Tata Steel Chess 2012

Farewell pictures...
Congratulations to the winners and see you again for the jubileum (75th edition) in 2013!

The last weekend in Wijk aan Zee is always special;
besides the tournament itself, there is another type of measuring your chess skills: solving competitions! If the studies are more 'player friendly', similar in a way to the chess we play, the selfmates, helpmates and mates in N moves are a bit...different. To be honest, they drove me nuts at some point:)
Nevertheless, once you get used to it, the problems start to gradually reveal their hidden beauty.

Professionalism: extra chess sets to win time and energy!

Piotr Murdzia, one of the best solvers in the world,
former world champion

John Nunn excelling in solving competitions as well.

Right before the closing ceremony: what do you think
Tania and Anish are talking about?! That's right, some chess lines:)

The closing ceremony is about to start; on the right:
Chuchelov's family, currently the trainer for the Dutch GM's.

Enjoying a good talk and a glass of wine.
Glasses in a few cases:)

The famous Dutch speciality is almost ready to be delivered
to the tables: Erwten Soep (Pea Soup)!

Not a great day for Erwin nor for Veselin; they both lost the last round and still smiling! After all, they are professionals: a new lesson and move on!

Hikaru Nakamura signing for his El Salvador fans;

The moment everybody is waiting for: award ceremony!

Remember Pia's drawings? Some players were lucky to actually get them, directly from the artist!

Baskaran Adhiban vs Etienne Goudriaan

Erwin got one too!

Viktorija Cmilyte vs Erwin l'Ami

Teymour Radjabov with his wife

But who is hiding behind this elegant black hat?

Yuliya Levitan, Kamsky's girlfriend. She was a professional chess player as well and fully supported Gata during his tournament.
Next to her: WGM from Mongolia, Batchimeg Tuvshintugs.

Tania and Arianne. Isn't chess beautiful?!

Paparazzi undercover:) On the right: Alexandre, Chuchelov's son, the one
in charge for the pictures underneath! Besides his photographing skills, at a very early age, Alexandre is already speaking a few languages: Russian, French, English, German, and I'm sure I still forgot one!

Lisa Schut, who got her WGM norm with 4 points out of 9 rounds.

After figthing so many rough games with the best players in the world, in Reggio Emilia and Wijk aan Zee, Anish is in need for a well deserved rest. Although, school is anxiously waiting...

Fabiano Caruana receiving the Johan van Hulst prize,
which was introduced in the previous edition of Tata Steel tournament.

Johan van hulst, 101 y.o.! He is an emeritus professor and a retired politician.
And, of course, a big chess lover!

The l'Ami-s

Mixed feelings: happy that it's finished and we can go home; on the other hand, I love being in Wijk and it's a pity that time goes so fast:(

Winner of the C group: Maxim Turov.
We'll see him playing in the B group next year!

Pentala Harikrishna also promoted to the A group 2013!

Shared 2nd: Fabiano Caruana, Teymour Radjabov and
Magnus Carlsen, applauding the unshared winner:

Levon Aronian!

The winner's trophy

Shall I go on by saying that behind every successful man...?:)

The well deserved moment of glory!

If we started with the solving competitions, it's about time to close
the frame with none other than the 'guru' in this field:
Oleg Pervakov, the current world champion in composing endgame studies.
He kindly entertained us in the farewell dinner with his beautiful compositions. From left to right: Sipke Ernst, Erwin l'Ami, Jan Timman, Oleg Pervakov, Geertje Timman and Yochanan Afek.

The end.
I have no more pictures from last night's party, for various reasons:)
See you next year!