The last-minute withdrawal of D Gukesh has taken sheen off Tata Steel Chess India. The world champion in the classical format was scheduled to clash with Viswanathan Anand in this prestigious rapid and blitz event to be played in Kolkata from January 7-11.
Gukesh’s face featured prominently in promotional campaigns and his name was in the list of participants in an official media release dated December 18. There was no formal announcement, but it was learnt that a late development on January 1 meant that the Chennai player wouldn’t be playing in the first top event of the year, which is in its seventh edition. Nihal Sarin was named Gukesh’s replacement.
A major attraction of this year is going to be the presence of ‘Vishy and his Children’. This is a rare outing where Anand will be up against the generation of players he helped become world-beaters by directly and indirectly mentoring them. It still remains a unique stage, where the guru takes on his disciples, but without the most prominent of them.
“Not having Gukesh is a big setback and a sad news for the chess lovers of Kolkata and all over the world,” Dibyendu Barua, the Tournament Director, told RevSportz.
Although no reason was cited officially, Gukesh had a forgettable outing in World Rapid and Blitz, which got over in Doha on December 30. The year’s first elite classical tournament — Tata Steel Masters — starts in Wijk Aan Zee in the Netherlands on January 17. Conserving himself for the event he lost in a tie-breaker after finishing joint-second last year appears to be a plausible consideration behind his decision.
Some others who will also be there at Wijk Aan Zee like R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Aravindh Chithambaram and Hans Neimann of the USA are part of the field of 10 in the open section of the Kolkata event. Barring Aravindh, others were in Doha also. World Cup runner-up Wei Yi of China, Wesley So of the USA are the other prominent players.
Speaking purely in terms of rating points and world rankings, Gukesh’s absence doesn’t reduce the strength of the competition. The world No. 9 in classical is rated 18th in rapid and 52nd in blitz. Sarin is 35th and 20th in the shorter ones. Although he beat Magnus Carlsen in rapid for the first time last year and topped that section in a big event, Gukesh is considered to be a far superior opponent in the longer version.
That, however, does nothing to douse the disappointment of the organisers and fans. This event usually draws an enthusiastic crowd featuring many children. The stage was set for the first Anand-Gukesh clash in an official tournament after the disciple emulated his guru’s feat of becoming the world champion. Let time start its process of healing.
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