Viswanathan Anand set to compete in an over-the-board chess event after a year

Former world champion Viswanathan Anand will participate in the Croatia Grand Chess Tour Rapid and Blitz tournament to be held in Zagreb from July 5 to 12.

The tournament will be the third leg of the 2021 Grand Chess Tour. Apart from the Indian Grandmaster Anand, the event will also see former world champion Garry Kasparov, who will feature in the blitz section.

It will be the first across-the-board event for Anand (ELO rating 2753) in over a year as sporting schedules across the world have been hit owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions.

He had in 2020 helped India win the gold medal in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad. Russian Grandmaster Alex Grischuk, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) and Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are also in the fray.

Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia), who will challenge Magnus Carlsen for the 2021 World Chess champion title, has entered the event as wild card, like Anand.

Dutch GM Anish Giri, Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland), Ivan Saric (Croatia), Anton Korobov (Ukraine) and Jorden Van Foreest (the Netherlands) are also in the fray.

Grand Chess Tour Executive Director Michael Khodarkovsky said, "Fans can expect five days of exhilarating chess demonstrated by the famed world champions, like Garry Kasparov and Vishy Anand, as well as a new wave of top players."

The tournament will see 10 elite Grandmasters competing over nine rounds of rapid chess and 18 rounds of blitz for a total prize fund of USD 150,000.

The Grand Chess Tour is a circuit of international events, each demonstrating the highest level of organisation for the world's best players.