Stavanger (Norway): Viswanathan Anand will be back in action after a six-month lay-off and will take on Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France in the first round of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament here Wednesday.
In what is termed as one of the strongest tournaments in the history of the game, reigning World Champion and local hero Magnus Carlsen starts as the favourite but will face stiff competition from the likes of Wesley So of United States.
Anand will start his campaign with black pieces following a mediocre performance in the preceding blitz tournament that was played to determine the colours. The Indian ace could only finish seventh with four points among 10 participants and will get five blacks as a result out of total nine games.
This is a super field studded with top stars of the world. There are 10 participants in all and according to the current world rankings, the least rated – Anish Giri of Holland – is No. 12. When all the players were signed, they were the top 10 in world rankings.
The event will be played on a round-robin basis and each player will play against the other. Classical time control will be used.
Anand has a mixed draw in the tournament but the most important clash for him has been saved for the last round when he will take on Carlsen with white pieces.
PTI
