D Gukesh scripted history last year, when he became the youngest-ever world chess champion in history. The 18-year-old defeated defending champion Ding Liren at the World Chess Championship in Singapore. Gukesh became the second Indian to bag such a feat, after Viswanathan Anand, who has won the World C’ship five times.

The championship reached the decisive fourteenth game, and it looked like it was going according to Liren’s plan, who was trying to force out the tiebreaker round. But a massive blunder by the Chinese Grandmaster in the 55th move saw him resign and concede in a historic result.

After the victory, Gukesh returned to India and took a break from the FIDE circuit, as he was occupied with felicitation ceremonies. He also didn’t take part in the year-ending World Rapid and Blitz Championships in New York, which was filled with controversies.

When is D Gukesh making his comeback?

Gukesh is set to return to action on Friday (January 17) as he begins his 2025 campaign at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, in Netherlands. The tournament will also see the likes of Anish Giri, Arjun Erigaisi, Fabiano Carauna also participate. Gukesh came second last year in this tournament. The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is also known as the ‘Wimbledon of chess’.

Magnus Carlsen is the most successful player in the history of the tournament, having reigned victorious in Wijk aan Zee eight times between 2008 and 2022. He won’t be participating this year, as he is focussed more on rapid and blitz formats currently.

In the past, the tournament has also been won by the likes of Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Viswanathan Anand. The Indian legend has won the title five times, and is the second-most successful player after Carlsen.

After the tournament in the Netherlands, Gukesh will take part in the first phase of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, starting from February 7 in Germany. He will face Viswanathan Anand and even Carlsen. After that, he will feature at Norway Chess 2025, which will begin in May.