Tata Steel Chess 2019 poised for a spectacular start with likes of Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen in fray
FirstpostDefending champion Magnus Carlsen will be eyeing his seventh title. In its 81st edition this year, Wijk will host the Tata Steel Chess Tournament from the 12th to the 28th of January, featuring a mouthwatering field that includes four out of the top five players in the world, alongside chess legends like Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik and young talents like Vidit Gujrathi, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Jorden van Foreest, Richard Rapport etc. Thus far, the premier event of the tournament — which has often been described as the Wimbledon of Chess — has seen a long list of famous winners with world champions like Max Euwe, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik, Magnus Carlsen etc among them. Meanwhile, Anand, whom Carlsen had surpassed last year in terms of highest number of title wins at the event, will try to level scores with the reigning World Champion by clinching the sixth Tata Steel trophy of his career. Besides the last year’s runner up, GM Anton Korobov, the field includes the reigning World Junior Champion, GM Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran and two very promising teenagers: German international master, Vincent Keymar and R Praggnanandhaa of India.