The Tata Steel Chess 2024 concluded on January 28 at the Dorpshuis De Moriaan in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, after a series of classical games that ended in a thrilling tiebreak. However, such an exciting conclusion failed to raise it above its three most recent iterations in terms of live-streaming viewership statistics.
Grandmaster Wei Yi clinched the title on Sunday after edging a closely-fought four-player tiebreak involving GMs Anish Giri, Gukesh Dommaraju, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. This victory also helped the Chinese star enter the world's top 10 for the first time, with this being just his second event outside his homeland since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 24-year-old showed excellent endgame skill and a ruthless streak in the decisive moments to become the first Chinese winner of a tournament that has existed since 1938. All this end-of-event excitement and action helped the Tata Steel Chess 2024 notch 2.4M Hours Watched, 75.2K Peak Viewers, and 30.9K Average Viewers over 80h 25m of Airtime.
Wei Yi said after winning the fourth-most successful event in the series:
"I felt really relaxed after the final classical round. I didn't have so much confidence because my opponents are of course very strong at blitz. I just wanted to do my best. I feel very excited and happy to win this very strong event. It's my biggest achievement in my chess career."
Meanwhile, Indian GM Leon Luke Mendonca beat countrywoman and WGM Divya Deshmukh to clinch the Challengers crown and book a spot in the main tournament next year. He also took home a smaller version of the same trophy handed to the Masters winner after completing a tremendous finish of 6.5/7. Frenchman Marc'Andria Maurizzi, who led most of the tournament, could only draw with GM Erwin l'Ami and had to settle for third, with Belgian GM Daniel Dardha taking the runner-up spot.
Returning to the Masters segment, the final day of action started on quite a historic note, marking the first time the men's and women's world champions — GMs Ding Liren and Ju Wenjun — clashed since GMs Magnus Carlsen and Hou Yifan met at the same tournament in 2015. More crucially, it was the first time the woman world title holder did not lose such a meeting, with the two Chinese players playing out a draw.
The top of the table also saw another instance of a longtime record fall, as this Chess event saw the top four finish on 8.5 points, making it the first such instance since 1989. The tiebreak had two semifinals and a final, with the games being standard 3+2 blitz, although White got 2.5 minutes in the sudden-death games. In the end, Wei Yi defeated Gukesh Dommaraju 1-0 to emerge as the victor.
Coming to viewership comparisons, the Tata Steel Chess 2024 finished fourth on the watch time and peak concurrent viewership tables in the series. The leader on both counts remains the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022 which did 4.9M HW and 123.9K PV, while the discipline’s overall leader for both metrics is the FIDE World Championship 2021.
Even though it is far removed from the days of its lockdown ear popularity, Chess continues to be a favorite among online viewers. The first super tournament of the year has gotten things off to a bright start in 2024, and fans will also eagerly be awaiting competitions like Pogchamps that involve celebrity participation.
