In a place far, far away, in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands, lies a small town called Wijk aan Zee. This is where the 73rd Tata Steel Chess tournament is taking place, and I took the chance and visited the event for a couple of days. If you have never heard of Wijk aan Zee, or the tournament played here, I will try to summarize it briefly. This is a tournament where strong grandmasters each year compete to qualify for or win the main event. It is played in closed groups with 14 players in a round robin (you meet all players in your group). The tournament that has been known as Tata Steel Chess and the Corus Chess Tournament has been won by many great names, like Bent Larsen, Mikhail Tal, Ulf Andersson!, Garry Kasparov and many others. This year, players like Levon Aronian, Anish Giri and even the world champion (who has already won the tournament 5 times) Magnus Carlsen are fighting for the 2017 spot on the Chess Wall of Fame.

Personally, I was more interested in the challenger groups, since my intention in visiting was to be moral support for my boyfriend, Nils Grandelius. When I boarded the plane heading for Amsterdam, I did not expect much. However, it turned out to be something of an experience, with plenty of good company and a nice start to my own chess year in 2017.

“Just smile and nod”
I had been studying the entrance before I walked up to the receptionist, with a slightly insecure expression on my face. “I need one of those card things.” The receptionist was staring at me as if I were stupid. “We only give those cards to the masters, challengers and press.” I scratched my arm. “Well, my name should be on one of those card things. You see, I am the girlfriend of one of the players.” She looked at the cards on her desk and then back at me. “I am sorry, but your name is not here.” I looked across the desk and pointed at my card. “It is right there, my name is Ellen”. She mumbled something and handed me the card. I went to get my entrance number for the amateur group, and smiled at the thought that she did not even check if my name really was Ellen, and that she might basically have given a random stranger access to the press and conference rooms.

“I need one of those card things” – Ellen Kakulidis

It was neither my first nor my last experience where I felt a little awkward, and where I made some of the dramatis personae a little suspicious. The first one was in the hotel lobby the day I arrived, when I asked for the key to a room whose number I did not know. One day, I also tried to get into the press room with my fancy card, but did not know how to use it. I just stood there for 2 minutes and waited for someone to open. A man finally opened the door from the inside, and (again) gave me a look as if I were stupid (which might be fair enough…). I had to show him my card twice before he believed I actually had access, and I only stayed for 20 seconds because I saw some of the players from the masters group, got scared, and quickly disappeared before any harm was done. I thought it was better to wait for Nils outside. I promised not to embarrass him by asking anyone for their autograph.
Usually, I am not this horrible when talking to other people, but it is difficult not to get affected by all the greatness at such a big event. I am simply not used to potentially meeting the people I have read about in my chess books. I also remember the first time I saw Arthur Yusupov. I had just started reading his series of chess books, and I was so impressed that I hid under the dining table when he walked into the restaurant at the European Youth Chess Championships in Georgia 2014. Most people would point out that heroes are just people as well. I will just quote:

“Never meet your heroes”

With this method, you actively prevent yourself from doing something stupid/embarrassing. Like trying to hook you best friend up with half of the top boards at the Olympiad. (I am so sorry Freja. I will be a better wingwoman this weekend 😉 )

Apparently I have achieved everything in life
Bent Larsen once said:

“Normal people have to see Naples before they die, but a chess grandmaster has to win Wijk aan Zee first.”

I consider myself pretty normal, I am not a grandmaster, and I did not win the main event, but I think it was close enough, and that that should count. Besides, I have already been to Naples, so I should be covered.
My stellar achievement consists of winning a 3 round tournament with 2,5 points out of 3. I played very well throughout, or at least very solidly, which in my head are two sides of the same coin. At one point, Nils even said the following about one of my moves: “too much talent”. Apparently it is a famous saying by Stellan Brynell, when the move is not the best one in the position, but clearly the prettiest. I gladly ignored the sarcastic tone.

I owe a big thank you to my splendid second Martin Lokander, who in many ways ensured my very solid result. Before the tournament started, I gave him full authority to pick my openings. The deal included:
1) I would play anything he told me (no matter what) for the whole tournament 2) I could blame him, if I lost the game 3) The roles would be reversed for his next tournament! Every evening, I just had to tell him what colour I was set to play in the upcoming game, and he would then bring me a fresh file the next morning, with the 3 first moves I had to play. If I was extra lucky the file would even contain something like “e4, e5 for dummies” (probably something used for 8 year old kids,) and a very sincere “good luck” wish. Martin is presumably also very satisfied with the result, since I now consider sparing him the pain of being forced to play the exchange French, Slav or any of my other solid openings, of which he explicitly disapproves.
He also agreed to comment one of my games, which can be seen if you click the link (I recommend that you do so, especially if you are curious to what kind of openings he made me play): http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2017/1/20/Game95414640.html

I ended my personal victory by singing “I Am The Champion” all the way down the stairs at the hotel. When we met Eric Hansen in the reception, I ended on the note: “I got no time for losers…” and a big smile for the guys.

The whole world at one table
The population of Wijk aan Zee is around 2,500 people, and that number is perhaps doubled during January, when all the chess players eagerly arrive. Why is this important? First of all, most of the town gets redecorated into the biggest dream of every colour-blind person; black and white. You cannot find a place that has not got a chessboard in the window or chess pieces hanging from the ceiling. Some restaurants even change their names to chess related stuff. It seems as if the restaurants think that it is like stealing candy from children. “Hey guys, they have a chess master menu, we should eat at that place!” Second of all, you actually need to make a reservation to get a table, which is sort of obscure. We were five people eating together, when I was on my visit: GM Nils Grandelius (Sweden), GM Eric Hansen (Canada), GM Gawain Jones (UK), WIM Sue Maroroa Jones (New Zealand) and WCM Ellen Sofia Kakulidis (Denmark). It was much less scary than it sounds, and if we had been joined by a Chinese kid, who did not play chess or speak any English, there would be some kind of balance.

The atmosphere was great, even when the main part of the table had lost. We solved this issue by letting the winners pay. Suddenly, all results were pleasant in some way, and dinner took on much the same spirit as Robin Hood (taking from the rich (winners) and giving to the poor (losers).
The partying was kept to a minimum, even the night I won my tournament. We had the chance to crash some event with free bar, but as the responsible grownups we are, “we” decided not to do so. I think we will get another chance at some point. At least Eric owes me some tequila, because he only remembered one thing about me from the Olympics. It was not my name, where I came from, or who I was in any way – but the fact that I liked Tequila. We can make a party of that at some point in the future.

Last, but not least, I want to finish off with a big good luck wish for Nils, Gawain, Eric, Sue and Aryan.

“I’ll be back!”