Nine months after the Winter Olympic Games, a different but equally fierce competition is going down in Sochi, Russia: the World Chess Championship.
On Saturday the current champion, 23-year-old Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, will begin to defend his title against Viswanathan “Vishy” Anand, a 44-year-old, four-time world champion whom Carlsen beat last year, the Wall Street Journal reports. (The championship’s opening ceremony took place Friday.)
Their face-off will be the first back-to-back rematch for the top title since 1990, when Garry Kasparov beat Anatoly Karpov in a best-of-24 showdown.
Carlsen is the first Western-born world chess champion since Bobby Fischer took the title in 1972 after beating Boris Spassky of Russia.
[WSJ]
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Donald Trump Is TIME's 2024 Person of the Year
- Why We Chose Trump as Person of the Year
- Is Intermittent Fasting Good or Bad for You?
- The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024
- The 20 Best Christmas TV Episodes
- Column: If Optimism Feels Ridiculous Now, Try Hope
- The Future of Climate Action Is Trade Policy
- Merle Bombardieri Is Helping People Make the Baby Decision
Write to Nolan Feeney at nolan.feeney@time.com