85th edition of Tata Steel Chess Tournament has “strongest ever talent”

0 0 0 164 0

The upcoming 85^th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament has been touted to have the “strongest ever talent” with both the current World No. 1 and 2, Magnus Carlsen and Ding Liren, andDutch stars Anish Giri and Jorden van Foreestincluded in the line-up. While Carlsen is set to make his 19^th appearance, five of the fourteen participants have all won the title before which includes Carlsen’s eight victories (2008, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2022), Aronian’s four victories (2007, 2008, 2012, 2014), and the single victories of Caruana (2020), So (2017) and van Foreest (2021).

According to tournament director Jeroen van den Berg, the title is widely coveted amongst all top players, and is expected to be strongly fought for. He has also expressed excitement at the prospect of younger talents like the 16-year-old Gukesh, and the 18-year-old Abdusattorov, taking on top-tier players.

According to World No. 7 and tournament ambassador, Anish Giri, winning the event is a dream for most players and each participant will have the opportunity to contend for the title, with the line-up being more impressive than he has ever seen.

The CEO of Tata Steel Netherlands, Hans van den Berg, has also expressed how it has been exciting to organize a full tournament again for the jubilee edition of the event,with everyone looking forward to the return of spectators to the tournament. The Tata Steel Chess Tournament will be played between 13^th to 29^th January in the Netherlands.