How a ‘fed up’ Viswanathan Anand planned his return to competitive circuit and nearly clinched the Tata Steel Rapid title in Kolkata

Viswanathan Anand may be 56, but his appetite for challenging the younger generation and remaining a tough competitor even at this age makes him the legend he is. The five-time World Champion enjoyed an impressive run at the 2026 Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz Tournament in Kolkata, starting the year with a second-place finish in the Rapid segment.

As a semi-retired professional, Anand shared how difficult it is to regain the mental shapeand compete against some of the very best players of this generation.

“The biggest problem recently is that after seven or eight months of not playing chess, you forget that aspect. I mean, I sort of know what the young chess players are doing and when. I can do commentary, and it’s not that my moves would be totally off. But it’s another thing when you’re actually playing. The thought of, ‘What am I actually going to do now? What opening am I going to play?’… all these decisions, you forget how to think about after a long break,” said Anand.

Viswanathan Anand and Arjun Erigaisi playsTata Steel chess india Blitz at Dhino Dhanyo Auditorium on Jan 10, 2026.Express photo by Partha Paul.

After being part of the Tata Steel event in Kolkata for its first three editions, Anand hasn’t played in the tournament since 2020. As an ambassador, he still travels every year and remains part of the event, but not as a player and that began to bother him. He said, “Basically, at the end of last year in Kolkata, I had the feeling that I’d reached my limit just coming to watch the tournament. It’s much harder than playing. I got fed up with not playing,” he said. “It’s funny you come to a tournament and the first year you enjoy it; it’s fun watching and leaving. The following year, you do it again, but last year I thought, ‘How many years can I just stand there and watch?’”

“I pretty much knew it was better to make the decision to play rather than keep delaying. And I tried to get ready. I already had it in my mind that I wanted to play. You want to warm up as well; you want to be in a kind of chess-playing zone. The nice thing is that this year it worked out: I received an invitation from the Jerusalem Masters, then I was going to play in the Global Chess League, and then here in Kolkata would be the third in the series. So, I got the time to warm up.”

The Jerusalem Masters, where Anand reached the final before losing to Arjun Erigaisi, and then playing in the GCL, helped him get into shape for the Tata Steel event. While Anand revealed he hadn’t done any specific preparation for this event in his busy schedule, the work he had done in October and November was still helping him.

“I’ve been consulting with GM Sandipan Chanda about building up readiness to play, so to speak. But after the GCL, I had a short holiday in Mumbai, then went to Doha for the World Rapid and Blitz Championship for three days, came back for New Year’s—so nothing really got done in the short break I had. I believe sometimes you just want to let go and rest. But having come here, the work I’d done in late October and November was what I was building on,” he explained.

For the first two days of the Rapid event, Anand was in a joint lead, first with Hans Niemann after Day 1, and then alongside Nihal Sarin after Day 2. Nihal surged into the lead after drawing with R. Praggnanandhaa and dismantling Wesley So, gaining a winning position in just 13 moves on the final day. To win the overall event, Anand needed to win his last game against Nihal. Instead, he chose to play it safe, making a relatively easy draw without putting up a big fight, which made Nihal the Rapid champion while Anand finished second.

He explained his choice to play for a draw and secure second place rather than fight for the title: “I just felt that I would play my usual stuff. I could have done something incredibly risky, but it depends whether you’re in the mood for that or not. Also, my games on the last day of the rapid event weren’t that great. But to be honest, it was quite a surprise for me that Wesley almost lost in just 15 moves… he could basically have resigned. That’s not the Wesley I’m familiar with. He’s one of the most well-prepared, solid players. I didn’t really think about it beforehand, but by the end, I didn’t want to take such a risk.”

While Anand said he still needs to decide on his 2026 schedule, which events to play and which to skip, he expects many invitations from 2025 to be repeated. He said, “I expect a lot of the invitations from last year may be repeated, but I’m not going to announce it on their behalf. Let them announce the tournament, and that’s how it will be.”