#17 Wijk aan Zee Storytellers (1) - GM John van der Wiel

This is the first episode of the "Wijk aan Zee Storytellers". Eric talks to GM John van der Wiel (1959) from The Netherlands, who participated no less than 28 (!) times in the tournament in Wijk aan Zee.

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Steel to form the Corus Group in 1999, after which the tournament was called the Corus chess tournament. Corus Group became Tata Steel Europe in 2007. Despite the name changes, the series is numbered sequentially from its Hoogovens beginnings. In 2021, the 83. edition was played. 

Since there are a lot of stories to tell about the tournament, Eric decided to invite a few former players and winners to the podcast to ask about their memories of this remote little village on the Dutch coast, that became "The Wimbledon of Chess". 

All the information about the tournament and links that will guide you to the right place, can be found on the official website of the tournament. TATA Steel Chess is also on Twitter. Use the hashtag #tatasteelchess.

Have a look at the statistics here: All time statistics.

All crosstables and more information about the event in Wijk aan Zee can be found on the Wikipedia site.


Host       : Eric van Reem
Guest     : GM John van der Wiel (NED)
Editor     : Dennis van Reem
Artwork  : Fränk Stiefel
Music     : Chess Pieces-Silent Partner

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