Giri Steals Steel Tournament Crown
Who/What/When/Where & Why?
The Tata Steel masters tournament, a premier international chess tournament, finished yesterday with a new champion, Anish Giri. Giri bested top chess players such as #1 Magnus Carlsen, and fellow GM’s Fabiano Caruna and Wesley So. The annual chess tournament, dubbed “The Wimbledon of Chess“ is held each January in the Netherlands. A 13th round win accompanied by an unforseen loss by GM Adbusattorov allowed Giri to steal the Steel tournament crown. Carlsen holds 8 Tata Steel tournament titles, the current record.
Who is Anish Giri?
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia
Anish Giri was born in St. Petersburg Russia to a Russian mother and Nepalese father. Giri currently claims citizenship in the Netherlands while living previously in Sapporo Japan. Giri was awared the GM title at the exceptionally young age of 14 years, 7 months. From that young age Giri has only improved on the chess board, currently holding a 2764 Fide rating which ranks for 7th best in the world. With an ever improving resume Giri is a strong contender for the candidates tournament in 2024.
Giri’s play in the Tata Steel tournament
Giri’s chess style is detailed as conservative and solid, meaning he doesn’t take too many unnecessary risks on the chessboard. It was this exact style that led him to grind to the top of Steel tournament rankings with 8.5 of 13 possible points. The final match between Giri and GM Rapport best showcases Giri’s sturdy abilities. Follow below to see how Giri initially isolates black’s d-file pawn and slowly enhances his position from there.
Fun Fact
Anish Giri is married to fellow chess player Sopiko Guramishvili. I bet a game of chess decides who does the dishes!
What now?
There is still much more work to be done for Giri this year. He stated that “There will be alot more classical chess for me….I’ll certainly take what I learned here and try to apply it.” The next major milestone for Giri is to qualify for the candidates tournament in 2023 and potentially play for the world championship match in 2026.
