Tata Steel Chess: Returning Viswanathan Anand shows swiftness, guile to go into joint lead

“Well… it was exhausting not playing.” Those were the words of five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand ahead of the 2026 Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz Tournament in Kolkata, where he is making a comeback after a six-year hiatus.

Once the tournament began, he shook off that exhaustion by dominating proceedings on the opening day against opponents half his age and ending the day in the lead.

In the first round of the Rapid segment, Anand was paired against American Wesley So.

By all accounts, So is one of the most solid players in contemporary chess. Tough to play, tougher to beat, and eager to punish even the smallest mistake.

Indian Grandmaster Srinath Narayanan once explained So’s gameplay: “A very solid, very strong player, Wesley So is a brilliant example of someone who is very difficult to beat for anyone in the world. You have to get used to playing him to understand how much you can risk. Once you overstep, he will punish you severely for the slightest error,” Srinath had told The Indian Express.

But 56-year-old Anand is no rookie. He knows how to punish a punisher. He employed the Caro-Kann defence, one of his preferred openings, against the American with white pieces.

Both players were matched evenly in the opening, with the evaluation bar barely moving for the first 30 moves. The middlegame appeared equal, with Anand holding a queen, rook, and dark-squared bishop against So’s knight. The position held no real demons. So had just sacrificed his d-pawn, discarding a weakness and leaving Anand a piece up yet in a balanced position.

Until So played g4. That pawn push was a fatal mistake from the American.

Viswanathan Anand takes on Wesley So on day 1 of the Tata Steel India Rapid and Blitz Chess tournament in Kolkata. (PHOTO: Lennart Ootes)

Anand was called the “Lightning Kid” for a reason. Naturally quick, even now, he spotted the winning tactic in a flash. He captured the pawn on f4 and swung his queen to f5, simultaneously threatening three of So’s pieces: a pawn, a rook, and a knight. Anand had only one winning sequence to convert the game after his opponent’s one-move blunder, and quick on his toes, he was sharp enough to see it and punish him for his solitary mistake.

It would be too many pieces to save all at once for Wesley. Within a few moves, he won the knight while mounting a mating attack on the kingside. So was condemned to defeat, and as for Anand, he had just launched his campaign with a powerful start.

While his swiftness won the first round, it was his guile that saved him against China’s Wei Yi in the following round. Wei kept his own clock in check, never allowing Anand to build a significant time advantage. And a few questionable moves by Anand in the middlegame while playing with the white pieces nearly proved fatal. He found his king cornered, threatened by an impending queen, a strong centralised bishop, and a menacing rook pair.

The evaluation bar showed -6, a nearly resignable position. Anand played on, hoping for a miracle. And the miracle did arrive through an oversight from Wei, which forced the game into a threefold repetition. While building his mating attack, Wei repeated moves to gain a few extra seconds. In doing so, he neglected to account for Anand’s knight. Had he continued, he would have trapped his own queen. Then sharing the points made more sense than risking a loss.

The day ended as it had begun. Against compatriot Aravindh Chithambaram, Anand again gained a decisive time advantage. Under time pressure, Chithambaram blundered a piece, just as So had, leaving Anand enough material to convert comfortably. With the victory, Anand remained in the joint lead with Hans Niemann after the first three Rapid rounds.