/01/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |
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Tata Steel 2025 R1: Gukesh wins his first game after becoming World Champion, Harikrishna outplays Arjun
@ 19/01/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |