Tata Steel Chess: Four Candidates among Masters’ participants

Gukesh to face four potential challengers

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2026 will be the 88^th edition of the long-running annual tournament held in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. The event is scheduled to take place from 17 January to 1 February and will once again feature the traditional structure of parallel Masters and Challengers tournaments, each consisting of 14 players competing in a single round-robin.

The time control will be 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the remainder of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting from move one. The organisers have opted for this structure because it resembles, in broad terms, the conditions used at the Candidates Tournament. While the Candidates features a longer initial phase – 120 minutes before move 40 – and a different allocation of additional time thereafter, there are no increments before reaching the time control in both events.

Brief historical background

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament has a long and complex history, dating back to 1938.

Originally known as the Hoogovens Tournament, it carried that name until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Steel in 1999 to form the Corus Group, after which the event became the Corus Chess Tournament. When Corus was taken over by the Tata Group in 2007 and renamed Tata Steel Europe, the tournament eventually adopted its current name in 2011.

Since the move from Beverwijk to Wijk aan Zee in 1968, the event has commonly been referred to simply as “Wijk aan Zee”, a designation that has become synonymous with top-level classical chess.

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The 2026 Masters: the youngest field on record

The Masters tournament in 2026 stands out as the youngest ever in the history of the event. The oldest participant in the field is Anish Giri, who is 31 years old, while the average age of the 14 players is just 23. Defending champion Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu returns to Wijk aan Zee, as does Thai Dai Van Nguyen, who earned his place by winning the Tata Steel Challengers in 2025.

Although the lineup does not include the world’s top three rated players – Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana – the tournament remains exceptionally strong in rating terms. Six of the 14 participants are currently ranked within the world’s top 12 and are separated by relatively small rating margins: Vincent Keymer, Arjun Erigaisi, Anish Giri, Praggnanandhaa, reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

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Gukesh Dommaraju | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes

From the remaining eight players, five enter the tournament with ratings above 2700: Javokhir Sindarov, Hans Niemann, Vladimir Fedoseev, Jorden van Foreest and Aravindh Chithambaram. The final three places are occupied by Matthias Bluebaum (rated 2679), Turkish prodigy Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (2658) and Thai Dai Van Nguyen (2656).

Only three players in the field have previously won the tournament – Giri, Praggnanandhaa and Van Foreest. The notably young composition of the field also suggests that even the highest-rated players will be highly motivated to add a Wijk aan Zee title to their records.

Candidates connections

Four of the eight players who will compete in the next Candidates Tournament are present in Wijk aan Zee: Giri, Praggnanandhaa, Sindarov and Bluebaum.

From an organisational point of view, their participation is particularly significant, as the third and fourth Candidates qualifiers were only confirmed after the Tata Steel lineup had already been announced in October. Sindarov secured his place by winning the FIDE World Cup at the end of November, while Praggnanandhaa was only confirmed as a Candidate once the FIDE Circuit concluded at the end of the year.

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All four Candidates players will face world champion Gukesh during the tournament. Given that the most intensive phase of preparation for a World Championship match typically begins only after the Candidates’ winner is known, Gukesh is likely to look for chances to beat his potential challengers – while they are likely to hide some of their preparation ahead of the all-important Candidates Tournament in March.

Anish Giri beat Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in round nine last year | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

The Challengers tournament

The Challengers section also features a carefully balanced and attractive lineup, with players rated roughly between 2398 and 2638. One of the main points of attention is the presence of 12-year-old Faustino Oro, who already gained experience in last year’s edition. At 15, Lu Miaoyi and Andy Woodward are the next-youngest participants.

Lu is one of four women in the field, alongside three-time women’s world blitz champion Bibisara Assaubayeva, four-time US women’s champion Carissa Yip, and former Dutch women’s champion and current European women’s blitz champion Eline Roebers.

Lu Miaoyi during the 2025 edition | Photo: Tata Steel Chess /Lennart Ootes

They will be challenged by a number of experienced competitors, including Erwin l’Ami, Velimir Ivic and none other than fan favourite Vasyl Ivanchuk. Ivanchuk is a former winner of the tournament, having taken first place in 1996 ahead of players such as Vishy Anand, Veselin Topalov and Michael Adams.

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Tournament schedule

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