Anand, Mamedyarov in focus at Kolkata rapid & blitz event
KOLKATA: The Tata Steel Chess India 2018 will have a unique place in the annals of Indian chess. It is the grandest ever chess tournament ever to be held in India that has a galaxy of stars – eight of the top 50 players in FIDE Rankings, three world champions in rapid, four world junior champion and three of the10 youngest players the game has ever seen. But what is also unique is that it pits representatives from four generations of Indian chess against each other in rapid and blitz sections of this 10-player all-play-all competition starting on Friday. The rapid section will be held first followed by blitz on November 13 and 14.
At one end of the generation chart is Viswanathan Anand, the pioneer of Indian chess revolution. The 48-year-old multipletime world champion across various formats will run into Pentala Harikrishna and Surya Shekhar Ganguly — the torchbearers of the first decade of the 21st century chess in India.
Then there is Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, who represents the third generation, followed by Nihal Sarin (in rapid) and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (blitz), the latest sensations who are just 13 and 14.
The competition, which starts with the rapid section on Friday, will throw up some intriguing clashes like the one between Anand and Harikrishna, a 33-year-old from Andhra who is now settled in Europe just like Anand was at one time. Or the clash between Harikrishna and Ganguly — two contemporaries who had waged many a battle at the national level.
Another match worth watching pits Sergey Karjakin, world’s youngest-ever Grandmaster, against Sarin, another child prodigy, in the first round on Friday. Sparks are also bound to fly when Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan plays Levon Aronian of Armenia as their countries share frosty relations over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. One can also watch out for thematch between Aronian and Harikrishna, who along with Mamedyarov and Anand have won the World Junior Championships before making it big at senior level.
“It’s a great opportunity for Indian chess that we have such a strong field for an event in India. The future of Indian chess looks good and it would be even better if we have more of similar competitions at a regular basis,” said Anand at the draw ceremony on Thursday.
He said the format (classical, rapid or blitz) does not matter as nowadays one has to excel in all three versions.
“World Championship matches are decided on the basis of speed chess nowadays, so it doesn’t matter what format you are playing, you have to be good in all three to be a top player. So, playing in tournaments of this level is a great chance of young players,” he added.
Going by ratings, Mamedyarov is the favourite but all eyes will be on Anand who is the reigning World Rapid Champion.
Karjakin and Nakamura are no less speed chess players while the younger lot like Wesley So, Gujrathi and Sarin also good at the shorter format of the game.
Thus there are many claimants to the title. “There are so many strong and talented players that things like ELO rating does not matter. A lot of players can win the title,” Mamedyarov said while Karjakin said eight of the 10 players in the contest can claim the top purse of $10,000.