The start of the Tata Steel Chess tournament at the sea-side Dutch village of Wijk aan Zee on Saturday was delayed by an hour and 30 minutes after climate activists belonging to a group called Extinction Rebellion reportedly dumped 2025 kilograms of coal outside the entrance of the playing hall and hung a banner that read ‘No Chess on a Dead Planet’. Activists from the group also chained themselves at the gates to hold up the first day of the tournament that featured Indians like world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and Aravindh Chitambaram (all in the Masters event) and Vedant Panesar (in the Challengers event).
The Tata Steel Chess tournament is being held for its 88th edition this year and has earned a nickname as being the ‘Wimbledon of Chess’.
On the tournament website, the organisers of Tata Steel noted: “In consultation with local authorities, the decision was made to postpone the start of play to ensure the safety of players, visitors and staff.”
Climate activists from the Extinction Rebellion group hung a banner that read ‘No Chess on a Dead Planet’ at the venue of the Tata Steel Chess tournament. (Photo: Extinction Rebellion)
Tata Steel’s Dutch subsidiaries are facing a lawsuit in the Netherlands alleging health-related damage caused by emissions from the company’s operations.
The organisers also appealed to the protestors via a statement. “The organisation of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament respects the right to demonstrate and the freedom to express opinions. At the same time, the tournament is an international sporting and cultural event that brings together players, visitors and chess fans from around the world. We kindly call on all parties to respect the tournament, its participants and its visitors, and to ensure that the event can proceed safely and undisturbed for everyone involved.”
A mound of coal that was dumped outside the Tata Steel Chess tournament’s venue by climate activists from the Extinction Rebellion group. (Photo: Extinction Rebellion)
Videos on social media from Wijk aan Zee showed climate activists using trucks to dump coal at the gates.
The tournament did start eventually after a lengthy delay, with an apology for the players.
“Dear chess players, I have to apologize to you for the delay of one and a half hours. We had demonstrations outside of this building. The right to demonstrate is a very strong right that we have in the Netherlands, which we respect of course. We hope to have managed this as well as we can,” Hans van den Berg, the CEO of Tata Steel, told the players before the start of the tournament.
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