Players of Both Groups Tata Steel 2014 Confirmed
All names of the 2014 Tata Steel tournament's two top groups are known. Hari Krishna Pentala was the 12th player added to the list of the top group ("Masters"), while Radek Wojtaszek, Yu Yangyi and Baadur Jobava top the "Challengers" group in which Jan Timman will also play.
Radek Wojtaszek, Baadur Jobava and World Junior Champion U20 Yu Yangyi are the favorites to win the "Challengers Group". The top player in this group will qualify for the "Masters Group" of 2015. Wojtaszek will surely come to Wijk aan Zee well prepared, having worked as one of Vishy Anand's seconds for years. Jobava is known for his creative (opening) play while Yu Yangyi has a very aggressive style.
Again the organizers have opted for a mixed group with young, experienced, male and female players. The two women playing this year are Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia and Zhao Xue of China, who won the women's section of the "Basque System" tournament in Beijing a few days ago. Both Zhao Xue and Yu Yangyi will play in Wijk aan Zee for the first time.
The youngest players are Jan Krzysztof Duda of Poland and Kayden Troff of USA. Both were born in 1998 and can boast of some early successes: Duda became a GM recently and is already rated 2557 while Troff is the reigning World Youth Champion U14.
It's nice to see Dutch chess legend Jan Timman playing again in Wijk aan Zee - for the third time in a row. As the oldest participant (62) he is the highest rated Dutch participant, just ahead of Dutch Champion Dimitri Reinderman. 18-year-old IM Benjamin Bok is hoping to score his third GM norm while IMs Merijn van Delft and Etienne Goudriaan qualified from last year's nine-round event.
Tata Steel 2014 | Challengers
| # | Title | Name | Fed | Rating |
| 1 | GM | Wojtaszek, Radek | POL | 2711 |
| 2 | GM | Jobava, Baadur | GEO | 2705 |
| 3 | GM | Yu, Yangyi | CHN | 2667 |
| 4 | GM | Saric, Ivan | CRO | 2632 |
| 5 | GM | Brunello, Sabino | ITA | 2603 |
| 6 | GM | Timman, Jan | NED | 2600 |
| 7 | GM | Reinderman, Dimitri | NED | 2588 |
| 8 | GM | Zhao, Xue | CHN | 2568 |
| 9 | GM | Muzychuk, Anna | SLO | 2566 |
| 10 | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | POL | 2557 |
| 11 | IM | Bok, Benjamin | NED | 2540 |
| 12 | IM | Troff, Kayden | USA | 2457 |
| 13 | IM | Goudriaan, Etienne | NED | 2429 |
| 14 | IM | Van Delft, Merijn | NED | 2425 |
11 of the 12 names of the top group had been announced earlier and the last name is now also known: Hari Krishna Pentala of India. Here's the full list:
Tata Steel 2014 | Masters
| # | Title | Name | Fed | (Live) rating |
| 1 | GM | Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2813 |
| 2 | GM | Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2789 |
| 3 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | ITA | 2782 |
| 4 | GM | Gelfand, Boris | ISR | 2777 |
| 5 | GM | Karjakin, Sergey | RUS | 2759 |
| 6 | GM | Dominguez, Leinier | CUB | 2754 |
| 7 | GM | Giri, Anish | NED | 2734 |
| 8 | GM | So, Wesley | PHI | 2719 |
| 9 | GM | Naiditsch, Arkadij | GER | 2718 |
| 10 | GM | Hari Krishna, Pentala | IND | 2708 |
| 11 | GM | Rapport, Richard | HUN | 2687 |
| 12 | GM | Van Wely, Loek | NED | 2678 |
It's clear that, hit by the financial crisis, Tata Steel was forced to decrease its budget for the annual chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. The 76th edition will have two GM groups instead of three, and the top one has 12 players instead of 14.
An interesting change is that two rounds will be played elsewhere: round 4 will be held at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam while the 9th round will be at High Tech Campus in Eindhoven.
This year the tournament will have live streaming commentary for the first time:
Saturday 11 January - Yasser Seirawan
Sunday 12 January - Yasser Seirawan
Monday 13 January - Erwin l’Ami
Wednesday 15 January (Amsterdam) - Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam
Friday 17 January - Lawrence Trent
Saturday 18 January - Lawrence Trent
Sunday 19 January - Lawrence Trent
Tuesday 21 January - Erwin l’Ami
Thursday 23 January (Eindhoven) - Erwin l’Ami
Saturday 25 January - Ian Rogers
Sunday 26 January - Tex de Wit
The 76th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament will take place from 10 to 26 January 2014. The tournament website is tatasteelchess.com.
