The chess world's attention turns to the coastal town of Wijk aan Zee this weekend as the prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament, often dubbed the 'Wimbledon of Chess', gets underway with a particularly compelling line-up.
World Champion Faces Immediate Tests
The 14-player Masters event is headlined by the reigning world champion, India's Gukesh Dommaraju. However, his recent form has been patchy, setting the stage for a fierce challenge from a field packed with elite talent. Notably, four of the eight players who will compete in the 2026 Candidates Tournament this March are present, offering a tantalising preview of potential future world title matches.
Gukesh's compatriots, world number five Arjun Erigaisi and world number eight Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, will be aiming to outperform their national rival. They are joined by other top-ten stalwarts including Germany's in-form world number four Vincent Keymer and the Netherlands' own world number six Anish Giri, who traditionally excels on home soil.
Prodigies and Controversy Add Spice
The tournament narrative extends beyond the established elite. The controversial American star Hans Niemann adds a layer of intrigue, while the spotlight also falls on a remarkable teenage talent. Turkey's Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, aged just 14, already holds the record as the youngest player ever to achieve a 2600 FIDE rating and will be looking to make his mark.
Meanwhile, in the parallel Challengers event, another prodigy eyes history. Argentina's 12-year-old Faustino Oro is in contention to secure his third and final grandmaster norm, which would see him break the record for the youngest grandmaster in history, currently held by Abhimanyu Mishra.
UK's Blitz Prodigy Continues to Amaze
In related chess news, a young star from the UK has again demonstrated her phenomenal talent. Bodhana Sivanandan, the 10-year-old from Harrow and reigning UK Women's Blitz Champion, delivered a stellar performance at the European Women's Blitz Championship in Monte Carlo last weekend.
Mimicking her success from two years prior, she scored 8.5 points from 13 games against high-rated opponents, once again claiming the junior under-20 prize. She followed this with an unbeaten 7/11 in the Rapid event, gaining a massive 133 FIDE rating points. Her final-round draw against the reigning European women's classical champion, Teodora Injac, capped an extraordinary display for a player of her age.
Domestic and International Action
Elsewhere, in the UK's Four Nations Chess League (4NCL), favourites Wood Green, led by England's youngest GM Shreyas Royal, 17, cemented their lead at the top of the table with two convincing victories. They now have a perfect score of 8/8.
Further afield, New Zealand is hosting a rare grandmaster norm tournament, the Bob Wade Memorial in Auckland. England is represented by nine-time British champion Michael Adams and Dan Fernandez, competing against GMs from Hungary, Poland, and Malaysia.
The first round of the Tata Steel Masters begins on Saturday at 1pm GMT. Games will be broadcast live and free on chess.com, lichess, and the tournament's official site, with rest days scheduled for 22, 26, and 29 January.
