Tata Steel Chess 2019 Preview

Magnus Carlsen plays in Wijk aan Zee for a 15th time as he looks to win the Tata Steel Masters title for a 7th time, but it’s not going to be easy. Fabiano Caruana and MVL are the only players missing from the world’s Top 8, with the 14-man field also featuring debuts for the likes of Duda, Shankland, Fedoseev and Vidit. The Challengers is jam-packed with young stars such as Praggnanandhaa and Maghsoodloo, with Vincent Keymer hunting a final GM norm. Here at chess24 the dream team of Peter Svidler and Jan Gustafsson is reunited for commentary.

There are once again 13 rounds in both the Masters and Challengers, with the action starting at 13:30 each day (New York 07:30, London 12:30), except for the two “on tour” days in Alkmaar and Leiden, when the Masters games start half an hour later:

Sat 12th January | Round 1
Sun 13th January | Round 2
Mon 14th January | Round 3
Tue 15th January | Round 4
Wed 16th January | Round 5 (Alkmaar)

Thu 17th January | Rest Day

Fri 18th January | Round 6
Sat 19th January | Round 7
Sun 20th January | Round 8

Mon 21st January | Rest Day

Tue 22nd January | Round 9 (also Gibraltar R1)
Wed 23rd January | Round 10 (Leiden)

Thu 24th January | Rest Day

Fri 25th January | Round 11
Sat 26th January | Round 12
Sun 27th January | Round 13

The tournament will be broadcast live on the official website, while if you’re a chess24 Premium Member you can watch what we missed during the World Championship match – 8-time Russian Champion Peter Svidler and Carlsen-second Jan Gustafsson reunited in the commentary booth!