In huge news for chess fans in India, reigning World Champion D Gukesh has withdrawn from the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz tournament. The tournament is scheduled to be held in Kolkata from January 7 to 11, and the organisers revealed that Gukesh’s withdrawal is due to personal reasons.
In a social media post, the organisers said, “Due to personal reasons, D Gukesh will be unable to participate in Tata Steel Chess India this year.”
Gukesh will be replaced by Nihal Sarin in the Rapid and Blitz tournament. Gukesh was expected to face Viswanathan Anand, who is also participating, but now the highly anticipated showdown has been cancelled.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Tata Steel Chess India Tournament Director Dibyendu Barua said, “This is definitely a big setback for the organisers and for the chess fans in Kolkata. All the chess lovers were eagerly waiting to watch Gukesh play in their city as a world champion for the first time.”
“Kolkata is known for its sporting culture, and people here are very enthusiastic about sports. At the same time, there is another tournament scheduled to be held, the Tata Chess Festival, a three-age-group event. Most players were going to participate in this event just to see Gukesh, Viswanathan Anand, and Arjun play together in the tournament.”
Opening up on Nihal’s inclusion, he added, “You cannot compare any player to anyone, and I don’t like doing that. But Nihal is as good a player as anyone. He is very talented, very promising and he’s good at Rapid and Blitz. Also, it’s great on Nihal’s part to have accepted the invitation at the last moment, because it is very difficult to get a player of his stature.”
The tournament will also have R Praggnanandhaa in action, who qualified for the 2026 Candidates. Meanwhile, even Vidit Gujrathi, China’s Wei Yei, Volodar Murzin, American GMs Hans Niemann and Wesley So will also be in action in Kolkata. In the women’s event, we will see the likes of Divya Deshmukh, R Vaishali, Kateryna Lagno, Carissa Yip in action.
