Tata Steel Chess 2022 Jan 15-30

[Desmond]

https://www.chess.com/article/view/t...eel-chess-2022

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, is one of the most prestigious over-the-board tournaments in all of chess. Held annually in January, the dates for the 2022 tournament are January 15-30.

The lower-rated Challengers tournament returns in 2022 after a hiatus in 2021.

#	Name	         Rating	Ranking
1	Magnus Carlsen	  2865	1
2	Fabiano Caruana	  2792	4
3	Anish Giri	  2772	7
4	Shak. Mamedyarov  2767	9
5	Richard Rapport	  2763	11
6	Jan-Krzyszt. Duda  2760	13
7	Sergey Karjakin	  2743	18
8	Vidit Gujrathi	  2720	24
9	Daniil Dubov	  2714	27
10	Andrey Esipenko  2714	26
11	Sam Shankland	  2708	29
12	Jorden van Foreest  2702 35
13	Nils Grandelius	  2672	67
14	Praggnanandhaa R.  2612	195

Notably no Alireza after the controversy last year.

[Scott Colliver]

A strong field with some interesting players in the bottom half.

[Metro]

Notably no Alireza after the controversy last year.

Tournament Director Jeroen van den Berg says he had been in contact with Firouzja's father early this year(2021), and sent an invitation, but did not receive a response.

In Stavanger I met both of them, while they were also in my plane. We exchanged some friendly words and I kept waiting for the response. Later, early October, I told them that I was in a hurry. Then Hamidreza told me that they wanted to decide after Riga, but was too late for me.

He added:

Then, after I made my financial offer, I received a message that they wanted compensation for what happened in 2021 and they asked for much more money than I offered. So that was the moment I started looking for another player.

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/fir...-demand-denied

[Desmond]

Tournament Director Jeroen van den Berg says he had been in contact with Firouzja's father early this year(2021), and sent an invitation, but did not receive a response.

He added:
https://chess24.com/en/read/news/fir...-demand-denied

I wonder what compensation he asked for. If he asked for the difference in prize money compared to what he would have received if he had won the game, it seems resonable. It's a shame he's not playing.

[Scott Colliver]

If Firouzja wants to get all uppity about money then good riddance to him. It is a strong field even without him and I am sure it will be an excellent tournament.

[Metro]

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament organisation has introduced a new tiebreak format.
There are two reasons for this change:

1.We want to avoid flying pieces, as seen in several Armageddon games.
2.If more than two players end in first place, we want to allow all of them to participate in the tiebreak.

https://tatasteelchess.com/news/new-...ss-tournament/

Games start midnight tonight AEDT. https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-to...ers-2022/1/1/1

[Desmond]

^ I think it's a good change. When they said "avoid flying pieces" I thought that meant using computers for the playoffs as has been suggested, but it appears that's not the case.

[Scott Colliver]

^ I think it's a good change. When they said "avoid flying pieces" I thought that meant using computers for the playoffs as has been suggested, but it appears that's not the case.

Using an online playoff for an OTB event would be a mistake.

I am not even sure a playoff is needed, why can't we just have joint winners?

[MichaelBaron]

Magnus missed a good chance for d5-d4 against Esipenko.
Curiously, Tal did not miss a similar opportunity (more complex in fact) against Spassky in 1979 in Montreal.

[Metro]

15 year old Russian Murzin leading the Challengers on 2/2.

[MichaelBaron]

Magnus joined the leaderboard with a good win over Giri.
Also, he has given an interview where he confirmed that his partcipation in future WCC matches is ''unlikely''.

[Metro]

Also, he has given an interview where he confirmed that his partcipation in future WCC matches is ''unlikely''.

I don't think he has ruled it out.He may feel differently in 2 years.

[MichaelBaron]

Mamedyarov's 3.g4!? deserves a special mention.

[Desmond]

Vidit takes sole lead 2.5/3 after winning with black over Dubov.
Nice win for van Foreest over Pragg with the strange looking 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4?!, involving a pawn sac to leave black with doubled c and e-pawns for most of the game.

[antichrist]

Vidit takes sole lead 2.5/3 after winning with black over Dubov.
Nice win for van Foreest over Pragg with the strange looking 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4?!, involving a pawn sac to leave black with doubled c and e-pawns for most of the game.

Certainly an unusual win. Difficult for the black in Sicilian at best of times.