2012 Tata Steel Chess (Wijk aan Zee)
In a couple of days, Wijk aan Zee will host the strongest field in its 74th edition. The average rating is 2754 with several of the top players on the card. Sponsored by Tata Steel conglomerate, the power-packed lineup includes reigning champion Hikaru Nakamura, the world highest-rated player Magnus Carlsen and world number two Levon Aronian.
The tournament has as its neophyte Vugar Gashimov and elite returnee in Veselin Topalov, but has top young talents such as Reggio Emilia champion Anish Giri, Italian champion Fabiano Caruana and veterans such as World Championship challenger Boris Gelfand, Vassily Ivanchuk and Gata Kamsky of the USA.
Tata Steel is an Indian multinational conglomerate consisting of a number of industries. Those following the tournament from the early days will remember it as the Hoorgovens, a Dutch steel company that would later merge with British steel to form the Corus Group. When Tata steel purchased Corus in 2007, the tournament took on the name of Indian conglomerate.
The Chess Drum will provide coverage, but full coverage can be found at the official site and most major chess sites and servers around the world.
Official Site: https://www.tatasteelchess.com/
Pairings: https://www.tatasteelchess.com/tournament/schedule/year/2012/
Photos: Frits Agterdenbos of ChessVista
January 14th-29th, 2012 (Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#
|
Name
|
Title
|
Federation
|
Flag
|
Rating
|
| 1 | Carlsen, Magnus | GM | Norway |
 |
2835 |
| 2 | Aronian, Levon | GM | Armenia |
 |
2805 |
| 3 | Radjabov, Teimour | GM | Azerbaijan |
 |
2773 |
| 4 | Topalov, Veselin | GM | Bulgaria |
 |
2770 |
| 5 | Karjakin, Sergey | GM | Russia |
 |
2769 |
| 6 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | GM | Ukraine |
 |
2766 |
| 7 | Gashimov, Vugar | GM | Azerbaijan |
|
2761 |
| 8 | Nakamura, Hikaru | GM | USA |
 |
2759 |
| 9 | Gelfand, Boris | GM | Israel |
 |
2739 |
| 10 | Caruana, Fabiano | GM | Italy |
 |
2736 |
| 11 | Kamsky, Gata | GM | USA |
|
2732 |
| 12 | Giri, Anish | GM | Netherlands |
 |
2714 |
| 13 | Navara, David | GM | Czech Republic |
 |
2712 | 14 | Van Wely, Loek | GM | Netherlands |
|
2692 |
|
#
|
Name
|
Title
|
Federation
|
Flag
|
Rating
|
| 1 | Bruzon, Lazaro | GM | Cuba |
 |
2691 |
| 2 | Potkin, Vladimir | GM | Russia |
|
2684 |
| 3 | Motylev, Alexander | GM | Russia |
|
2677 |
| 4 | Tiviakov, Sergei | GM | Netherlands |
|
2677 |
| 5 | Harikrishna, Pentala | GM | India |
 |
2665 |
| 6 | Ernst, Sipke | GM | Netherlands |
|
2606 |
| 7 | L’Ami, Erwin | GM | Netherlands |
|
2596 |
| 8 | Reinderman, Dmitri | GM | Netherlands |
|
2581 |
| 9 | Timman, Jan | GM | Netherlands |
|
2571 |
| 10 | Nyzhnyk, Illya | GM | Ukraine |
|
2568 |
| 11 | Lahno, Kateryna | GM | Ukraine |
|
2557 |
| 12 | Vocaturo, Daniele | GM | Italy |
|
2545 |
| 13 | Dronavali, Harika | GM | India |
|
2516 | 14 | Cmilyte, Vikorija | GM | Lithiuania |
 |
2503 |
|
#
|
Name
|
Title
|
Federation
|
Flag
|
Rating
|
| 1 | Sadler, Matthew | GM | England |
 |
2660 |
| 2 | Turov, Maxim | GM | Russia |
|
2643 |
| 3 | Adhiban, Baskaran | GM | India |
|
2561 |
| 4 | Tiddanen, Hans | GM | Sweden |
 |
2549 |
| 5 | Grover, Sahaj | IM | India |
|
2532 |
| 6 | Brandenburg, Daan | GM | Netherlands |
|
2527 |
| 7 | Danielian, Elina | GM | Armenia |
|
2490 |
| 8 | Paehtz, Elisabeth | WGM | Germany |
 |
2454 |
| 9 | Sachdev, Tania | WGM | India |
|
2411 |
| 10 | Hopman, Pieter | Netherlands |
|
2342 | |
| 11 | Ootes, Lars | Netherlands |
|
2326 | |
| 12 | Schut, Lisa | WIM | Netherlands |
|
2290 |
| 13 | Haast, Anne/td> | WIM | Netherlands |
|
2290 | 14 | Goudriaan, Etienne | FM | Netherlands |
|
2279 |