The Tata Steel is one of the most important tournaments in the world. It has been played since 1938 and some of the best players from around the world participate in it. The defending champion of this 2023 edition is Magnus Carlsen, who shocked the chess world last year by announcing that he will not defend his world champion title.
For this reason, the world championship must be defined by the champion and runner-up of the 2022 Candidates Tournament. And precisely one of those players will participate in Tata Steel. The Chinese Ding Liren is one of the main candidates, together with Carlsen, to win this tournament, so the Wenzhou-born player will have to be closely watched.
The 2023 edition will be marked by young talent, since several of the participants were child prodigies who little by little stop being promises to become reality. Gukesh, 16, Praggnanandhaa, 17, Vincent Keymer and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, 18, and Arjun Erigaisi, 19. In this section there could also be, although they won’t, Hans Niemann (due to what happened after St. Louis) and Alireza Firouzja (who fell out with the organizers after the event’s controversial final in 2021).
The Masters Tournament participants
There will be a total of 14 players, including three Americans: Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Levon Aronian. Iranian Parham Maghsoodloo will replace Polish Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The full list of players is as follows:
Magnus Carlsen
Ding Liren
Fabiano Caruana
Anish Giri
Wesley So
Richard Rapport
Levon Aronian
Dommaraju Gukesh
Parham Maghsoodloo
Arjun Erigaisi
Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Vincent Keymer
Jorden van Foreest
R Praggnanandhaa
Start of the tournament and first round
The tournament begins on January 13 and ends on the 29th of the same month. A total of 13 rounds will be played all against all and the winner will be the one who obtains the most points. However, on January 13 there will be no activity on the board, but the opening ceremony will take place and the games begin on Saturday the 14th. The clashes are not yet defined, but they will surely be determined in the next few hours.
