Calcutta/Gibraltar: Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand is all set to compete in an Open tournament for the first time in 23 years when he takes his seat opposite Hungarian IM Vajda Szidonia Lazarne in the first round of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival's Masters section.

Having last played an Open tournament in 1993 at the Biel Interzonal, Anand's comeback to this highly unpredictable format was announced last year during the closing ceremony of the festival.

Anand will only start as the third seed though as defending champion Hikaru Nakamura of United States is a little high on ratings as the top seed while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France is the second ranked player on ratings.

"I had heard of the tournament, heard the participants speak of their experience and all of it sounded positive. So when the possibility came up, I was curious to give it a try," Anand told WGM Tania Sachdev in an interview.

"I am not obsessed about the format too much, I will go there and try to play a good game," said Anand.