Though the ravaging pandemic slowed down chess and pushed it over the edge onto online platforms, the game of intelligent minds held its ground with sheer grit. 2021 woke up to witnessing competitive chess resuming its spark over the board.
The prestigious Tata Steel Chess 2021, the first over-the-board tournament since the pandemic was held in De Moriaan in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, from Jan 15-31. The only other OTB tournaments since the lockdown were The Norway Chess tournament (October 2020) and the Russian Championship Superfinals, (December 2020).
The tournament commenced on the 15th of January 2021 with the initial round sporting the highest ranking GMs Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana.
Tata Steel Chess 2021: An overload of surprises
A beautifully organised event held under the shadows of a pandemic and unanticipated political unrest, the 83rd edition of the prestigious Tata Steel Chess has a few other ‘firsts’ to its credit. The tournament was dotted with quite a few miracles and surprise winners.
It was a moment in the history of Dutch chess as Foreest achieved what his predecessors couldn’t for 36 years. Stalwarts like Loek van Wely or Jeroen Piket never achieved the feat since 1985 when GM Jan Timman won the title.
Also, it was another amusing ‘first’ that Foreester bagged the title playing against his compatriot Anish Giri in their native land!
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A sweet shout-out came from the online content streaming platform Netflix through its mini-series The Queen’s Gambit. However, the series highlighted the dearth of female participants in the circuit which reaffirms the absence of women contenders in the 2021 version of the tournament.
Among the contestants, the sparkling victory of the 18 year old Russian GM Andrey Esipenko over the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen was a showstopper. It was the young master’s first-ever classical game with the world champion. He scored a devastating victory over Carlsen and dominated the game from start to finish.
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The feat shocked the ardent chess fans as it is rare for the world champion to face defeat in an upsetting manner. Carlsen remained undefeated for 125 games during a period of two years from July 2018 to October 2020. His defeat at the hands of a young GM was one of the biggest disappointments in Wijk aan Zee.
Though a 16-year-old GM Anish Giri had made him wrap up his game in 2011, Carlsen was not yet on the throne as world champion.
During his reign, the only games he lost to a teenager was his defeat in the 2014 World Blitz at the hands of Lu Shanglei, the 17-year-old Chinese GM at the, and in the 2018 World Rapid where he lost to the 16-year-old IM from Uzbek Shamsiddin Vokhidov.
Carlsen's loss to Esipenko was his first in Wijk aan Zee and his first since 2017. Also, this is surprisingly the first time -since 2015 - he’s losing to a sub-2700 player.
For GM Anish Giri, he slipped off a great opportunity to beat GM Alireza Firouzja and increase his lead at the tournament to a full point.
This was unexpected as Giri was almost sure of winning the game. All he needed was a draw, under the circumstances, to ensure his victory in the final round. Firouzja proved his mettle in bringing his opponents down in the endgame. With Giri he asserted his skill on the Houdini-like escape.
The shadows of the lockdown
If any chess tournament reaped the harvest of the online boom in the Covid-19 season, it was the one at Wijk aan Zee. Over 80, 000 viewers watched the final Armageddon game online through the combined Chess.com broadcast streams and more than 700,000 watched over the course of the day. Such massive viewership for an OTB match are known to happen only in world championships.
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Yet, the first OTB tournament in 2021 - post the pandemic hang-over - wasn’t totally free of dark clouds. The Netherlands government had extended the lock-down till February 9. But top sports competitions were exempted from the strict measures and permitted to be conducted without spectators.
Despite the announcement in December 2020 about the field of participants, it was rearranged three times. It began with GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov withdrawing from the tournament and replaced by GM Pentala Harikrishna. Soon, GMs Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Nils Grandelius replaced GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi and Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
With one more day to go, GM Daniil Dubov had to withdraw owing to his trainer developing a fever. The young German grandmaster Alexander Donchenko who won a nine-round Swiss in Krakow, Poland (January 4) was roped in to replace Dubov.
The players as well as the organizers had to undergo COVID-19 tests. One-way traffic was implemented in the building, and the grandmasters had a separate dedicated entrance and exit to the tournament hall.
The usual challengers group - with scores of amateur players playing - also got cancelled this year. Spectators were not allowed, making it highly beneficial for online platforms and channels.
Conclusion
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