Chess in India

Chess in India
Viswanathan Anand
Governing body	All India Chess Federation

Chess has risen in popularity in India in the last few decades primarily due to chess Grandmaster and former 5-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand.

It is believed that chess originated from Chaturanga of ancient India. The All India Chess Federation is the governing body for chess in India.

Indian Chess in Numbers

Records / Firsts

• First National Champion: Ramchandra Sapre (1955).
• First Indian International Master: Manuel Aaron (1961).
• First Indian Grandmaster: Viswanathan Anand (1988).
• First Indian Women's Grandmaster: Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi (2001).
• First Indian participation in a Chess Olympiad: 1956, 12th Chess Olympiad at Moscow.
• First Blind Chess Olympiad hosted by India: 2012, 14th Blind Chess Olympiad in Chennai.
• First Indian Asian Senior Chess Champion (65+): Wazeer Ahmad Khan, 6th Asian Seniors at Lar in 2015.
• Youngest Indian Grandmaster: Gukesh D at the age of 12. (2018)
• First Chess Olympiad hosted in India: 2022, 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai
• Maximum number of Indian National Championship wins: 9 by Manuel Aaron.
• Maximum number of Indian National Championship (Women) wins: 6 by Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi.
• Maximum number of Indian National Championship (Blind) wins: 6 by Kishan Gangolli.
• Youngest winner of the Candidates Tournament: Gukesh D at the age of 17 (Candidates Tournament 2024).

World Champions

Viswanathan Anand, held the FIDE title from 2000 to 2002, and the unified title from 2007 to 2013.

Highest rated players

The highest ranked Indian players are:

• Arjun Erigaisi, ranked 9th in the world as of April 2024 with a rating of 2756.
• Koneru Humpy, ranked 5th in the world (Women's FIDE ratings) as of April 2024 with a rating of 2546.
• R Praggnanandhaa, ranked 2nd in the world (Junior FIDE ratings) as of April 2024 with a rating of 2747.
• Vaishali Rameshbabu, ranked 7th in the world (Girls Junior FIDE ratings) as of December 2021 with a rating of 2401.

World Top Lists

As of November 2021, the following is the number of Indian chess players in various segments:

• World's Top 100: 6
• World's Top 100 Women: 6
• World's Top 100 Juniors (age under 20): 20
• World's Top 100 Girls (age under 20): 12

GM and WGM Titles

India has produced:

• 81 Grandmasters. The latest GM is Sayanta Das.^[1]

Medals won by Indian Chess Team

Player statistics

Men

The top 10 Indian grandmasters as of January 2024 are listed below. ^[2] India has 9 players in top 100 FIDE Open rating list in 2023.

Some of the top Indian players

Viswanathan Anand
Rank 12
54 years

Gukesh D
Rank 23
17–18 years

P Harikrishna
Rank 29
37 years

Vidit Gujrathi
Rank 35
29–30 years

Nihal Sarin
Rank 63
19–20 years

Praggnanandhaa R
Rank 66
18–19 years

Viswanathan Anand is currently No. 9 in the FIDE World Rankings and the former World Champion. Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and former world chess champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of 2800, a feat he first achieved in 2006.

Women

The top 10 women Indian chess players are listed below as of November 2013.^[3]

Indian women players in FIDE Top 100

Koneru Humpy
Rank 3
37 years

Dronavalli Harika
Rank 26
33 years

Tania Sachdev
Rank 42
37 years

Mary Ann Gomes
Rank 61
34 years

Eesha Karavade
Rank 78
36 years

R Vaishali
Rank 14
22 years

Blind players

The top blind Indian chess players are listed below as of December 2021.^[4]

Notes

See also

• List of Indian chess players
• Indian chess
• All India Chess Federation for the Blind
• Chess Players Association of India

References

External links

• All India Chess Federation
• The History of Chess: from the Time of the Early Invention of the Game in India till the Period of its establishment in Western and Central Europe

This page was last edited on 25 April 2024, at 00:20