Viswanathan Anand to battle against protege D Gukesh in January

KOLKATA: The New Year will witness for the first time the country’s two World champions facing each other in a closed tournament when D Gukesh will play against Viswanathan Anand in the seventh Tata Steel India Chess here from January 7 to 11.

Five-time world champion Anand, who has not been playing regularly of late, returns to play in India after a gap of six years when he last played in this tournament in 2019. Over the last couple of editions, Anand had been associated with this tournament as a mentor.



The women’s event will be headlined by World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Kateryna Lagno, Nana Dzagnidze, D Harika and Carissa Yip