Vishy Anand returns to action in Kolkata after six years at Tata Steel India Rapid and Blitz 2026
Tata Steel Chess India is the strongest and biggest Rapid and Blitz tournament to take place in India. For the second time, Men's and Women's events will take place simultaneously at the same time. Just like the last three editions, both men and women's events will have equal prize fund of US$ 41500. The five-day Rapid and Blitz tournament will feature 20 of the world's top including Vishy Anand who is returning to Kolkata as a player after over six years. World no.5 Arjun Erigaisi, FIDE World Cup 2025 runner-up Wei Yi (CHN), Wesley So (USA), World no.8 - R Praggnanandhaa, winner of Tata Steel India 2022 Rapid - Nihal Sarin, Hans Niemann (USA), Vidit Gujrathi, Aravindh Chithambaram and former World Rapid champion - Volodar Murzin. Among the Women, the new World Rapid Women 2025 champion - GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 winner - GM Divya Deshmukh, the defending Blitz Women champion - GM Kateryna Lagno, GM Harika Dronavalli, GM Nana Dzagnidze (GEO), GM R Vaishali, IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (GRE), IM Carissa Yip (USA), IM Vantika Agrawal and WGM Rakshitta Ravi will be seen in action. Round 1 starts today at 3 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes
For the fourth consecutive edition, Men and Women's event to have equal prize fund
The World Champion, GM D Gukesh pulled out few days before the start of the event due to personal reasons. The winner of the 2022 edition Rapid - GM Nihal Sarin was announced as a replacement. Tata Steel tournament lineups have always been a mix of top players along with the emerging players who had a great performances in recent times. While the Women section has WGM Rakshitta Ravi in the form of emerging talent, the Open section has all top players. After winning the 2022 Rapid, Nihal's name was missing from the 2023 edition. Similarly, after pulling off the biggest upset at FIDE World Cup 2025 and etching his name in the history books, the former National Rapid and Blitz 2024 champion, GM Diptayan Ghosh's name is missing from the lineup.
Players in Men
The Men section will be headlined by the World no.5 and Tata Steel Chess India 2021 Rapid and 2022 Blitz winner - Arjun Erigaisi. He will be joined by World no.10 and FIDE World Cup 2025 runner-up - Wei Yi (CHN), the one who inspired the nation and beyond - Vishy Anand, first Official World Fischer Random champion - Wesley So (USA), World on.8 and 45th Olympiad Gold medalist - R Praggnanandhaa, Tata Steel India Rapid 2022 winner - Nihal Sarin, World no.22 - Hans Niemann (USA), World no.29 and 45th Olympiad Gold medalist - Vidit Gujrathi. World no.32 - Aravindh Chithambaram and World Rapid 2024 champion - Volodar Murzin.
Women
FIDE World Rapid Women 2025 champion - GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 winner - GM Divya Deshmukh, the defending Blitz champion - GM Kateryna Lagno, 45th Olympiad Women Gold medalist - GM Harika Dronavalli, 38th Olympiad Women Gold medalist - GM Nana Dzagnidze (GEO), the only two-time FIDE Grand Swiss Women champion - GM R Vaishali, FIDE World Rapid Team 2025 champion for MGD1 - IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (GRE), five-time reigning US Women's champion - IM Carissa Yip (USA), 45th Olympiad Women double Gold medalist - IM Vantika Agrawal and WGM Rakshitta Ravi.
Photo Gallery
For more photos, please visit the album.
Format
There will be two tournaments: a men's and a women's event. The tournaments will be played in two formats - Rapid and Blitz. For the second time, both Men's and Women's event will take place simultaneously. Three rounds of Rapid games will be played on the first three days, followed by nine rounds of Blitz per day on the remaining two days of each event. The time control is 15 minutes for the entire game with an increment of 10 seconds from move no.1. For Blitz, the time control is 3 minutes with an increment of 2 seconds from move no.1.
Venue
Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata, West Bengal. The tournament is open to all spectators and entry is free for all.
Rapid Round 1-3 Open pairings
| Round 1 | ||||||||||
| Bo. | FED | Rtg | White | Result | Black | FED | Rtg | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IND | 2721 | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | GM | So, Wesley | USA | 2705 | ||
| 2 | CHN | 2746 | GM | Wei, Yi | GM | Nihal, Sarin | IND | 2660 | ||
| 3 | IND | 2603 | GM | Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | IND | 2662 | ||
| 4 | IND | 2746 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | IND | 2632 | ||
| 5 | USA | 2636 | GM | Niemann, Hans Moke | GM | Murzin, Volodar | FID | 2603 | ||
| Round 2 | ||||||||||
| Bo. | FED | Rtg | White | Result | Black | FED | Rtg | |||
| 1 | USA | 2705 | GM | So, Wesley | GM | Murzin, Volodar | FID | 2603 | ||
| 2 | IND | 2632 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | GM | Niemann, Hans Moke | USA | 2636 | ||
| 3 | IND | 2662 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | IND | 2746 | ||
| 4 | IND | 2660 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | GM | Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2603 | ||
| 5 | IND | 2721 | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | GM | Wei, Yi | CHN | 2746 | ||
| Round 3 | ||||||||||
| Bo. | FED | Rtg | White | Result | Black | FED | Rtg | |||
| 1 | CHN | 2746 | GM | Wei, Yi | GM | So, Wesley | USA | 2705 | ||
| 2 | IND | 2603 | GM | Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2721 | ||
| 3 | IND | 2746 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | GM | Nihal, Sarin | IND | 2660 | ||
| 4 | USA | 2636 | GM | Niemann, Hans Moke | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | IND | 2662 | ||
| 5 | FID | 2603 | GM | Murzin, Volodar | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | IND | 2632 | ||
Rapid Round 1-3 Women pairings
| Round 1 | ||||||||||||
| Bo. | FED | Rtg | White | Result | Black | FED | Rtg | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IND | 2148 | WGM | Rakshitta, Ravi | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | FID | 2512 | ||||
| 2 | USA | 2347 | IM | Yip, Carissa | IM | Tsolakidou, Stavroula | GRE | 2347 | ||||
| 3 | IND | 2422 | GM | Divya, Deshmukh | GM | Dronavalli, Harika | IND | 2416 | ||||
| 4 | GEO | 2393 | GM | Dzagnidze, Nana | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | RUS | 2421 | ||||
| 5 | IND | 2325 | IM | Vantika, Agrawal | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | IND | 2392 | ||||
| Round 2 | ||||||||||||
| Bo. | FED | Rtg | White | Result | Black | FED | Rtg | |||||
| 1 | FID | 2512 | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | IND | 2392 | ||||
| 2 | RUS | 2421 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | IM | Vantika, Agrawal | IND | 2325 | ||||
| 3 | IND | 2416 | GM | Dronavalli, Harika | GM | Dzagnidze, Nana | GEO | 2393 | ||||
| 4 | GRE | 2347 | IM | Tsolakidou, Stavroula | GM | Divya, Deshmukh | IND | 2422 | ||||
| 5 | IND | 2148 | WGM | Rakshitta, Ravi | IM | Yip, Carissa | USA | 2347 | ||||
| Round 3 | ||||||||||||
| Bo. | FED | Rtg | White | Result | Black | FED | Rtg | |||||
| 1 | USA | 2347 | IM | Yip, Carissa | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | FID | 2512 | ||||
| 2 | IND | 2422 | GM | Divya, Deshmukh | WGM | Rakshitta, Ravi | IND | 2148 | ||||
| 3 | GEO | 2393 | GM | Dzagnidze, Nana | IM | Tsolakidou, Stavroula | GRE | 2347 | ||||
| 4 | IND | 2325 | IM | Vantika, Agrawal | GM | Dronavalli, Harika | IND | 2416 | ||||
| 5 | IND | 2392 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | RUS | 2421 | ||||
Schedule
Everyday round starts at 3 p.m. IST. The Rapid event will take place from 7th to 9th January, followed by the Blitz event on 10th and 11th January.
Prize
The total prize fund remains the same as the previous two editions - US$ 41500. The top three prizes in the Rapid are - $10000, $6000 and $3000. For Blitz they are - $7500, $4000 and $2500. Most importantly, the prizes remain equal in both Open and Womens events.
Links
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