The annual “chess Wimbledon” at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands is unusually interesting this year. Its 14-player field matches the reigning world champion, India’s Dommaraju Gukesh, against a range of rivals who include four of the eight Candidates who will meet in March to decide his 2026 challenger, another three grandmasters from the world top 10, the controversial US star Hans Niemann, plus a 14-year-old Turk who is breaking age records.
Gukesh’s unimpressive recent results mean the world Nos 5 and 8, Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, will aim to finish ahead of him. Germany’s world No 4, Vincent Keymer, had a good 2025, while the home nation’s world No 6, Anish Giri, often performs well in this event.
Turkey’s Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, 14, is already famous for his “Turkish Immortal” in the Fide Grand Swiss and has broken several world age records. He is the youngest ever to reach a 2600 rating. His fellow prodigy Faustino Oro, a 12-year-old Argentinian, is competing in the Wijk Challengers with a chance of achieving his third and final GM norm and so breaking Abhimanyu Mishra’s record as the youngest ever grandmaster.
Round one at Tata Steel starts on Saturday at 1pm GMT, with rest days on 22, 26 and 29 January. Games will be broadcast live and free on chess.com, lichess, and the official site.
Two years ago, Bodhana Sivanandan, the Harrow chess talent, caused a sensation by scoring 8.5 out of 13 in the European Women’s Blitz Championship in Monte Carlo at age eight. Her results included a draw against Germany’s top woman and a win against a Bulgarian who had just qualified for the Women’s Candidates.
Last weekend Sivanandan, now aged 10 and the reigning UK Women’s Blitz Champion, returned to Monaco and repeated her stellar performance. As in 2024, she totalled 8.5/13 against high-rated opponents. As in 2024, she won the junior under-20 prize because Eline Roebers (Netherlands), who was also eligible by age, won the women’s European title.
Sivanandan began slowly with 3/6 before winning four games in a row from rounds seven to 10, then finishing with three draws. In her most eventful game, she was worse from the opening before recovering to overwhelm her opponent with a queen and rooks onslaught.
Sivanandan followed up by scoring 7/11 in the Rapid, where she was unbeaten and gained a massive 133 Fide rapid points. She finished 20th in the 143-player field, two points behind the new champion, Nino Batsiashvili, from Georgia.
In the final round, she drew a pawn down endgame against Teodora Injac, the 2025 European women’s champion at classical chess. An impressive performance for a 10-year-old!
Wood Green, the favourites, won both their matches convincingly against rival contenders last weekend when the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) staged its third and fourth rounds. The North Londoners, led by England’s youngest grandmaster, Shreyas Royal, 17, defeated Warwickshire by 6.5-1.5, then CSC/Kingston by 5.5-2.5.
Wood Green head the table with a maximum 8/8, followed by the Sharks 6, Wood Green Youth and CSC/Kingston 5. GM Matthew Wadsworth won one of the best attacks of the weekend.
New Zealand stages a rare grandmaster norm tournament this week when the Bob Wade Memorial takes place in Auckland. The nine-time and reigning British champion, Michael Adams, and Dan Fernandez represent England, while there are also GMs from Hungary, Poland and Malaysia. The link to the live games is on lichess.
In Thursday’s opening round, Fernandez took an early lead, while Adams drew as Black against the Polish GM Jacek Stopa.
4007: 1 … Nh3! and White resigned. If 2 gxh3 Rxe1 3 Qxe1 Qxf3 mate. If 2 Qf1 Nxg1 3 Rxe6 (or 3 Qxg1 Rxe1 4 Qxe1 Qxh2 mate, or 3 Kxg1 Qxh2+ 4 Kf2 Bg3 mate) Qxh2 mate. White can delay mate by 3 Bd3 instead of 3 Qxe1, when 3 … Rd1 4 Be2 Rd2 5 b3 Rb2 6 b4 Qd2 wins the bishop and leaves Black a rook up.
