American grandmaster Wesley So (23) has won the 79th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. Playing with black he managed to beat Russian Ian Nepomniatchi and thus managed to leave behind world champion Magnus Carlsen, Chinese super talent Wei Yi and Levon Aronian. They were all half a point behind So before the start of the 13th round, which was opened by former world champion Anatoli Karpov, and so were all still competing for first place. It’s the first time So has won a tournament in which Carlsen was participating.

Carlsen came in second in the Tata Steel Masters. The first regular match between Carlsen and Karjakin since their world championship match in New York ended in a draw today. Wesley So has remained unbeaten for 56 matches in a row and is now the world’s number three chess player. So after his victory: “Winning this prestigious tournament has been a goal for a long time. I really love the Tata Steel Chess Tournament”. So received the award from Anatoli Karpov and Theo Henrar, chairman of the directors of Tata Steel Nederland. Henrar announced that the 80th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament will take place in Wijk aan Zee from 12 – 28 January 2018.

Other winners

Gawain Jones (UK) managed to win the Tata Steel Challengers. The fight for first place was fierce in this group as well during the last round, which started with three players still in the race for victory. Winning the Tata Steel Challengers means that Jones will participate in the Tata Steel Masters in 2018. The top amateur group was won by Lucas van Foreest (15), brother of Jorden van Foreest (17).

The latter participated in the Tata Steel Challengers. His victory means that Lucas van Foreest will participate in the Tata Steel Challengers in next year’s edition. The Vugar Gashimov Fair Play Award was won by Adhiban Baskaran (India) and Eric Hansen (Canada). They received the award from Sarkhan Gashimov, Vugar’s brother. The Professor Van Hulst Young Talent Award was won by 16-year-old American Jeffery Xiong, who secured third place in the Tata Steel Challengers. He received the prize from 106-year-old Johan van Hulst.

Steel and chess: creativity and innovation

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament has a long tradition. Starting as an employee tournament, it has grown into an international tournament of world class renown, for which grand masters and amateurs alike will clear their diaries. Tata Steel has chosen for chess, because chess entails strategic thinking and focuses on finding creative solutions for complex issues. Tata Steel has that very same focus. Steelmaking is a high-tech process with a crucial role for innovation.

Tata Steel employees are continuously and relentlessly working on finding clever solutions to improve processes and products. That is how Tata Steel is able to provide top products to its customers, allowing them to distinguish themselves in their markets. At the same time Tata Steel contributes to creating a sustainable society through its product and process innovations. Among chess aficionados the tournament in Wijk aan Zee is known as ‘The Wimbledon of Chess’.

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Magnus Carlsen will face his childhood nemesis Ian Nepomniachtchi in a 14-game World Chess Championship match this November in Dubai after Ian won the FIDE Candidates Tournament with a round to spare. Nepomniachtchi’s opponent Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had to win with the black pieces but never came close, while Anish Giri lost to self-confessed “chess terrorist” Alexander Grischuk. Ian called reaching the match a “huge milestone in my career and perhaps in my life also,” but understandably never wants to play a tournament lasting over a year again.

The one player who went into Round 13 of the FIDE Candidates with an absolutely clear task was French no. 1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who knew nothing but a victory with the black pieces over tournament leader Ian Nepomniachtchi would do. Nepo wasn’t going to make it easy, and began with 1.Nf3, a move he said he had no idea what to do after himself.

Maxime went for 2…b6 and soon a double fianchetto, but it was one of the options Ian had been expecting, and the Russian gradually built up what was verging on an overwhelming position.

See also:

• Official website
• FIDE Candidates Tournament games on chess24
• FIDE Candidates Tournament stopped at halfway
• FIDE Candidates to resume after 389 days
• Carlsen to play 5th World Championship in Dubai this November
• Magnus Carlsen to commentate on the Candidates
• Jan, Laurent & Peter preview the Candidates
• Alexander Grischuk on the FIDE Candidates
• Candidates Round 8: Caruana stuns MVL to blow race wide open
• Candidates Round 9: Giri back in the race
• Candidates Round 10: Nepo closes in on match with Magnus
• Candidates Round 11: Giri inspired as Nepo keeps Fabi at bay
• Candidates Round 12: Giri ends Fabi’s dream | Nepo leads

China have beaten India 10:6 in a four-round match held in Liaocheng, China from 5-8 March 2017. The Indian team went into the final round knowing they needed to win 3.5:0.5 to save the match, but instead Wei Yi beat Abhijeet Gupta as the Chinese team cruised to victory. That was Wei Yi’s second win, after he also beat his 17-year-old contemporary and Indian Champion Murali Karthikeyan in the previous round.

While Russia and China have played countless “friendly” team matches against each other, this is only the second “China-India summit”, after China beat India 18:14 in the first held in Hyderabad, India back in 2015. While neither team picked even close to their strongest line-up, the match-up represented one of the hottest rivalries in world chess.

When it comes to China, of course, it’s nothing new. They’re the reigning open World Team Champions, women’s Olympiad Champions and have been dominating the women’s individual title for almost three decades now. Tan Zhongyi’s victory in Tehran and Ju Wenjun’s victory in the FIDE Grand Prix series means that even Hou Yifan dropping out of the cycle won’t see the title pass to another country in the near future.

It was a difficult event for Gupta, who had suffered his third loss in a row, while that second win in a row saw Wei Yi edge up to world no. 25 and 2729.3 on the live rating list. Lu Shanglei also scored two wins for China, with only Zhou Jianchao losing any games (two). For India, Sethuraman was the top performer, with one win and three draws, but he couldn’t prevent China emerging as the 10:6 victors.

It’ll be interesting to see how the balance of power has changed in another two years! A little sooner, Wei Yi is top seed in the HDBank Masters that starts on 12th March, with his teammates also competing.

See also:

• Official website
• All the China-India games with computer analysis on chess24