Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand will be looking to settle a few scores against world number one Garry Kasparov when the two will meet in the Linares Super Grandmasters Chess tournament that gets underway in Linares later on Wednesday.
Even as Kasparov returns to the board for the first time this year, the Indian King will aim to score his first win over the Russian in well over a decade at the euro 297,000 prize money event.
Kasparov will start his campaign with black pieces against Corus champion Peter Leko of Hungary while Anand begins with a bye in the opening of the tournament to be played on a double round-robin basis between seven players.
In all there will be 12 games for each participant besides two byes. March 1st and 7th are official rest days.
The other two clashes of the opening round will see Bulgarian Veselin Topalov in action with white pieces against Briton Michael Adams while FIDE World champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov will take on local hope Francisco Vallejo Pons.
There is a buzz about this year's traditional event and according to experts Anand is only marginally behind on expectations when compared to Kasparov.
This year's event is likely to see more of bloodshed than predictable draws. The simple reason being the prize money at stake, as it gives the winner 100,000 euros and the last finisher 12,000 euros.
Anand's dominance over the chequered board in the past one year has been unparalleled. The Indian ace has been winning almost everything that he plays, and only recently there was a slump in the performance as he finished second in the Corus event behind Leko.
Despite not being able to catch up with Leko, Anand will certainly look forward to an improved performance in Linares after a year's break from this event.
In the Corus event too, Anand had started with three draws and a loss against Leko in the first four rounds, but remained undefeated in the remaining rounds for a stupendous 6.5 points out of possible nine.
The two games against Kasparov will be vital for Anand as he has not beaten the mighty Russian for over a decade now. In fact Veselin Topalov is the only other player in the fray who can boast of a victory against Kasparov while the rest are yet to taste real success against him.
At the same time the absence of Spaniard Alexei Shirov makes some difference to this year's line up. Known as Kasparov's favourite opponent for many years, Shirov has been replaced by Adams, against whom Anand has an excellent score.
Much can also be expected from Leko who made a remarkable comeback after marginally losing the Classical title against Kramnik a few months back.
Obviously the Hungarian had worked very hard for that match and many believe that there could still be a big load of preparation from that match which will come to fore from Leko's side in times to come.
His success at Corus was one attestation to that as he won almost effortlessly and in Linares too Leko can be a feared opponent for anyone.
Veselin Topalov has been a bit inconsistent ever since the last World championship at Tripoli in Libya. The Bulgarian had an excellent start at Corus too but blew away his chances in later rounds.
However, his recent elevation to third spot in the ELO rating list has been a real boost and Topalov will certainly try to live up to his new reputation.
Michael Adams remains as cool as ever while Kasimdzhanov is a fearless customer. Also a bit can be expected from Vallejo, who was only fighting for survival in his last three outings here. Overall this time, Linares promises more excitement than the last time when it was terribly draw marred.
