Vishy Anand puts his weight behind Gukesh ahead of high-stake Norway Chess 2025

Addressing an event hosted by the Norway Chess and Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai (SJAM) in Mumbai, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand put his weight behind the prodigy from Chennai.

“I expect a very exciting battle. Gukesh will not lack motivation or the determination to go after Magnus Carlsen. But Magnus is also highly motivated by the challenge of playing against our young players. I've seen him in multiple tournaments whether it's Kolkata or the World Rapid Blitz, he eagerly looks forward to these match-ups and so we have the perfect storm. I think we have the right to expect some great battles,” Anand said appearing at the event virtually.

Gukesh, 18, has achieved remarkable success in 2024, winning the Tata Steel Masters, leading India to gold at the Chess Olympiad, dominating the Candidates Tournament, and finally claiming the ultimate prize in classical chess: the World Championship title in Singapore last December.

This year's Norway Chess will see a star-studded line-up featuring world No.1 and defending champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Gukesh D. (India), Fabiano Caruana (USA), Arjun Erigaisi (India), and Wei Yi (China) among the men.

The Norway Chess Women will feature reigning four-time Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun (China), Lei Tingjie (China), Koneru Humpy (India), Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine), Vaishali Rameshbabu (India), and Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Spain).

Norway Chess and Norway Chess Women, feature the same format, same prize money, and take place in the same playing hall. Both tournaments follow a 6-player double round-robin format.

From his own experience of playing at the Norway Chess, Anand highlighted the reasons behind Norway Chess being different from any other world event under FIDE's calendar. This year, with the top 5 in the world participating in Norway Chess, the contest promises to be nail-biting for any chess aficionado following the tournament.

“It is one of the premier events in the sport of chess, and since Norway Chess began in 2013, it has kept on evolving very well. They continue to make the tournament very attractive a demonstration of what chess is all about. They always have some extra tweaks to make it very interesting, whether it's the confessional booth or now the Armageddon. It's a very innovative tournament, and the levels of competition are simply outstanding,” Anand said.

He further added, “And for Indian chess, the fact that we have four players, says a lot. On the men's side, Indian chess is as strong as it's ever been. Even more so obviously due to the depth we have. But it's great that Koneru Humpy is still competing so successfully and that she'll be joined by Vaishali as well, which bodes well for us.”

Visiting India to explore partnerships, Kjell Madland, the Managing Director and visionary behind Norway Chess expressed a keenness to expand further.

“Norway Chess is absolutely honoured to be hosting the Gukesh and Magnus clash, especially on the back of Gukesh’s incredible run of form. Both the champions will have a couple of chances to go after each other which bodes very well for Norway Chess," he said.

"And hopefully, next year, Norway Chess can host this exact fixture in India as well, where there are so many champions. The quality of chess in India over the last ten years has been, and for sure, the sport would be poorer without the Indian champions,” he added.