Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

The blitz was necessary because both players surprisingly finished with the wonderful score of 8½ out of 13 in joint first place. With this they had left behind, among others, the World Champion Magnus Carlsen (7½) and the world number two, Fabiano Caruana (8). An unprecedented achievement, because the Wijk aan Zee tournament is sometimes called the "Wimbledon of chess" of elite tournaments. After the last round, in which Van Foreest in a formidable manner had left the Swede Nils Grandelius without a chance, the game between the Spanish David Antón Guijarra and Anish Giri remained pending. Our compatriot was in a bad position, perhaps lost, but he managed to free himself from the tangle and win an important half point. It was decided in advance that a tiebreaker would be held, consisting of at least two blitz games. If these result in a score of 1-1, a game of Armageddon would be played. This turned out to be a nervous and hair-raising fight, with pieces flying. In the end, the younger of the two, Jorden van Foreest, emerged victorious and thus the young Groninger achieved 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 entire Netherlands stood up when this great result was known. Haven't we had to wait since 1985, when Jan Timman won the Hoogovens chess tournament, for a Dutch chess player to reach the highest podium? And now there were even two players from this country who could compete together who would take the highest honor.