Overview
- The opening ceremony in Panjim unveiled the Viswanathan Anand Trophy, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi declaring the event open via a letter read by AICF president Nitin Narang.
- Round 1 is underway at Resort Rio with 156 players in action, while 50 top seeds have byes; India fields a record 24 players, with 16 starting from the opening round.
- Divya Deshmukh, the only female player in the open field and a wild card entrant, lost Game 1 and enters Game 2 in a must‑win situation to stay alive.
- The tournament features 206 participants competing for a $2 million prize pool under a two‑game classical match format with rapid and blitz tiebreaks if needed.
- World champion D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa join from Round 2, while Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana are not participating.