Need there be any hype apart from the mere participation of ten super-GMs – including some specifically picked for a talent and career that spans generations – in this tournament of legendary pairings?
Perhaps not, but the Gods have kindly blessed us with some more: the Round 1 pairing of legendary rivals Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri. There are some among us who still remember the long-standing trash-talk war – perhaps warranted by worthy victories from the MCI and Chessable Masters – between these two. This rivalry, while not quite a 1972 WCC, is nevertheless welcome news for the gossip-mongers that make up Chess journalists and their readers (the games are sure to be interesting too). And there are some among us who still remember (and one who is trying to forget) the Lichess titled Arena (this one).
In other news, the Ding-Gelfand match promises to be interesting, featuring players more or less 30 years apart in their career, as does the undoubtedly super strategical Soviet struggle between Kramnik and Nepomniachtchi, and the other two pairings, Anand-Svidler and Leko-Ivanchuk, involve long-standing archrivals.