Rapid and blitz chess in Kolkata
Tata Steel Chess India
The next dates, how the tournament works, the 2026 results, the Indian players and every winner since 2018.
Tata Steel Chess India is a yearly rapid and blitz tournament in Kolkata, first played in November 2018. Ten players in an Open section and ten in a Women's section play a rapid round robin and then a blitz double round robin. The dates of the next edition are not announced yet. The last one ran from 7 to 11 January 2026, when Nihal Sarin and Kateryna Lagno won the rapid titles and Wesley So and Carissa Yip won the blitz.
Next Tata Steel Chess India: dates not announced
- Next edition
- The eighth; dates, venue and players not announced by 25 September 2026
- Last edition
- The seventh, 7 to 11 January 2026
- City
- Kolkata, India
- Venue in 2024 and 2026
- Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium, 1 Thackeray Road, Alipore
- Sections
- Open and Women's, 10 players each
- Format
- 9-round rapid round robin, then 18-round blitz double round robin
- Round times in 2026
- Rapid at 3:00, 4:15 and 5:30 PM IST; blitz from 3:00 PM IST
- Prize fund in 2026
- $41,500 in each section
- Entry in 2024 and 2026
- Free passes at the venue; no tickets sold
- 2026 winners
- Nihal Sarin and Wesley So (Open), Kateryna Lagno and Carissa Yip (Women's)
As of 25 September 2026, the organiser has not announced the dates, the venue or the players of the next Tata Steel Chess India. The official site still shows the January 2026 edition, and FIDE's calendar of major events for 2026 and 2027 does not list it. This page will add the dates when they are out; the chess events calendar lists the tournaments that already have dates.
The timing has changed from year to year. Five of the seven editions started in November: 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2024. In 2023 the event moved to 31 August to 9 September, with the Women's section first and the Open second, because the chess calendar was packed, according to ChessBase India. There was no edition in 2020, when the pandemic cancelled it, and none in the calendar year 2025: the seventh edition was played in January 2026 instead.
Announcements have come both early and late. The organiser posted the January 2026 dates on 26 June 2025, more than six months ahead. The 2024 dates and players were public on 22 October 2024, three weeks before round 1, and ChessBase announced the 2021 dates and players on 12 November 2021, five days before the start.
How the Tata Steel India chess tournament works
Tata Steel launched the tournament in 2018. The event company Gameplan Sports conceived it and ran the first edition, according to Tata Steel's launch announcement. There are two sections, the Open and the Women's, each with ten players. The Women's section was added in 2022 with the same format and the same prize money as the Open.
Each section plays two events with the same ten players. The rapid comes first: a single round robin of 9 rounds, three rounds a day, so every player meets every other player once. The blitz follows: a double round robin of 18 rounds over two days, so every pair meets twice. Each event has its own standings and its own champion, which makes four titles per edition.
| Event | Players | Format and days | Time control | First prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open rapid | 10 | 9-round round robin, 7 to 9 January | 15 minutes + 10 seconds a move | $10,000 |
| Open blitz | The same 10 | 18-round double round robin, 10 and 11 January | 3 minutes + 2 seconds a move | $7,500 |
| Women's rapid | 10 | 9-round round robin, 7 to 9 January | 15 minutes + 10 seconds a move | $10,000 |
| Women's blitz | The same 10 | 18-round double round robin, 10 and 11 January | 3 minutes + 2 seconds a move | $7,500 |
The time controls have changed over the years. The rapid was 25 minutes plus 10 seconds a move in 2018, 2021, 2023 and 2024, and 15 minutes plus 10 seconds in 2022 and 2026. The blitz was 5 minutes plus 3 seconds in 2018 and has been 3 minutes plus 2 seconds since 2021. The same two speeds decide the world titles at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships every December.
A tie for first place goes to a playoff. In 2018 Viswanathan Anand and Hikaru Nakamura both scored 12.5/18 in the blitz, and Anand won the two-game playoff 1.5-0.5. In 2021 Levon Aronian and Arjun Erigaisi drew two playoff games, and Aronian won the Armageddon game. The other places go by tiebreak scores: in 2023 the results table ranked tied players by any playoff, then the game between them, then the Sonneborn-Berger score and the number of wins.
Since 2022 each section has had a prize fund of $41,500, so the Open and the Women's section pay the same. In 2022 and 2024 it was split into $24,000 for the rapid and $17,500 for the blitz, and the 2026 winners took $10,000 in the rapid and $7,500 in the blitz. The first edition in 2018 had $40,000 for the rapid and the blitz together.
In 2019 the tournament was a leg of the Grand Chess Tour, the first tour event in Asia. That year a rapid win counted two points and a blitz win one, and one combined score decided the winner. Magnus Carlsen scored 27 of 36 points and took 13 tour points and $37,500.
Tata Steel Chess India 2026 results
The seventh edition was played from 7 to 11 January 2026 at the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata. World champion D Gukesh was expected in the Open, but he withdrew a few days before the start for personal reasons, and Nihal Sarin took his place, according to the ChessBase India preview.
Nihal made the most of the late call. He won the Open rapid with 6.5/9, half a point ahead of Viswanathan Anand, and The Week in Chess gives him a 2895 performance. He beat Wesley So in round 8 and drew with Anand in the last round. It was his second title in Kolkata after the 2022 rapid, and it paid $10,000.
| Place | Player | Federation | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nihal Sarin | India | 6.5 |
| 2 | Viswanathan Anand | India | 6 |
| 3 | Arjun Erigaisi | India | 5 |
| 4 | Wesley So | United States | 5 |
| 5 | Hans Niemann | United States | 5 |
| 6 | R Praggnanandhaa | India | 4.5 |
| 7 | Vidit Gujrathi | India | 4.5 |
| 8 | Wei Yi | China | 3.5 |
| 9 | Volodar Murzin | FIDE flag | 3.5 |
| 10 | Aravindh Chithambaram | India | 1.5 |
One rapid game ended in an unusual way. In round 6 on 8 January, Praggnanandhaa could not immediately find a queen to promote a pawn against So. He stopped the clock with one second left, the arbiters spoke to So, and the game was drawn. So said the next day: "I was the one who proposed to draw the game, not the arbiters."
Wesley So won the Open blitz with 12/18, a point ahead of Nihal and Arjun Erigaisi, who tied for second on 11. He made sure of the title with a round to spare by drawing Hans Niemann, then lost to Praggnanandhaa in the last round, when the result no longer mattered. It was his first Kolkata title after six attempts.
| Place | Player | Federation | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wesley So | United States | 12 |
| 2 | Nihal Sarin | India | 11 |
| 3 | Arjun Erigaisi | India | 11 |
| 4 | Hans Niemann | United States | 10 |
| 5 | Vidit Gujrathi | India | 10 |
| 6 | R Praggnanandhaa | India | 9.5 |
| 7 | Wei Yi | China | 8.5 |
| 8 | Viswanathan Anand | India | 8 |
| 9 | Volodar Murzin | FIDE flag | 6 |
| 10 | Aravindh Chithambaram | India | 4 |
In the Women's section, Kateryna Lagno went unbeaten through the rapid and won it with a round to spare. She finished on 6.5/9, a point and a half clear of Aleksandra Goryachkina, the 2024 winner. Harika Dronavalli was the best Indian, third on tiebreak with 4.5 points.
| Place | Player | Federation | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kateryna Lagno | Russia | 6.5 |
| 2 | Aleksandra Goryachkina | FIDE flag | 5 |
| 3 | Harika Dronavalli | India | 4.5 |
| 4 | Nana Dzagnidze | Georgia | 4.5 |
| 5 | Vaishali Rameshbabu | India | 4.5 |
| 6 | Divya Deshmukh | India | 4.5 |
| 7 | Carissa Yip | United States | 4.5 |
| 8 | Stavroula Tsolakidou | Greece | 4 |
| 9 | Rakshitta Ravi | India | 3.5 |
| 10 | Vantika Agrawal | India | 3.5 |
The Women's blitz went to a playoff. India's Vantika Agrawal won her last four games to catch Carissa Yip on 10.5/18, and Yip won the two-game playoff 1.5-0.5.
| Place | Player | Federation | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carissa Yip | United States | 10.5, won the playoff |
| 2 | Vantika Agrawal | India | 10.5 |
| 3 | Stavroula Tsolakidou | Greece | 10 |
| 4 | Aleksandra Goryachkina | FIDE flag | 9.5 |
| 5 | Vaishali Rameshbabu | India | 9.5 |
| 6 | Kateryna Lagno | Russia | 8.5 |
| 7 | Divya Deshmukh | India | 8.5 |
| 8 | Nana Dzagnidze | Georgia | 8.5 |
| 9 | Harika Dronavalli | India | 8 |
| 10 | Rakshitta Ravi | India | 6.5 |
Tata Steel Chess India winners since 2018
Seven editions have been played in Kolkata. Table 6 lists every winner by edition and event.
| Edition | Open rapid | Open blitz | Women's rapid | Women's blitz |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018, 9 to 14 November | Hikaru Nakamura, 6/9 | Viswanathan Anand, 12.5/18, won the playoff | No women's section | No women's section |
| 2019, 22 to 26 November | Magnus Carlsen, 15/18 at 2 points a win | Hikaru Nakamura, 12/18, level with Carlsen | No women's section | No women's section |
| 2020 | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled |
| 2021, 17 to 21 November | Arjun Erigaisi, 6.5/9 | Levon Aronian, 11.5/18, won the Armageddon | No women's section | No women's section |
| 2022, 29 November to 4 December | Nihal Sarin, 6.5/9 | Arjun Erigaisi, 12.5/18 | Anna Ushenina, 6.5/9, won the playoff | Vaishali Rameshbabu, 13.5/18 |
| 2023, 31 August to 9 September | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 7/9 | Alexander Grischuk, 12/18 | Divya Deshmukh, 7/9 | Ju Wenjun, 12.5/18 |
| 2024, 13 to 17 November | Magnus Carlsen, 7.5/9 | Magnus Carlsen, 13/18 | Aleksandra Goryachkina, 7.5/9 | Kateryna Lagno, 11.5/18 |
| 2025 | No edition | No edition | No edition | No edition |
| 2026, 7 to 11 January | Nihal Sarin, 6.5/9 | Wesley So, 12/18 | Kateryna Lagno, 6.5/9 | Carissa Yip, 10.5/18, won the playoff |
Magnus Carlsen has won the most titles: the 2019 edition, when the Grand Chess Tour scoring combined the rapid and the blitz, and both events in 2024. Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin and Kateryna Lagno have won two titles each. Carlsen's 27 of 36 points in 2019 was the highest score at a single Grand Chess Tour event up to then, according to Tata Steel.
Sources differ on the 2019 blitz. Tata Steel names Hikaru Nakamura as the blitz winner, while US Chess reports that Carlsen and Nakamura shared first place on 12/18. The table follows Tata Steel and gives the shared score.
Indian players at Tata Steel Chess India
Indian players have won seven titles in Kolkata. Viswanathan Anand won the blitz at the first edition in 2018 after a playoff against Nakamura. Arjun Erigaisi won the rapid in 2021 and the blitz in 2022, and Nihal Sarin won the rapid in 2022 and 2026. In the Women's section, Vaishali Rameshbabu won the 2022 blitz with 13.5/18, and Divya Deshmukh won the 2023 rapid with 7/9.
India had six of the ten Open players and five of the ten Women's players in 2026. Besides Nihal's rapid title, Anand was second in the rapid on 6/9, and Nihal and Arjun shared second place in the blitz on 11/18. In the Women's section, Harika Dronavalli was third in the rapid, and Vantika Agrawal finished second in the blitz, beaten only in the playoff.
The schedule suits fans in India. In 2026 every round started between 3:00 and 5:40 PM IST, so each day's play fitted into the afternoon and early evening.
Venue, tickets and passes in Kolkata
Every edition has been in Kolkata. The first, in 2018, was at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations on Ho Chi Minh Sarani. From 2019 to 2023 the event was at Bhasha Bhawan, the auditorium of the National Library of India on Belvedere Road in Alipore. Since 2024 it has been at the new Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium, 1 Thackeray Road, Alipore.
Watching in the hall was free in 2024 and 2026. For the 2024 edition tickets were not sold: passes were handed out at the venue each day, first come, first served. The organiser used the same pass system in 2026 and posted the details on its information page.
Searches for Tata Steel chess registration can lead to the site of the other Tata Steel tournament, in Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands, whose amateur groups take entries from club players. That is a separate classical event every January; see the Tata Steel Chess 2027 page. The Kolkata event has its own site, tatasteelchess.in.
How to watch Tata Steel Chess India
- Live video: in 2026 the games streamed free on the chess24 YouTube and Twitch channels, with Sahaj Grover and Tania Sachdev, and ChessBase India streamed on YouTube with Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal.
- Live games: Chess.com and Lichess showed every game move by move, and the official site posted the results.
- Timings: in 2026 the rapid rounds started at 3:00, 4:15 and 5:30 PM IST, and the blitz had nine rounds a day from 3:00 PM IST, one every 20 minutes.
- In person: free passes at the venue, first come, first served, in 2024 and 2026.
When a game reaches a sharp position, set it up on the analysis board and look for the best move before the players find it.
Tata Steel Chess India FAQ
When is the next Tata Steel Chess India?
The dates were not announced as of 25 September 2026. The seventh edition ran from 7 to 11 January 2026. Earlier editions were mostly in November, but 2023 was played from 31 August to 9 September, and there was no edition in 2020 or 2025.
Who won Tata Steel Chess India 2026?
Nihal Sarin won the Open rapid with 6.5/9 and Wesley So the Open blitz with 12/18. In the Women's section, Kateryna Lagno won the rapid with 6.5/9, and Carissa Yip won the blitz after a playoff against India's Vantika Agrawal.
Is Tata Steel Chess India the same as the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee?
No. Tata Steel sponsors both. Tata Steel Chess India is a rapid and blitz event in Kolkata, first played in 2018. The Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, in the Netherlands, is a classical event played every January since 1938.
What is the format of Tata Steel Chess India?
An Open and a Women's section of ten players each. Each section plays a 9-round rapid round robin and then an 18-round blitz double round robin with the same players. In 2026 the rapid was 15 minutes plus 10 seconds a move and the blitz 3 minutes plus 2 seconds.
What is the prize money at Tata Steel Chess India?
In 2026 each section had a prize fund of $41,500, the same for the Open and the Women's section. The rapid winners got $10,000 and the blitz winners $7,500. In 2022 and 2024 the fund was split into $24,000 for the rapid and $17,500 for the blitz.
Where is Tata Steel Chess India played?
In Kolkata. The 2024 and 2026 editions were at the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium, 1 Thackeray Road, Alipore. From 2019 to 2023 the event was at Bhasha Bhawan in the National Library of India, and the first edition in 2018 was at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
Do you need a ticket to watch Tata Steel Chess India in Kolkata?
No ticket was needed in 2024 or 2026. Tickets were not sold; free passes were handed out at the venue on each day, first come, first served. In 2026 the organiser posted the pass details on tatasteelchess.in.
What time do the games start in IST?
In 2026 the rapid rounds started at 3:00, 4:15 and 5:30 PM IST, three rounds a day. The blitz had nine rounds a day from 3:00 PM IST, one round every 20 minutes. When needed, a playoff for first place followed the last round.
Which Indian players have won Tata Steel Chess India?
Viswanathan Anand won the 2018 blitz, Arjun Erigaisi the 2021 rapid and the 2022 blitz, and Nihal Sarin the rapid in 2022 and 2026. In the Women's section, Vaishali Rameshbabu won the 2022 blitz and Divya Deshmukh the 2023 rapid.
Who has won Tata Steel Chess India the most?
Magnus Carlsen, with three titles: the 2019 event and both the rapid and the blitz in 2024. Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin and Kateryna Lagno have two titles each. Hikaru Nakamura also has two if his 2019 blitz, level with Carlsen on points, is counted.
Where can I watch Tata Steel Chess India live?
In 2026 the games streamed free on the chess24 YouTube and Twitch channels, with Sahaj Grover and Tania Sachdev, and on ChessBase India's YouTube channel. Chess.com and Lichess showed every game move by move.
Why was there no Tata Steel Chess India in 2020 or 2025?
The 2020 edition was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We found no public reason for 2025. On 26 June 2025 the organiser announced that the seventh edition would be played from 7 to 11 January 2026.
Sources: the organiser's site tatasteelchess.in (schedule, venue, fields and passes); Tata Steel press releases of 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022; The Week in Chess (2026 standings and crosstables); and reports by Chess.com, ChessBase, ChessBase India, US Chess, Sportstar and Firstpost. The Week in Chess lists the 2026 edition as 7 to 12 January and US Chess as 6 to 11 January; this page uses the organiser's 7 to 11 January. Checked on 25 September 2026.
