# Tata Steel Chess Tournament

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Steel to form the Corus Group in 1999, after which the tournament was renamed the Corus Chess Tournament. Corus Group was taken over by the Tata Group and became Tata Steel Europe in 2007, with the tournament changing to its current name in 2011. It has also been referred to as "Wijk aan Zee" since the venue change from the town of Beverwijk to the town of Wijk aan Zee in 1968. Despite the name changes, the series is numbered sequentially from its Hoogovens beginnings; for example, the 2025 event was referred to as the 87th Tata Steel Chess Tournament.
Top grandmasters compete in the tournament, but regular club players are welcome to play in the lower groups. The Masters group pits fourteen of the world's best players against each other in a round-robin tournament, and has sometimes been described as the "Wimbledon of Chess". Since 1938, there has been a long list of very strong winners; of the fifteen undisputed World Chess Champions since the first tournament in 1938, only five – Alexander Alekhine, Vasily Smyslov, Bobby Fischer, Ding Liren and Gukesh Dommaraju – have not won it. In 2001, nine of the top ten players in the world participated.
Magnus Carlsen holds the record for most wins at the tournament, with eight. Viswanathan Anand is the only other player to have won the event five or more times, with five titles to his name. R Praggnanandhaa is the defending champion after defeating Gukesh in the tiebreaks in 2025.
Until recently, players ending on the same score shared the title. The first tie-break was held in 2018, with Magnus Carlsen defeating Anish Giri to clinch the title. As of the 2025 edition, if two or more players lead with the same score at the end of the round-robin, they all take part in the tiebreaks to determine the sole winner. The time control of the tiebreaks is blitz, and then sudden death.

## Tournament history
### Hoogovens Beverwijk

The early tournaments were very small, starting with groups of four in 1938, and entry restricted to Dutch players. The first four tournaments continued this way, until 1942, when it was expanded to six players, and in 1943 to eight players. No tournament was held in 1945 due to World War II. The first international tournament was held in 1946, with the field expanded to ten, and invitations to Alberic O'Kelly de Galway (Belgium) and Gösta Stoltz (Sweden) along with a Dutch contingent of eight.
The 1946 tournament was one of the first European international chess tournaments after World War II. Food shortages were still a problem in Europe, so the post-tournament banquet featured pea soup, "inexpensive fare of the common people". In subsequent years pea soup has been served as the first course of the concluding banquet, a tradition continued when the tournament was moved from Beverwijk to Wijk aan Zee.
   Normal people have to see Naples before they die…, but a chess grandmaster has to win the Wijk aan Zee tournament first of all.
The tournament field was increased to twelve in 1953, and an international women's tournament was also held. In 1954, the tournament field was returned to ten players, but the strength of the competitions increased. The field was greatly enlarged to 18 in 1963, and although it reduced to 16 in 1964, the event had become the strongest international chess tournament in the world.
As the tournament grew in stature, it began to offer lower groups such as a B-group (sometimes called "Challengers" in contrast to group-A or "Masters"), and occasionally a C-group. There also began a tradition to operate a year on year policy of inviting the winner of the B-group to the A-group.
The winners of the top group were:
    Winners 1938-1967 # Year Winner(s) Country Score % 1 1938 Jilling Van Dijk Netherlands 2½/3 83.3 Philip Bakker Netherlands 2 1939 Nicolaas Cortlever Netherlands 3/3 100.0 3 1940 Max Euwe Netherlands 3/3 100.0 4 1941 Arthur Wijnans Netherlands 2½/3 83.3 5 1942 Max Euwe Netherlands 4½/5 90.0 6 1943 Arnold van den Hoek Netherlands 5½/7 78.6 7 1944 Theo van Scheltinga Netherlands 5/7 71.4 – 1945 No competition 8 1946 Alberic O'Kelly de Galway Belgium 7/9 77.8 9 1947 Theo van Scheltinga Netherlands 7½/9 83.3 10 1948 Lodewijk Prins Netherlands 6½/9 72.2 11 1949 Savielly Tartakower France 6½/9 72.2 12 1950 Jan Hein Donner Netherlands 7/9 77.8 13 1951 Hermann Pilnik Argentina 6½/9 72.2 14 1952 Max Euwe Netherlands 7½/9 83.3 15 1953 Nicolas Rossolimo France 9/11 81.8 16 1954 Hans Bouwmeester Netherlands 6/9 66.7 Vasja Pirc SFR Yugoslavia 17 1955 Borislav Milić SFR Yugoslavia 6½/9 72.2 18 1956 Gideon Ståhlberg Sweden 6½/9 72.2 19 1957 Aleksandar Matanović SFR Yugoslavia 6½/9 72.2 20 1958 Max Euwe Netherlands 5½/9 61.1 Jan Hein Donner Netherlands 21 1959 Friðrik Ólafsson Iceland 7½/9 83.3 22 1960 Bent Larsen Denmark 6½/9 72.2 Tigran Petrosian Soviet Union 23 1961 Bent Larsen Denmark 7½/9 83.3 Borislav Ivkov SFR Yugoslavia 24 1962 Petar Trifunović SFR Yugoslavia 6/9 66.7 25 1963 Jan Hein Donner Netherlands 12/17 70.6 26 1964 Paul Keres Soviet Union 11½/15 76.6 Iivo Nei Soviet Union 27 1965 Lajos Portisch Hungary 10½/15 70.0 Efim Geller Soviet Union 28 1966 Lev Polugaevsky Soviet Union 11½/15 76.6 29 1967 Boris Spassky Soviet Union 11/15 73.3

### Hoogovens Wijk aan Zee

The tournament was moved to the Dutch seaside town Wijk aan Zee in 1968. Starting from 1982, the tournament mostly settled to its present number of 14 players. The winners of the top group were:
    Winners 1968-1999 # Year Winner(s) Country Score % 30 1968 Viktor Korchnoi Soviet Union 12/15 80.0 31 1969 Mikhail Botvinnik Soviet Union 10½/15 70.0 Efim Geller Soviet Union 32 1970 Mark Taimanov Soviet Union 12/15 80.0 33 1971 Viktor Korchnoi Soviet Union 10/15 66.7 34 1972 Lajos Portisch Hungary 10½/15 70.0 35 1973 Mikhail Tal Soviet Union 10½/15 70.0 36 1974 Walter Browne United States 11/15 73.3 37 1975 Lajos Portisch Hungary 10½/15 70.0 38 1976 Ljubomir Ljubojević SFR Yugoslavia 7½/11 77.8 Friðrik Ólafsson Iceland 39 1977 Gennadi Sosonko Netherlands 8/11 72.7 Efim Geller Soviet Union 40 1978 Lajos Portisch Hungary 8/11 72.7 41 1979 Lev Polugaevsky Soviet Union 7½/11 68.2 42 1980 Walter Browne United States 10/13 76.9 Yasser Seirawan United States 43 1981 Gennadi Sosonko Netherlands 8/12 66.7 Jan Timman Netherlands 44 1982 John Nunn United Kingdom 8½/13 65.4 Yuri Balashov Soviet Union 45 1983 Ulf Andersson Sweden 9/13 69.2 46 1984 Alexander Beliavsky Soviet Union 10/13 76.9 Viktor Korchnoi Switzerland 47 1985 Jan Timman Netherlands 9/13 69.2 48 1986 Nigel Short United Kingdom 9½/13 73.1 49 1987 Nigel Short United Kingdom 9½/13 73.1 Viktor Korchnoi Switzerland 50 1988 Anatoly Karpov Soviet Union 9/13 69.2 51 1989 Viswanathan Anand India 7½/13 57.7 Gyula Sax Hungary Zoltán Ribli Hungary Predrag Nikolić SFR Yugoslavia 52 1990 John Nunn United Kingdom 8/13 61.5 53 1991 John Nunn United Kingdom 8½/13 65.4 54 1992 Valery Salov Russia 8½/13 65.4 Boris Gelfand Belarus 55 1993 Anatoly Karpov Russia 2½/4 56 1994 Predrag Nikolić Bosnia and Herzegovina 7/9 77.8 57 1995 Alexey Dreev Russia 2½/4 58 1996 Vasyl Ivanchuk Ukraine 9/13 69.2 59 1997 Valery Salov Russia 8½/13 65.4 60 1998 Viswanathan Anand India 8½/13 65.4 Vladimir Kramnik Russia 61 1999 Garry Kasparov Russia 10/13 76.9

### Corus tournament

From 2000, the formal name for the tournament was changed to the "Corus Chess Tournament". The winners of the A-group were:
    Winners 2000-2010 # Year Winner(s) Country Score % 62 2000 Garry Kasparov Russia 9½/13 73.1 63 2001 Garry Kasparov Russia 9/13 69.2 64 2002 Evgeny Bareev Russia 9/13 69.2 65 2003 Viswanathan Anand India 8½/13 65.4 66 2004 Viswanathan Anand India 8½/13 65.4 67 2005 Peter Leko Hungary 8½/13 65.4 68 2006 Viswanathan Anand India 9/13 69.2 Veselin Topalov Bulgaria 69 2007 Levon Aronian Armenia 8½/13 65.4 Teimour Radjabov Azerbaijan Veselin Topalov Bulgaria 70 2008 Levon Aronian Armenia 8/13 61.5 Magnus Carlsen Norway 71 2009 Sergey Karjakin Russia 8/13 61.5 72 2010 Magnus Carlsen Norway 8½/13 65.4

### Tata Steel tournament

From 2011, the formal name changed to the "Tata Steel Chess Tournament". The winners of the Masters section were:
    Winners 2011-present # Year Winner Country Score % 73 2011 Hikaru Nakamura United States 9/13 69.2 74 2012 Levon Aronian Armenia 9/13 69.2 75 2013 Magnus Carlsen Norway 10/13 76.9 76 2014 Levon Aronian Armenia 8/11 72.7 77 2015 Magnus Carlsen Norway 9/13 69.2 78 2016 Magnus Carlsen Norway 9/13 69.2 79 2017 Wesley So United States 9/13 69.2 80 2018 Magnus Carlsen Norway 9/13 69.2 81 2019 Magnus Carlsen Norway 9/13 69.2 82 2020 Fabiano Caruana United States 10/13 76.9 83 2021 Jorden van Foreest Netherlands 8½/13 65.4 84 2022 Magnus Carlsen Norway 9½/13 73.1 85 2023 Anish Giri Netherlands 8½/13 65.4 86 2024 Wei Yi China 8½/13 65.4 87 2025 R Praggnanandhaa India 8½/13 65.4

## Multiple winners

The following players have won the tournament more than once; years where they shared the title are bolded.
Multiple winners :
| Player | Country | Wins | Tournaments Won |
| Magnus Carlsen | Norway | 8 (1 shared) | 2008, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022 |
| Viswanathan Anand | India | 5 (3 shared) | 1989, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2006 |
| Max Euwe | Netherlands | 4 (1 shared) | 1940, 1942, 1952, 1958 |
| Levon Aronian | Armenia | 4 (2 shared) | 2007, 2008, 2012, 2014 |
| Victor Korchnoi | Soviet Union Switzerland | 4 (2 shared) | 1968, 1971, 1984, 1987 |
| Lajos Portisch | Hungary | 4 (1 shared) | 1965, 1972, 1975, 1978 |
| Jan Hein Donner | Netherlands | 3 (1 shared) | 1950, 1958, 1963 |
| Efim Geller | Soviet Union | 3 (3 shared) | 1965, 1969, 1977 |
| Garry Kasparov | Russia | 3 | 1999, 2000, 2001 |
| John Nunn | United Kingdom | 3 (1 shared) | 1982, 1990, 1991 |
| Walter Browne | United States | 2 (1 shared) | 1974, 1980 |
| Anatoly Karpov | Soviet Union Russia | 2 | 1988, 1993 |
| Bent Larsen | Denmark | 2 (2 shared) | 1960, 1961 |
| Predrag Nikolić | SFR Yugoslavia Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2 (1 shared) | 1989, 1994 |
| Friðrik Ólafsson | Iceland | 2 (1 shared) | 1959, 1976 |
| Lev Polugaevsky | Soviet Union | 2 | 1966, 1979 |
| Valery Salov | Russia | 2 (1 shared) | 1992, 1997 |
| Gennadi Sosonko | Netherlands | 2 (2 shared) | 1977, 1981 |
| Nigel Short | United Kingdom | 2 (1 shared) | 1986, 1987 |
| Jan Timman | Netherlands | 2 (1 shared) | 1981, 1985 |
| Veselin Topalov | Bulgaria | 2 (2 shared) | 2006, 2007 |
| Theo van Scheltinga | Netherlands | 2 | 1944, 1947 |