Tata Steel Chess Tournament on tour in the Academy Building

On Wednesday 24 January, the city of Groningen hosted the top of the international chess world for one match day of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. The Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen was there, as well as Wesley So from the USA, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Dutchman Anish Giri. The matches were played in the Aula of the Academy Building of the University of Groningen. The matches could be followed both live and online, with English commentary by Eric Hansen and Dutch commentary by Sipke Ernst. Approximately 2.500 to 3.000 people attended the event.

Other activities on 24 January

There were several chess-related activities during the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. On match day, Wednesday 24 January, the Academy Building hosted two 'Chess for Dummies’ sessions, led by Robert Ris, and Tata Steel offered a Recruitment Day, providing an introduction to the steel industry.

Surrounding activities

Saturday 20 January: Pub crawl tournament
A dynamic chess tournament, organized together with various Groningen chess clubs, where all teams visited several pubs in the centre of Groningen from 4 p.m. on.

Monday 22 January: Lecture: ‘Chess and a little sex’ by Tex de Wit
Chess lecture with ‘Zondag met Lubach’ television celebrity Tex de Wit, organized by Studium Generale Groningen in the Academy Building at 8 p.m. Tex has been an avid chess player all his life and talked about his passion.

Tuesday 23 January:Tata Steel Kids Games
Between 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m., over 100 children from the Sterrensteen primary school in Vinkhuizen participated in the Tata Steel Kids Games, where they were introduced to chess through educational games.