The standings in the Tata Steel Masters make for a strange study. Five of the 14 participants have qualified for the Candidates. They are scattered all over after three rounds. Hans Neimann and Matthias Bluebaum are at the top, Anish Giri and R Praggnanandhaa bring up the bottom, with Javokhir Sindarov in the middle at sixth.
The year’s first and one of the biggest competitions in classical chess is in all likelihood the last outing for those who will be in action at the Candidates in Cyprus from March 28 to April 16. Of the eight qualifiers, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana and Wei Yi are already in preparation mode and skipping Wijk Aan Zee.
The five Candidates present in the elite gathering in the northern part of the Netherlands are unlikely to show glimpses of what they will have up their sleeves in the competition that will choose the challenger to D Gukesh in the World Championship match later this year. This is not the time.
“Little can be inferred from how they are performing now,” Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua told RevSportz. “They keep their cards close to their chest before a big tournament like the Candidates and not disclose anything. At best, one can get a hint of the openings. Some of them might try out new ideas. Some might do something misleading. Not a lot should be read into this. There are two months to go.”
Despite that, the Tata Steel Masters is near-perfect rehearsal for the Candidates. The time control is the same and this 13-round event comes closest to the 14-round grind awaiting the players in Cyprus. Barua feels a strong and long competition like Wijk Aan Zee helps players get prepared for the big event in certain ways.
“This is the best possible preparation,” said the veteran. “It’s difficult to maintain concentration, motivation and intensity during the course of such a long and testing competition. The going gets particularly tough for the players who find themselves out of reckoning after the halfway stage. They know there is nothing to gain, but still have to carry on. Tata Steel Masters is a platform to get accustomed to the grind.”
While Neimann, Bluebaum, Sindarov, Giri and Praggnanandhaa have hardly had time to breathe in the last few months, travelling non-stop to distant corners of the world, the other three have been able to relax. Caruana had made the cut a year earlier and Nakamura’s qualification had become certain with time to spare. The top two from the USA played intermittently. Once he sealed a berth in November, Wei of China also reduced playing.
The other five might have chosen to lengthen their already packed itinerary for different reasons. Defending champion, best player of the host country, invited to this prestigious event for the first time, trying to sharpen their game against strong opponents – there can be other reasons also. Whatever those may be, there is something in common. At the Tata Steel Masters, none of the five will reveal what they might be up to two months from now.
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