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Before you is the tournament book of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021. The
event that has been won in sensational fashion by the young Dutch grandmaster
Jorden van Foreest. In a tiebreak in the third blitz game, he was just a bit faster of
his compatriot Anish Giri. The barrage was necessary because both players very
surprisingly ended with the wonderful score of 8½ out of 13 in joint first place. With
this they had left behind, among others, World Champion Magnus Carlsen (7½) and
the number two in the world, Fabiano Caruana (8). An unprecedented achievement, because the tournament in Wijk aan Zee is sometimes called the "Wimbledon of chess" of the elite tournaments. After the last round, in which Van Foreest in a formidable way had left the Swede Nils Grandelius chanceless, it was waiting
for the game between the Spaniard David Antóoacute;n Guijarra and Anish Giri. Our
compatriot was in a bad position, lost perhaps, but he managed to free himself from
the tangled position and gain an important half point. It was decided beforehand
that a tiebreak would be held, consisting of at least two blitz games. Should these
result in a 1-1 score, an Armageddon game would be played. This turned out to be
a nervous and blood-curdling fight, with the pieces flying around. In the end the
younger OF the two, Jorden van Foreest, emerged victorious and thus the young
Groninger booked the greatest success of his still young career. Apart from the
commotion in the Dutch seaside resort of Wijk aan Zee, where the tournament was
held - under strict corona rules – the whole of the Netherlands rose to its feet when
this great result became known. Hadn't we had to wait since 1985, when Jan
Timman won the Hoogovens chess tournament, for a Dutch chess player to stand
on the highest podium? And now it was even two players from this country who
could dispute together who would take the highest honor
About the author
GM Daniel Fernandez (born 1995) is an English grandmaster with a slightly unusual approach to chess: at once mischievous and hardworking, and equally comfortable in tactical positions or dry endgames. His style fits the Modern perfectly and he has played it with success for almost a decade. He is a past holder of the British under-18 and under-21 titles, and the winner (or joint winner) of many open tournaments, such as Paracin 2017, Pula 2018, Ghent 2019 and the New Zealand Open 2020. Daniel also writes and commentates frequently, and is a columnist of the 1.e4 section on ChessPublishing.com. This is his third book for Thinkers Publishing, the Modernized Caro-Kann and Modern Defense were his first two and world wide acclaimed as the best you can get.
