Levon Aronian among top stars at Kolkata chess meet

The third Tata Steel Chess India tournament in Kolkata will have Viswanathan Anand as an ambassador and mentor and Levon Aronian, Le Quang Liem, Sam Shankland, Parham Maghsoodloo as top overseas attractions. They will be pitted against young Indians such as Nihal Sarin, R. Praggnanandhaa, Karthikeyan Murali, D. Gukesh, Raunak Sadhwani, Arjun Erigaisi and R Vaishali.

Among the other Indians in the $40,000 competition, to be held from November 17-21 at the National Library in the rapid and blitz formats are B Adhiban, D Harika and Vidith Gujrati. “Adhiban is coming here as a newly-wed so this will be a sort of honeymoon for him,” said Anand during an online interaction on Saturday.

“I remember my honeymoon tournament, in Dortmund, and it was one of my most successful events. Adhiban’s wife is still new to chess but I am sure she will get to a point where she will say, “why didn’t you make that move?” He should enjoy it till then,” said Anand looking poker-faced.

Sarin, Gukesh, Sidhwani, Vaishali and Praggnanandhaa are trained by Anand at Westbridge Anand Chess Academy. The five-time world champion said the idea was to provide these young players a platform “to test themselves.” His role will be to “try and give them some inputs before the competition” and “maybe interact with the audience and explain moves to them.” Anand said he is also open to the idea of commentating during the event. “It is something I have quite enjoyed,” he said.

“The itch will always be there,” said Anand when asked whether he would want to play here like he did in the past two editions, in 2018 and 19 when the event was part of the Grand Chess Tour. Anand also said he is looking for tournaments “after commentating in the world championship (between champion Magnus Carlssen and challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi from November 24-December 16).”

There will also be a ratings tournament for 150 players from all over India and one for amateur players. The in-person competition will maintain all Covid-19 appropriate protocols such as regular testing of participants, said Jeet Banerjee, director Gameplan who are organising the event. 

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