Pairings for Tata Steel Masters and Challengers announced

2026.01.15

The drawing of lots for the Tata Steel Chess Masters & Challengers 2026 has taken place, and the pairings for both the Tata Steel Masters and Tata Steel Challengers are now known.

The drawing was held during the traditional Meet & Greet in Wijk aan Zee, marking the unofficial start of the 88th edition of the tournament. With the pairings confirmed, players and fans can now look ahead to the opening round on Saturday 17 January.

Tata Steel Masters - Pairings round 1

Below are the pairings for the first round of the Tata Steel Masters:

White	Black
Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus	Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Aravindh Chithambaram	Matthias Bluebaum
Hans Niemann	Vladimir Fedoseev
Vincent Keymer	Anish Giri
Javokhir Sindarov	Gukesh Dommaraju
Jorden van Foreest	Thai Dai Van Nguyen
Arjun Erigaisi	R Praggnanandhaa

View full Tata Steel Masters pairings

Tata Steel Challengers - Pairings round 1

The following pairings were drawn for the first round of the Tata Steel Challengers:

White	Black
Vasyl Ivanchuk	Carissa Yip
Marc'Andria Maurizzi	Daniil Yuffa
Velimir Ivic	Faustino Oro
Erwin l'Ami	Aydin Suleymanli
Bibisara Assaubayeva	Andy Woodward
Eline Roebers	Panesar vedant
Lu Miaoyi	Max Warmerdam

View full Tata Steel Challengers pairings

Tournament start

The first round of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2026 will be played on Saturday 17 January, with play starting at 14:00 in De Moriaan, Wijk aan Zee.

Full event program, live games and daily coverage are available on this website and our social media.