India moves into chess spotlight
How the rise of new talent is positioning India to dominate world chess in the future
When D. Gukesh goes to defend his world chess champion’s tag in two years’ time, there could well be another Indian standing in his way as the challenger. Arjun Erigaisi, now world number four and only the second Indian after the legendary Viswanathan Anand to reach 2,800 Elo points, could well be that person.
This, in a way, tells you about the robust health that chess finds itself in a cricket crazy country like India which had, for more than last three decades, been riding all their hopes on the five-time world champion Anand in the board game. Times have, however, changed and how – with the global chess fraternity acknowledging that the country is in the middle of a chess revolution.
The last year and-a-half has been simply phenomenal for India’s fortunes in the sport. It was the precocious R. Praggnanandhaa who set the ball rolling by finishing runner-up to Magnus Carlsen in the Chess World Cup in 2023 and becoming the second Indian to qualify for the Candidates series after Anand. His peer, Gukesh made the cut much later but stole the thunder by winning the Candidates to emerge as the challenger for the world crown. The rest, as they say, is history.
Earlier in August, the Indian men and women’s teams made history when they claimed a double in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest. The young brigade of Gukesh, Arjun, R. Praggnanandhaa (Pragg), Vidit Gujrathi or former world number one Harika Dronavalli, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agarwal or Pragg’s Sister R. Vaishali among the girls carved their niche as the emerging sports icons of the country.
Now that the dust has settled after the euphoria over Gukesh’s triumph, the question is whether chess can ride the crest of this wave and become the next big thing in India. Will corporate support, much necessary in chess as the players need to reinvest from their earnings for training and development, be forthcoming? While the experts are upbeat about the supply line of talent, they are cautiously optimistic about the future.
“I was hugely impressed with Gukesh’s game since the 2022 Olympiad in Chennai, but never thought that India could get a world champion after Anand so quickly. In the new millennium, we have shown a can-do attitude as the numbers will tell you,” says Dibyendu Barua, who was the second grandmaster (GM) from the country after Anand.
Barua – who is also one of the Vice Presidents of the All India Chess Federation (AICF) – says, “Till 2000, we had only four GMs but from that stage to 2017, we produced nearly 70 GMs. If we break it down, one has to say Anand’s contribution had been enormous in terms of the bigger picture, as well as closely mentoring this group who train in his WestBridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA).”
The number of budding chess players have grown exponentially in the country over the last decade or so, while Barua points out that it gained in popularity during the lockdown phase of the Covid pandemic.
“My academy based in Kolkata used to get lots of enquiries during those months and some of them have shown good promise as trainees. The problem, however, is when they reach an advanced level – the sport can become extremely expensive and there are often pullouts,” he points out.
Corporate support
Pentala Harikrishna, a GM and senior-most member of the Indian men’s team which won the Chess Olympiad gold in Budapest, echoes similar sentiments.
“As a player goes up the ladder, chess can be super expensive. If you notice, only a few of our leading players like Gukesh and Pragg have sponsors but those at the second or third layers should also get some support,” says Harikrishna, a leading trainer who had been a part of the back end teams of both the recent world champions in classical chess: Gukesh and Ju Wenjun.
Now based out of Prague, Harikrishna feels strongly about Erigaisi’s chances to be a potential candidate to challenge Gukesh for the world title in two years’ time.
“Since Carlsen has decided against competing for the world crown anymore, there are only Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura in between. Arjun is the youngest in the top four (at the time of writing) with Gukesh following him in fifth position – hence there is a fair chance of clashing for the world title,” says Harikrishna.
The issue of incentivising strong performances, in Harikrishna’s words, remains an issue and the earlier the endorsement sector wakes up to the sport the better. The demand for taking Gukesh on board has been slow but the enquiries have started coming, according to the head honcho of a leading sports management firm on the job.
Neerav Tomar, Managing Director of IOS Sports & Entertainment, says, “He has the potential to be marketed as an youth icon, and we have already received four to five enquiries for him. The athlete’s personality and family background also help as key factors and Gukesh fits the ball perfectly. However, chess being still a niche sport, the response may not match some of the other clients.”
Looking at the bigger picture of taking chess across to more in the youth segment, Tomar – who handles the portfolio of shooting sensation, Manu Bhaker – says he is also open to the idea of working with the All India Chess Federation (AICF).
“It’s a truly global sport which can do with some strong marketing strategy,” Tomar says.
Gukesh & Co has certainly arrived in the parallel universe – once dominated by the Bobby Fischer vs Boris Spassky cold wars, Garry Kasparovs and Anatoly Karpovs. It looks like Anand, once the Pied Piper for the sport in India, is now leaving it in safe hands. ■
The fabulous five
Arjun Erigaisi
The 21-year-old from Warangal in Telengana is possibly the frontrunner among the young brigade to match D. Gukesh. Now world number four in FIDE live rankings, he has a 2801 elo rating – making him only the second Indian after Anand to cross the threshold. Erigaisi, however, has to maintain a decent form in the next one year so as not to slip below the top eight in order to qualify for the Candidates.
R. Praggnanandhaa
The precocious Praggnanandhaa, now 19, first created waves when he showed the world that Magnus Carlsen was beatable in an online game couple of years back. Last year, Pragg finished as the runner-up in World Chess Cup to qualify for the Candidates event – but Gukesh had the last laugh to emerge as the challenger to the world crown. Now world No.13, his time will certainly come.
Nihal Sarin
At 20, the Thrissur-born Grandmaster (GM) had been one of the most widely touted names as a young chess prodigy. He became a world under-10 champion in 2014, finished runner-up in the world under-12 the next year while he won the gold medal in the FIDE online chess Olympiad 2020.
Vidit Gujrathi
Now 30, the well spoken GM from Nashik is not exactly a part of the young brigade anymore but blended extremely well to form the winning combination for India in the Chess Olympiad. A world number 24, Gujrathi was disappointed at having been ignored for the Arjuna award - despite being a part of the gold medallist team and a silver medallist in the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games.
Chitambaram Aravind
The 25-year-old may be a lesser known name but enjoys a FIDE live ranking of 24 at the moment. Another product of Tamil Nadu’s endless assembly line (though he is from Thirunagar and not Chennai), his best moment came in 2023 World Rapid Team Tournament where he beat Wesley So, MVL and Vishy Anand at one go. One looks forward to hear more from him!
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