The Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz is known to bring to the fore some extraordinary talent and the fourth edition is not going to be any different.
The five-day tournament begins on Tuesday and will be held at the National Library premises. It will be a 10-player round-robin event.
In a novel gesture, there will be a separate women’s tournament this time apart from the Open category with an equal prize money of $41,500 each.
Newly crowned World Fischer Random champion and world No.5 Hikaru Nakamura, world No. 8 Wesley So, India No.2 and world No.23 D. Gukesh, reigning world rapid champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov, new Asian Continental champion R. Praggnanandhaa, defending Tata Steel 2021 Rapid winner Arjun Erigaisi will be in the star-studded field.
Also participating are Ukraine’s Olympiad gold medalists Anna Muzychuk, Mariya Muzychuk and Anna Ushenina, Poland’s individual gold winner at the Chess Olympiad Oliwia Kiolbasa, India’s Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali R and Bhakti Kulkarni. Current world No.3 and India No.1, GM Humpy will be the top seed in the women’s event.
Bhakti will only play the Blitz event, replacing WGM Vantika Agrawal who will play the Rapid. They will be joined by the youngest player of the event, 15-year-old WIM Savitha Shri.
A single 10-player Rapid round robin will be played on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with three rounds per day. A double 10-player Blitz round robin will be played on Saturday and Sunday with 9 rounds per day.
“This tournament pits India’s best against the world’s best. I am expecting dynamic chess given the nice mix of youth and experience,” said five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, the ambassador of the tournament.
“We have a wonderful generation of youngsters, the golden generation who can represent India at the international level. We hope this tournament gives them the confidence to break into the world elite,” said Anand.
“Equality and inclusivity are a way of life for us at Tata Steel, and in line with this, the women’s tournament has been introduced with the same format and equal prize money,” Chanakya Chaudhary, vice-president, corporate services Tata Steel, said.
Anand, who is world governing body Fide’s deputy president, said he was enjoying his new role. “I’ve enjoyed it so far, it’s going to be a learning experience. I’m looking forward to making a meaningful contribution.”
The first day’s action will see Humpy taking on Anna while Vantika Agarwal will be up against Mariya in the Rapid women’s section. In the Rapid men’s section, Nihal Sarin has a tough opening draw against Hikaru Nakamura, while Gukesh and Erigaisi will take on Abdusattorov and Mamedyarov, respectively.
