“What is the most unstable thing in the world right now? India's number one chess player.”
In January this year, Azerbaijani grandmaster Teymur Radjabov tweeted, pointing out how precarious the position of India's top-ranked players was.
For four months in 2024, the position of India's top-ranked chess player in the live ratings constantly swapped between five players: Viswanathan Anand, Gukesh, Pragnananda, Arjun Eligaishi, and Vidit Gujrati.
It's a far cry from the past 36 years, when Viswanathan Anand established himself as India's top-ranked chess player almost unchallenged. In fact, Rajabov's tweet was posted just after Vidit finished his 24-hour shift there and was dethroned as India's No. 1 spot in live ratings.
It was small signs like this that started to reflect India's growth in 64 squares. And the recently concluded Candidates Tournament, with an elite field of eight players in both the open category and women's, proved to be ridiculously difficult for the Indians to break through.
Of course, that was before a group of five Indians (three in the open event and two in the women's event) qualified as candidates this year.
Gukesh's victory in the Candidates Tournament makes him the youngest player in history to qualify for the World Chess Championship and is sure to attract attention. But there were other signs of India's growth in the sport. For example, in the women's category, veteran Humpy Connell and 22-year-old first-timer Vaishali both tied for second in points.
FIDE's April 2024 ranking list has five Indian men in the top 25. In the women's rankings, he has three Indians in the top 15. But where India really starts is when we look at the rankings of the world's top juniors. To assert its dominance: there are seven Indians in the top 20, and if you zoom out a bit, one-third of the top 30 juniors in the world are Indian (two of them He plays in a team of candidates, one of whom is selected as a candidate for the next (World Championship).
It is no surprise that last year's former world champion Magnus Carlsen declared: ”
So what is India doing right?
combination of factors
A combination of factors led to the rapid explosion of the sport in India. With cheap internet data packs and chess apps readily available on mobile phones, the grassroots base is rapidly growing.
Additionally, the proliferation of the Internet has made it easier for children in tier 2 and tier 3 cities to access chess coaching, allowing them to take online chess classes from top industry players based in large cities. became.
The rise of online tournaments in the post-pandemic era has led many Indian youth to compete against super grandmasters and former world champions. These contests were important in making elite athletes seem less formidable.
“Part of the growth of Indian players is due to them playing in online competitions. Get used to not only playing against top players but also playing against Magnus and other top stars. This is a boom It's more than that. It's a trend,” said Emil Stovsky, executive director of FIDE, the world governing body for chess. indian express last year.
Another thing India has done right is to have a generation of elite players who have chosen to go into coaching to help the next generation. This includes grandmaster RB Ramesh, who counts Prag and Vaishali among his wards, GM Vishnu Prasanna, who formed Gukesh from the age of 11, and worked as a trainer for Arjun Eligaish and also formed Nihal Sarin. This includes GM Srinath Narayanan. Among the recently settled candidates were GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly, who was close to Vidit, and GM Sandipan Chanda, who was Vaishali's trainer.
Stofsky also pointed out that there is a group of more than 50,000 players in India who he classifies as “really good players but not grandmasters.”
“These players are essential to the growth of the chess ecosystem and may even become chess coaches, arbiters, etc.,” he says. indian express.
The final link in the chain was the invention of well-funded franchise-style tournaments like the Global Chess League, where players like Gukesh, Pragg, and Arjun were on the same team as Carlsen. The league was funded by Tech Mahindra in collaboration with FIDE.
All these aspects made India more aggressive in 64 squares. However, with Gukesh's participation in the World Championship, the chess movement finally has a marquee player.
After Gukesh's victory on Monday, women's grandmaster Tania Sachdev tweeted, “Gukesh wins over candidate!” The future is here. It's today. “
