No women at Tata Steel chess this year, but game is growing in popularity
Magnus Carlsen in action. Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021
The annual Tata Steel chess tournament, which is currently being held at Wijk aan Zee, has been given an unexpected boost by the Netflix mini series
The Queen’s Gambit but at the same time highlights the lack of female top contenders in the circuit.
The tournament (formerly the Hoogovens chess tournament) features some of the best players in the world but women are rarely seen and none are competing this year.
The Queen’s Gambit is set in the 1960s and tells the story of orphan Beth Harmon who learns to play chess at the age of six and who reaches the pinnacle of chess fame, the only woman to do so at the time.