Tata Steel 2012 Line-Up Announced

The organisers of the Tata Steel tournament (formerly Corus) have announced details of the line-up for the 2012 edition of this historic tournament.

The event will take place from 13-29 January 2012 in the traditional venue of the Dutch seaside town of Wijk Aan Zee.

As usual, there will be three separate 14-player single round-robin tournaments, named the A, B and C groups, in order of strength. 

The A Group will feature 10 of the top 20 players in the world, headed by world #1 Magnus Carlsen.

Hikaru Nakamura will be defending the title he won in early 2011, and Veselin Topalov makes a return to the top flight after some considerable time away.  World title challenger Boris Gefland is also making an appearance.

The rest of the line-up includes many more very strong and dynamic competitors which augurs well for an entertaining tournament.

The A Group in full:

The 'undercard' at Wijk Aan Zee can be equally as entertaining as the headline event, and are very strong tournaments in their own right.  The B Group is headed by Alexander Motylev, and includes veteran Jan Timman, and last year's C Group champion Daniele Vocaturo from Italy.

There are also 3 talented women players in the group; Ukrainian #1 Kateryna Lahno, European Champion Viktorija Cmilyte, and the young Indian #2 Harika Dronavalli. 

The B Group in full:

Finally, the C Group is also an intriguing competition, especially with the inclusion of Matthew Sadler, the semi-retired English GM who recently returned to chess with a bang, and more female talent including Armenian #1 Elina Danielian and German #1 Elizabeth Paetz.

The C Group (one place still tbc):

The official website for the Tata Steel tournament can be found here.