On the 2021 Tata Steel Chess Tournament
January, one of the most exciting months for chess fans and chess players because of the legendary tournament that takes place. The Tata Steel Chess Tournament. This year the tournament will be undergoing its eighty-third year. It is known as one of the biggest and longest-running tournaments in the history of chess. Almost every world champion has played in one of the Tata Steel Tournaments at some point in time. Probably the only tournaments that excite chess fans more than the Tata Steel Tournament are the Candidates Tournament, World Championship Matches, The Grand Swiss Isle of Man, Sinquefield Cup, and the Chess Olympiad.
The most exciting thing this year is probably not going to be the challengers or participants of the tournament but the format. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many chess tournaments have been cancelled or postponed such as the 2020 Candidates tournament. Almost all the chess tournaments this year have moved online, and chess for the first time since Fischer-Spassky matches in 1972 is now becoming all the rage, due to the recent Netflix special Queen’s Gambit, and the ability to play this sport online. In working with the Government body, this year’s Tata Steel Tournament will be played over the board and will start on January 15th and end on January 31st. The tournament will be taking place in Wijk aan Zee. The time control of this tournament will be classical time controls. This means that each player will receive one hundred minutes for the first forty moves, followed by fifty minutes for the next twenty moves, this time format will also feature a thirty-second-time increment starting from move one.
Many of the top chess players and chess fans have been enjoying all these extra online tournaments happening this year, except many people have stated that they miss playing chess over the board and are getting tired of all of these fast time control tournaments like blitz, and rapid formats. The difficulty of hosting classical time control tournaments is that there tends to be a much higher draw rate, and the tournament will usually go overtime to try and settle the scores with tie breaks. Classical tournaments usually last a couple of weeks so they can be quite expensive to run, as result sponsors prefer to host blitz and rapid tournaments because of their shorter lengths and lower draw rates. Some people think that classical chess is dead due to draws and think blitz chess will be the future of chess, however, many believe that classical chess will never be eliminated because in the shorter time controls time pressure causes players to make mistakes which often results in a win or loss. Many people including I are not fans of this idea and prefer the classical time format so that time pressure is not a problem and we get to see the players play their best chess possible.
As per usual this year’s competitors feature some of the best of the best players. Current world champion Magnus Carlsen is playing as has stated that “this event means a lot to me” and plans to win. Number two in the world Fabiano Caruana will also be playing this year and is one of Carlsen’s toughest opponents. I have been studying Fabi’s games in detail recently, so I look forward to seeing Fabi slaughter his opponents over the board. Fabi is also the favourite of the Brandon Knights Chess Club so I can imagine the excitement the other members are feeling. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave after six years is returning to compete in this year’s tournament. Before the second half of the Candidate’s tournament, MVL was the tournament leader alongside Ian Nepomniachtchi, and many fans are excited to see if MVL the world's leading expert on the Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence has made any breakthroughs. Another one of the Candidate’s tournament competitors Anish Giri is also competing this year. As usual, this year’s Tata Steel Chess Tournament features some tough competition. Who do you think will win?
N. Monk, Futurist and Philosopher
