Kolkata (TIP)- Viswanathan Anand is set to face D Gukesh next month at the Tata Steel India Chess Tournament in Kolkata. Anand is among the participants in the tournament, which is scheduled to take place from January 7 to 11. Anand will be headlining the open section with Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, Aravindh Chitambaram, Vidit Gujrathi, Wesley So, Wei Yi, Volodar Murzin and Hans Niemann.
Speaking in an official press release, Anand said, “I am really very excited to be back at Tata Steel Chess India as a player after a gap of 6 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 the young chess prodigy in this marquee tournament of India.”
In the women’s section, fans will have the opportunity to see Divya Deshmukh, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Vantika Agarwal, Harika Dronavalli, Rakshitta Ravi, Carissa Yip, Stavroula Tsolakidou, Nana Dzagnidze, Aleksandra Goryachkina, and Kateryna Lagno.
This will be Gukesh’s second event in India after becoming the youngest-ever world champion. The Indian GM is currently in action at the Global Chess League in India, where he is representing PBG Alaskan Knights.
Gukesh will be hoping to find his form in 2026 and put in a good show in Kolkata. Since becoming world champion, he has been in the spotlight and has also been in poor form. Recently, Anand weighed in on Gukesh’s 2025 season.
Speaking to The Indian Express, he said, “He’s been experimenting in lots of formats. He’s willing to travel, he’s willing to go out there and try again and again. He’s not sitting on prestige (of being world champion). These are healthy qualities. His year in classical events, it’s fairly acceptable. I mean, losing a tiebreak (at Wijk aan Zee) doesn’t mean you’ve had a bad tournament. His performance in Norway Chess didn’t fit any mold, but in its own way, it was hopefully satisfactory.”
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