The Tata Steel Chess Tournament has been crowning Masters champions in Wijk aan Zee since 1938, first as Hoogovens, then Corus, and — since 2011 — Tata Steel. Below is the roll call of recent champions, the legends of the earlier eras, and the records worth knowing. As of July 2026, the reigning Masters champion is Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who won the 2026 edition.
Recent Masters champions (2008–2026)
The modern list is dominated by one name — but it’s getting more varied by the year. The table below runs from Magnus Carlsen’s first shared title in 2008 up to the current champion. Where a season ended level on points, the winner was decided by a rapid/blitz playoff (as in 2021, 2024, and 2025).
| Year | Champion | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Uzbekistan |
| 2025 | R Praggnanandhaa | India |
| 2024 | Wei Yi | China |
| 2023 | Anish Giri | Netherlands |
| 2022 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway |
| 2021 | Jorden van Foreest | Netherlands |
| 2020 | Fabiano Caruana | USA |
| 2019 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway |
| 2018 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway |
| 2017 | Wesley So | USA |
| 2016 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway |
| 2015 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway |
| 2014 | Levon Aronian | Armenia |
| 2013 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway |
| 2012 | Levon Aronian | Armenia |
| 2011 | Hikaru Nakamura | USA |
| 2010 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway |
| 2009 | Sergey Karjakin | Ukraine |
| 2008 | Levon Aronian & Magnus Carlsen (shared) | Armenia / Norway |
The historic champions (Hoogovens & Corus eras)
Before the modern super-tournament era, Wijk aan Zee’s winners’ list read like a chess hall of fame. The event was first held in 1938, and over the following decades its trophy was lifted by a string of world champions and legends, including:
- Max Euwe — the former World Champion and Dutch hero, a multiple early winner.
- Mikhail Botvinnik — the Soviet patriarch, a winner in 1969.
- Mikhail Tal — the “Magician from Riga,” champion in 1973.
- Lajos Portisch and Viktor Korchnoi — perennial contenders who each won multiple times.
- Anatoly Karpov — the long-reigning world champion, a winner in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
- Garry Kasparov — who closed out the Hoogovens era and opened the Corus one with back-to-back-to-back wins around 1999–2001.
- Viswanathan Anand — a five-time champion and the tournament’s most successful Indian player before the current generation.
For the complete year-by-year list stretching back to 1938, the Wikipedia tournament page and the official former-champions page have the full archive.
Records & milestones
For most of the last two decades, the story of Wijk aan Zee has been the story of one player. Between 2008 and 2022 Magnus Carlsen won the Masters eight times, a level of sustained dominance at a single elite event that has no modern parallel — and he racked up several of those titles during the same years he ruled the world championship. Only since 2023 has the trophy started passing to a new wave of players.
- Most Masters titles: Magnus Carlsen, with 8 — in 2008 (shared), 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2022. Nobody else is close in the modern era.
- Second-most: Viswanathan Anand, with 5 — the record-holder before Carlsen took over.
- A teenage breakthrough: Carlsen first shared the title in 2008 at just 17, an early sign of what was coming.
- A home hero: Jorden van Foreest’s 2021 win made him the first Dutch Masters champion in over two decades — a genuine fairy tale on home soil.
- The new generation: Wei Yi (2024), R Praggnanandhaa (2025), and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2026) — three first-time champions in a row, a clear sign the elite is getting younger and deeper.
A few notable results
- 2013 — Carlsen, 10/13. One of the most dominant performances the event has ever seen, months before he became world champion.
- 2020 — Fabiano Caruana, 10/13. The American matched that huge score for a clear, powerful win.
- 2025 — the double collapse. In a jaw-dropping final round, both leaders — Praggnanandhaa and world champion Gukesh Dommaraju — lost their classical games, leaving them tied on 8½. Pragg then lost the first blitz playoff game but roared back to win the next two and take the title.
- 2026 — Abdusattorov, at last. After years of near-misses (leading late in 2023, a playoff loss in 2024), Nodirbek Abdusattorov finally broke through with a clear 9/13, half a point clear of Javokhir Sindarov.
Frequently asked questions
Who won the Tata Steel Chess Masters in 2025? R Praggnanandhaa of India, who beat Gukesh Dommaraju in a blitz playoff after both tied on 8½/13.
Who won the 2026 Tata Steel Masters? Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan, with 9/13 (as of July 2026).
Who has won Tata Steel Chess the most times? Magnus Carlsen, with 8 Masters titles — well ahead of Viswanathan Anand’s 5.
How far back does the tournament go? To 1938, when it began as the Hoogovens tournament; it became Corus in 2000 and Tata Steel in 2011.
Who won in 2024 and 2023? Wei Yi of China won the 2024 Masters, and Anish Giri of the Netherlands won in 2023.
Explore more
Read the format, history, and latest edition on the Tata Steel Chess hub · Browse full profiles of the players who’ve won it · See the rest of the calendar in the events hub.
Researched and fact-checked by the Chess Lab Academy Editorial Team · Verified against tatasteelchess.com, Wikipedia, and Chess.com · Champions and records current as of July 2026 · Last verified 2026-07-11 · How we verify content.