Gukesh faces first challenge in Tata Steel Chess as world champion

Wijk Aan Zee (The Netherlands), Jan 16 (PTI) Grandmaster D Gukesh will face his first big test since becoming the world champion when he begins his campaign in the Tata Steel Chess tournament, which gets underway here Friday.

After winning the World Championship in December at Singapore, Gukesh had withdrawn from the World Rapid and Blitz tournament in New York last year and will effectively return to action for the first time on Saturday after defeating China's Ding Liren.

While the pairings will be announced at the opening ceremony on Friday, as many as five Indians are taking part in the 'Wimbledon of Chess’ for the first time.

The epaulette is not without a reason as this is one of the longest-running events in the world, going back to 1938.

World number four, Arjun Erigaisi starts as the highest-rated Indian in the fray backed by his superb performances in 2024, which also made him the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to cross the 2800 ELO-rating mark. Arjun, deprived of super tournaments, will look forward to making the most of the opportunities here.

The 14-player, 13-rounds event will also see R Praggnanandhaa in the fray. Praggnanandhaa has probably the biggest fan base amongst the young players in the world.

Vidit Gujrathi had to withdraw from the event and the organisers found a perfect match in P Harikrishna to replace him. The fifth Indian is Leon Luke Mendonca who gets his first big break in the elite chess circles after his triumph in the last edition of the Challengers section.

World's top rated Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who got married less than two weeks back, will give the tournament another miss and so will third ranked Hikaru Nakamura of the United States, who has been training his sights more on online versions and working as a youtuber and a Twitch expert.

Fabiano Caruana of the United States starts as the top seed in the event that will also see Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan and defending champion Wei Yi of China taking part.

Gukesh had almost won the event in 2024 before he went down in the tiebreaker against the Chinese under shorter time control.

Vincent Keymer of Germany, who played a pivotal part in Gukesh's world championship victory along with Harikrishna, will also be seen in action but all eyes will be on Russian-turned-Slovenian Vladimir Fedoseev, who has been showing some real skills in the Chess 960 version that has not seen much of theoretical developments.

The Dutch challenge, like it has been for the last one decade, will be spearheaded by Anish Giri with Jorden van Foreest and Max Warmerdam for company.

The challengers section also has two young Indian women participating and they have some great results to boast in the past one year.

R Vaishali, the sister of Praggnanandhaa will be back in action along side Divya Deshmukh, both part of the gold medal-winning Olympiad women's team.

Participants Masters according to seeding: Fabiano Caruana (USA); Arjun Erigaisi (Ind); D Gukesh (Ind); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb); Wei Yi (Chn); R Praggnanandhaa (Ind); Vincent Keymer (Ger); Anish Giri (Ned); Vladimir Fedoseev (Slo); P Harikrishna (Ind); Jorden van Foreest (Ned); Alexey Sarana (Srb); Leon Luke Mendonca (Ind).

Challengers: Nguyen Thai Van Dan (Cze); Frederic Svane (Ger); Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb); Edil Gurel (Tur); Adyin Suleymanli (Aze); Erwin L'Ami (Ned); Bok Benjamin (Ned); Kazybek Nogerbek (Kaz); Divya Deshmukh (Ind); R vaishali (Ind); Arthur Pijpers (Ned); Oro Faustino (Arg); Mioyi Lu (Chn); Irina Bulmaga (Rom). PTI