Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand will return to competitive action after a six-year hiatus at the seventh Tata Steel Chess India, setting up a compelling mentor versus protege contest against reigning world champion D. Gukesh and several of his former wards.
The tournament will be held in Kolkata from 7 to 11 January.
Anand, who last played the event in 2019, will make his comeback against a new generation of Indian stars led by Gukesh, whom he has closely mentored in recent years at the WestBridge Anand Chess Academy.
It will be the first time the two world champions face each other in an individual tournament on Indian soil.
The Tata Steel Chess India will be staged at the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium and will feature both Open and Women’s sections in rapid and blitz formats, with equal prize money for both categories.
The Open field will include FIDE World Cup runner-up Wei Yi, former US champion Wesley So, Hans Niemann and Volodar Murzin, alongside a strong Indian contingent comprising R. Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi, supported by WACA.
The other Indians in the field include Vidit Gujrathi, Aravindh Chithambaram, Divya Deshmukh, Vaishali R, Vantika Agrawal and Rakshitta Ravi.
The women’s event will be headlined by World Cup winner Divya and will also feature former world championship challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina, Kateryna Lagno, Nana Dzagnidze, D. Harika and Carissa Yip.
Expressing his excitement at returning as a player, Anand said: "...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 the young chess prodigy in this marquee tournament of India."
D.B. Sundara Ramam, vice president corporate services at Tata Steel, said Anand’s return had added a special dimension to the event.
Tournament director Dibyendu Barua said the competition had grown into one of the premier chess tournaments globally, adding that the prospect of Anand facing his students and proteges underscored the symbolic passing of the torch in Indian chess.