Kolkata, Jan. 7 -- "It was exhausting not playing," said Viswanathan Anand explaining his return to competition in the Tata Steel Chess India, a tournament he has fronted as brand ambassador, after six years. "I do play a number of strong tournaments regularly, so, I thought, why not this," he said. Anand, 56, opens against Wesley So in the seventh edition that begins here on Wednesday. So is ranked 14th in the world, three slots below the five-time former classical format world champion from India. So was third in the rapid competition in 2024 when the tournament was last held. It could not be accommodated in the 2025 calendar largely because of the World Cup in Goa (October 30-November 27, 2025). "From now, it will be in January," said Jeet Banerjee, director Gameplan Sports Private Limited who own the tournament. That the Wijk aan Zee classical format tournament will be held soon after this (from Jan 16) is a happy coincidence, he said. It is a truth acknowledged in India that Anand, the blitz winner here in 2018, will be the cynosure of a chess event he is part of especially if it's a clash of generations as this promises to be. That said, this 20-player event that runs till Jan 11 has a sprinkling of former and current world rapid and blitz champions in the open and women's categories both of which will offer an equal prize purse of $41,500. Across categories, there are six players who will be part of the Candidates in Cyprus in March: R Praggnanandhaa and Wei Yi, women's world champion Divya Deshmukh, R Vaishali, women's world rapid winner Aleksandra Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno. The last two named were also winners of the women's rapid and blitz respectively here in 2024....