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Duda on Wijk aan Zee
Yesterday Radosław Wojtaszek answered chess24 s questions, and today it s the turn of another Tata Steel Chess Masters player, Jan-Krzysztof Duda.
1. How many appearances have you made in Wijk aan Zee and which do you remember best?
This is my third appearance in the Masters group, and I also played once in the B Group. I remember last year s appearance best, when I finished with (my best) very solid 50% result.
2. What s most important in such a long tournament?
To put it simply: win a lot of games and play well
But seriously, the whole trick is to spread your energy across the whole tournament, so that at some moment you re not running on fumes . The tournament in Wijk aan Zee is exceptionally long since it has 13 rounds and a couple of rest days. On top of that, you ve got the demanding line-up of players, which all combined means the tournament in the Netherlands is very tough. It s not for nothing it s spoken of as the chess Wimbledon .
Pentala Harikrishna, Poland s no. 2
Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Sweden s no. 1
Nils Grandelius are excellent replacements.
Then, on the eve of the tournament, Daniil Dubov was also forced to cancel after someone close to him tested positive for COVID-19. His late replacement is 22-year-old German Grandmaster
Carlsen has won the Masters group of the event a record 7 times since 2008, when he shared 1st along with Levon Aronian. Caruana is the reigning champion and in fact only three other players (Levon Aronian in 2012 and 2014, Hikaru Nakamura in 2011 and Wesley So in 2017) have managed to win the event in the last 10 years.
Whether Carlsen can triumph again may depend on whether he recovers his form from earlier in 2020. The 30-year-old had an immensely successful year, winning a total of 9 online events and one over-the-board event (Norway Chess), but Wesley So crashed his 30th birthday party by winning the Skilling Open final, while his Airthings Masters came to an end in