Carlsen To Defend Tata Steel Chess Title
Magnus Carlsen will once again be playing in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, January 11-27, 2019 in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. The two external rounds will be played in Alkmaar and Leiden.
Carlsen, who is currently defending his world champion title in London, will try to win the tournament for the seventh time. Last year he won the tournament for a record sixth time, after beating Anish Giri a the tiebreak. The Dutch grandmaster will be back as well.
Besides Carlsen (1) and Giri (5), the field includes four more top 10 players: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (3), Ding Liren (4), Vladimir Kramnik (7) and Viswanathan Anand (8). The organizers didn't manage to come to an agreement with Carlsen's opponent in London, Fabiano Caruana.
Five players will be making their debut in the highest group in Wijk aan Zee: Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Sam Shankland, Vladimir Fedoseev, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi and Jorden van Foreest. The latter has finished his secondary school and has decided to try his luck as a fulltime chess player.
"He already drew attention by becoming Dutch champion at 17, but then it was a little too early for him," said tournament director Jeroen van den Berg. "Although his rating is relatively low for the Tata Steel Masters, I think his time has come now. Jorden can now show whether he is up to the task. He has displayed a lot of talent and this experience will only make him stronger."
The 81st edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament will take place January 11-27, 2019. Once again, there will be two "Chess On Tour" events, when the players of the Masters will play at external locations:
- The 5th round in Theater de Vest in Alkmaar on Wednesday, January 16
- The 10th round in the Pieterskerk in Leiden on Wednesday, January 23.
All rounds are open to the public free of charge and can also be followed online. Chess.com will again be partnering with the tournament and provide live commentary on Twitch.tv/chess and Chess.com/TV.
2019 Tata Steel Chess Masters | Participants
| # | Rank | Country | Name | Rating | Born |
| 1 | 1 | Carlsen, Magnus | 2835 | 1990 | |
| 2 | 3 | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | 2817 | 1985 | |
| 3 | 4 | Ding, Liren | 2816 | 1992 | |
| 4 | 5 | Giri, Anish | 2780 | 1994 | |
| 5 | 7 | Kramnik, Vladimir | 2777 | 1975 | |
| 6 | 8 | Anand, Viswanathan | 2773 | 1969 | |
| 7 | 13 | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2763 | 1990 | |
| 8 | 14 | Radjabov, Teimour | 2757 | 1987 | |
| 9 | 19 | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 2738 | 1998 | |
| 10 | 29 | Shankland, Samuel | 2724 | 1991 | |
| 11 | 32 | Fedoseev, Vladimir | 2714 | 1995 | |
| 12 | 44 | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 2702 | 1994 | |
| 13 | 194 | Van Foreest,Jorden | 2613 | 1999 |
The 14th player will be announced in December, when it is known who will be the highest ranked player in the ACP Competition with a rating under 2750 on 1 December. The participants of the Tata Steel Challengers will be announced at the same time.
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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