Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Chess enthusiasts will be able to enjoy themselves again from 17 January to 2 February 2025 in Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands. The field of participants of the 87th Tata Steel Chess Tournament, with no less than five players from the world’s top ten, is again extremely well filled this year. The event might also feature the newly crowned world champion. India’s Dommaraju Gukesh will compete for the world title in Singapore from 23 November to 13 December and could become the youngest world champion in history.

Gukesh is a familiar face at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee: last year, he lost in the exciting final in the tiebreak to China’s Wei Yi. Wei Yi will of course defend his title. Previous winners Fabiano Caruana from the United States and Dutchmen Anish Giri and Jorden van Foreest are also competing again for the title in the Masters tournament.

Tournament director Jeroen van den Berg is pleased with the field of participants:
“I always strive for a balance between the well-known top players and promising talents. The Masters will feature Grandmasters who can still be regarded as talents in terms of age, but in terms of performance they have been outstanding for so long that they have actually already outgrown that status. I am referring especially to Praggnanandhaa, Abdusattorov and indeed Gukesh. I am proud of them when I see how, partly due to their previous participations in our tournament, they are now structurally among the world’s top players. In addition, my aim is to select as many players as possible with a strong mentality and willing to fight for the win. I think we can expect an interesting tournament on that front too.”

Line-up Masters

Springboard to the world top

The currently more unknown talents play in the Challengers tournament. Among them are the two reigning junior world champions Kazybek Nogerbek (Kazakhstan) and Divya Deshmukh (India). Other notable invitees include the 11-year-old prodigy Faustino Oro (Argentina), 14-year-old Lu Miaoyi (China) and 16-year-old Ediz Gürel (Turkey).

Van den Berg: “I am very much looking forward to their arrival and I am curious to see if they can make the same great progress as the previously mentioned names at the Masters. Our tournament really turns out to be an exceptional springboard to the world top. We as an organisation are very proud of that.”

Line-up Challengers