Tata Steel chess: Vishy Anand excited to be back as a player after six years

The terrace garden of Kolkata’s iconic Taj Bengal hotel was a chilly place to be on Tuesday evening with the mercury dipping, but the presence of chess glitterati, led by the legendary Vishy Anand, at the draw ceremony of the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid & Blitz Open, is expected to warm things up for chess aficionados from Wednesday, 7 January. The seventh edition of the marquee event, which offers a prize pool of $41,500 for both the Open and women categories, will be held from 7-11 January.

Anand, five-time world champion and an erstwhile ambassador of the event, is returning to play the tournament after six years and has been drawn against US Grandmaster Wesley So in the first round of rapid at the sprawling Dhono Dhanyo auditorium like last year. There was much anticipation about the rapid and blitz duels between Anand and D. Gukesh, the current FIDE world champion, but the latter has pulled out at the eleventh hour.

On his participation, Anand said: “I am really very excited to be back at Tata Steel Chess India as a player after a gap of six years. Within this period, the world of chess has changed massively with the emergence of talented players across the country specially in India. I am really excited to accept the challenge from young chess prodigies in this marquee tournament.” 

Meanwhile, Gukesh’s absence will be more than made up for by two of Anand’s decorated proteges, Arjun Erigaisi — who finished with a bronze in both categories in World Rapid and Blitz chess only last week in Doha — and R. Praggnanandhaa. Arjun opens his rapid campaign against compatriot Vidit Gujrathi on Wednesday, while Pragg takes on Aravind Chithambaram.

The women’s rapid event is expected to see two intriguing all-Indian contests on day one, with reigning FIDE World Cup champion Divya Deshmukh taking on Harika Dronavalli, while Vantina Agarwal plays R. Vaishali. Aleksandra Goryachkina, last edition’s winner in rapid category, will open against India’s Rakshitta Ravi. Magnus Carlsen, who swept to both the rapid and blitz crowns in a rare appearance last edition, is not participating this year.

The tournament will follow a 10-player round robin format, with both the Open and women’s events being played simultaneously. D.B. Sundara Ramam, vice-president of corporate services at Tata Steel, said: “Tata Steel Chess India has grown into much more than a tournament, it is now a landmark on the global chess calendar. We hope that every game played here not only crowns champions but also sparks dreams in young minds across the nation.”

The complete field

Men: Viswanathan Anand; Nihal Sarin, Arjun Erigaisi, Wesley So, Wei Yi, R. Praggnanandhaa, Volodar Murzin, Hans Niemann, Vidit Gujrathi, Aravindh Chithambaram.

Women: Aleksandra Goryachkina, Kateryna Lagno, Divya Deshmukh, Vaishali R., Nana Dzagnidze, Harika Dronavalli, Carissa Yip, Stavroula Tsolakidou, Vantika Agrawal, Rakshitta Ravi.