Chess in India explained

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.

Current rankings

Open

As per FIDE's October 2024 rankings.^[1]

	Title	Player	World Rank	Rating	Age
1	GM	Arjun Erigaisi	3	2797
2	GM	Gukesh Dommaraju	5	2794
3	GM	Viswanathan Anand	11	2751
4	GM	Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu	12	2746
5	GM	Vidit Gujrathi	22	2726
6	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram	33	2698
7	GM	Pentala Harikrishna	42	2688
8	GM	Nihal Sarin	58	2668
9	GM	Raunak Sadhwani	66	2659
10	GM	S. L. Narayanan	95	2640

Women

As per FIDE's October 2024 rankings.^[2]

	Title	Player	World Rank	Rating	Age
1	GM	Koneru Humpy	6	2530
2	IM	Divya Deshmukh	11	2501
3	GM	Harika Dronavalli	13	2493
4	GM	Vaishali Rameshbabu	15	2487
5	IM	Tania Sachdev	54	2396
6	IM	Vantika Agrawal	58	2392
7		Sarayu Velpula	76	2370
8	IM	Bhakti Kulkarni	82	2363
9	WGM	Savitha Shri Baskar	99	2348
10	IM	Padmini Rout	100+	2328

Medal table

Team

Tournament	Team				Total
Olympiad	M	1	0	2	3
	F	1	0	1	2
	X	1	0	1	2
World Team Championship	M	0	0	1	1
	F	0	1	0	1
Asian Games	M	0	1	1	2
	F	0	1	0	1
	X	1	0	0	1
Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games	M	0	0	3	3
	F	0	0	1	1
	X	1	2	2	5
Asian Team Championship	M	3	6	4	13
	F	0	5	3	8
World Mind Sports Games	X	0	1	0	1
Total		8	17	19	44

Individual

Tournament	Gender				Total
World Championship	M	5	5	0	10
	F	0	1	6	7
World Rapid World Blitz	M	2	2	2	6
	F	1	2	2	5
World Cup	M	2	1	0	3
	F	0	0	0	0
Olympiad	M	4	4	1	9
	F	3	3	4	10
Asian Games	M	0	0	0	0
	F	1	0	1	2
World Team Championship	M	3	0	4	7
	F	2	5	4	11
Asian Team Championship	M	20	15	14	49
	F	6	17	10	33
Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games	M	2	0	2	4
	F	2	0	2	4
Total		53	55	46	154

• Updated till September 2024

Olympiad

Open

Medal	Event	Team	Points
	2014 Tromsø	Parimarjan Negi Panayappan Sethuraman Sasikiran Krishnan Adhiban Baskaran Musunuri Rohit Lalit Babu	17
	2022 Chennai	Gukesh Dommaraju Nihal Sarin Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu Adhiban Baskaran Raunak Sadhwani	18
	2024 Budapest	Gukesh Dommaraju Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu Arjun Erigaisi Vidit Gujrathi Pentala Harikrishna	21

Medal	Event	Player	Category
	2004 Calvià	Viswanathan Anand	Best performance rating
	2012 Istanbul	Abhijeet Gupta	Board 4
	2014 Tromsø	Sasikiran Krishnan	Board 3
	2022 Chennai	Gukesh Dommaraju	Board 1
		Nihal Sarin	Board 2
		Arjun Erigaisi	Board 3
		Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu	Board 3
	2024 Budapest	Gukesh Dommaraju	Board 1
		Arjun Erigaisi	Board 3

Women

Medal	Event	Team	Points
	2022 Chennai	Koneru Humpy Harika Dronavalli Vaishali Rameshbabu Tania Sachdev Bhakti Kulkarni	17
		Harika Dronavalli Vaishali Rameshbabu Divya Deshmukh Vantika Agrawal Tania Sachdev	19

Medal	Event	Player	Category
	2000 Istanbul	Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi	Board 1
	2002 Bled	Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi	Board 1
	2008 Dresden	Mary Ann Gomes	Board 5
	2012 Istanbul	Tania Sachdev	Board 3
	2014 Tromsø	Padmini Rout	Board 5
	2022 Chennai	Vaishali Rameshbabu	Board 3
		Tania Sachdev	Board 4
		Divya Deshmukh	Board 5
	2024 Budapest	Divya Deshmukh	Board 3
		Vantika Agrawal	Board 4

Online

Medal	Event	Team
	2020	Viswanathan Anand Vidit Gujrathi Koneru Humpy Harika Dronavalli Nihal Sarin Divya Deshmukh Pentala Harikrishna Aravindh Chithambaram Bhakti Kulkarni Vaishali Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu Vantika Agrawal
	2021	Viswanathan Anand Vidit Gujrathi Koneru Humpy Harika Dronavalli Nihal Sarin Vaishali Rameshbabu Pentala Harikrishna Adhiban Baskaran Tania Sachdev Bhakti Kulkarni Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu Savitha Shri Baskar

World Championship

Open

Year	Player	Result	Score
1995	Viswanathan Anand		7.5
1998	Viswanathan Anand		3
2000	Viswanathan Anand		3.5
2005	Viswanathan Anand		8.5
2007	Viswanathan Anand		9
2008	Viswanathan Anand		6.5
2010	Viswanathan Anand		6.5
2012	Viswanathan Anand		8.5
2013	Viswanathan Anand		3.5
2014	Viswanathan Anand		4.5
2024	Gukesh Dommaraju	TBA	TBA

Women

Year	Player	Result	Score
2004	Koneru Humpy		Semifinalist
2008	Koneru Humpy		Semifinalist
2010	Koneru Humpy		Semifinalist
2011	Koneru Humpy		2.5
2012	Harika Dronavalli		Semifinalist
2015	Harika Dronavalli		Semifinalist
2017	Harika Dronavalli		Semifinalist

World Rapid and Blitz Championships

Open

Rapid

Medal	Event	Player
	2003 Cap d'Agde	Viswanathan Anand
	2014 Dubai
	2017 Riyadh	Viswanathan Anand

Blitz

Medal	Event	Player
	2007 Moscow	Viswanathan Anand
	2009 Moscow	Viswanathan Anand
	2017 Riyadh	Viswanathan Anand

Women

Rapid

Medal	Event	Player
	2012 Batumi	Koneru Humpy
	2019 Moscow	Koneru Humpy
	2022 Almaty	Savitha Shri Baskar
	2023 Samarkand	Koneru Humpy

Blitz

World Team Championship

Open

Medal	Event	Player	Category
	2010 Bursa	Surya Shekhar Ganguly	Board 3
		Subramanian Arun Prasad	Board 5
	2017 Khanty-Mansiysk	Vidit Gujrathi	Board 1
		Adhiban Baskaran	Board 2
	2019 Astana	Adhiban Baskaran	Board 1
		Surya Shekhar Ganguly	Board 3
	2022 Jerusalem	S. L. Narayanan	Board 3

Women

Medal	Event	Player	Category
	2009 Ningbo	Eesha Karavade	Board 3
	2011 Mardin	Koneru Humpy	Best performance rating
		Koneru Humpy	Board 1
		Harika Dronavalli	Board 2
	2013 Astana	Mary Ann Gomes	Board 4
		Soumya Swaminathan	Board 5
	2015 Chengdu	Koneru Humpy	Board 1
		Harika Dronavalli	Board 2
	2017 Khanty-Mansiysk	Eesha Karavade	Board 3
	2021 Sitges	Harika Dronavalli	Board 1
		Mary Ann Gomes	Board 5

Asian Team Championship

Open

Medal	Event	Team
	1983 New Delhi	Dibyendu Barua Pravin Thipsay Pabitra Mohanty Syed Nasir Ali Mohamed Rafiq Khan Neeraj Kumar Mishra
	1986 Dubai	Vaidyanathan Ravikumar Arun Vaidya Ahanthem Meetei Viswanathan Anand Devaki Prasad Balottam Verma
	1989 Genting Highlands	Viswanathan Anand Pravin Thipsay Lanka Ravi Raja Ravi Sekhar Dibyendu Barua N. Sudhakar Babu
	1999 Shenyang	Sasikiran Krishnan Pravin Thipsay Abhijit Kunte Devaki Prasad G. B. Prakash
	2003 Jodhpur	Sasikiran Krishnan Surya Shekhar Ganguly Pentala Harikrishna Dibyendu Barua Abhijit Kunte
	2003 Jodhpur	Neelotpal Das Sriram Jha Lanka Ravi Dinesh Kumar Sharma Roktim Bandyopadhyay
	2005 Esfahan	Sasikiran Krishnan Abhijit Kunte Surya Shekhar Ganguly Sundararajan Kidambi Sandipan Chanda
	2008 Visakhapatnam	Sasikiran Krishnan Surya Shekhar Ganguly Abhijit Kunte Geetha Narayanan Gopal Abhijeet Gupta
	2009 Kolkata	Pentala Harikrishna Sasikiran Krishnan Surya Shekhar Ganguly Parimarjan Negi J. Deepan Chakkravarthy
	2012 Zaozhuang	Sasikiran Krishnan Pentala Harikrishna Parimarjan Negi Abhijeet Gupta Geetha Narayanan Gopal
	2014 Tabriz	S. P. Sethuraman Adhiban Baskaran Sasikiran Krishnan Parimarjan Negi Musunuri Rohit Lalit Babu
	2016 Abu Dhabi	Adhiban Baskaran S. P. Sethuraman Vidit Gujrathi Sasikiran Krishnan Deep Sengupta
	2018 Hamadan	Adhiban Baskaran S. P. Sethuraman Sasikiran Krishnan Surya Shekhar Ganguly Abhijeet Gupta

Medal	Event	Player	Category
	1977 Auckland	Nasiruddin Ghalib	Board 6
	1981 Hangzhou	Manuel Aaron	Board 1
		Tiruchi Natesan Parameswaran	Board 2
	1983 New Delhi	Dibyendu Barua	Board 1
		Pravin Thipsay	Board 2
	1986 Dubai	Ahanthem Meetei	Board 3
		Viswanathan Anand	Board 4
		Devaki Prasad	Board 5
	1987 Singapore	Devaki Prasad	Board 5
	1989 Genting Highlands	Viswanathan Anand	Board 1
		Dibyendu Barua	Board 5
		N. Sudhakar Babu	Board 6
	1991 Penang	P. D. S. Girinath	Board 1
	1993 Kuala Lumpur	Jayant Suresh Gokhale	Board 6
	1999 Shenyang	Abhijit Kunte	Board 3
		G. B. Prakash	Board 5
	2003 Jodhpur	Sasikiran Krishnan	Board 1
		Pravin Thipsay	Board 2
		Lanka Ravi	Board 3
		Dinesh Kumar Sharma	Board 4
		Abhijit Kunte	Board 5
	2005 Esfahan	Sasikiran Krishnan	Board 1
		Abhijit Kunte	Board 2
		Surya Shekhar Ganguly	Board 3
		Sundararajan Kidambi	Board 4
		Sandipan Chanda	Board 5
	2008 Visakhapatnam	Sasikiran Krishnan	Board 1
		Surya Shekhar Ganguly	Board 2
		Abhijit Kunte	Board 3
		Geetha Narayanan Gopal	Board 4
		Abhijeet Gupta	Board 5
	2009 Kolkata	Pentala Harikrishna	Board 1
		Sasikiran Krishnan	Board 2
		Surya Shekhar Ganguly	Board 3
		Parimarjan Negi	Board 4
		J. Deepan Chakkravarthy	Board 5
	2012 Zaozhuang	Parimarjan Negi	Board 3
		Abhijeet Gupta	Board 3
	2014 Tabriz	Sasikiran Krishnan	Board 3
		Parimarjan Negi	Board 4
		Musunuri Rohit Lalit Babu	Board 5
	2016 Abu Dhabi	Adhiban Baskaran	Board 1
		S. P. Sethuraman	Board 2
		Vidit Gujrathi	Board 3
		Sasikiran Krishnan	Board 4
	2018 Hamadan	Adhiban Baskaran	Board 1
		S. P. Sethuraman	Board 2
		Sasikiran Krishnan	Board 3
		Abhijeet Gupta	Board 5

Women

Medal	Event	Team
	1999 Shenyang	Bhagyashree Thipsay Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi Swati Ghate Shahnaz Safira
	2003 Jodhpur	Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi Nisha Mohota Aarthie Ramaswamy Harika Dronavalli
	2005 Esfahan	Nisha Mohota Mary Ann Gomes Swati Ghate Anupama Gokhale
	2008 Visakhapatnam	Harika Dronavalli Nisha Mohota Tania Sachdev Aarthie Ramaswamy
	2009 Kolkata	Harika Dronavalli Eesha Karavade Tania Sachdev Soumya Swaminathan Kruttika Nadig
	2012 Zaozhuang	Harika Dronavalli Eesha Karavade Tania Sachdev Mary Ann Gomes Padmini Rout
	2014 Tabriz	Harika Dronavalli Tania Sachdev Eesha Karavade Mary Ann Gomes Padmini Rout
	2018 Hamadan	Harika Dronavalli Vaishali Rameshbabu Eesha Karavade Padmini Rout Aakanksha Hagawane

Medal	Event	Player	Category
	1999 Shenyang	Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi	Board 2
		Swati Ghate	Board 3
		Shahnaz Safira	Board 4
	2003 Jodhpur	Subbaraman Meenakshi	Board 1
		Swati Ghate	Board 2
		Anupama Gokhale	Board 3
		Harika Dronavalli	Board 4
		Sai Meera Ravi	Board 4
	2005 Esfahan	Nisha Mohota	Board 1
		Mary Ann Gomes	Board 2
		Swati Ghate	Board 3
	2008 Visakhapatnam	Harika Dronavalli	Board 1
		Nisha Mohota	Board 2
		Tania Sachdev	Board 3
		Aarthie Ramaswamy	Board 4
		Tejaswi Kanuri	Board 4
	2009 Kolkata	Harika Dronavalli	Board 1
		Tania Sachdev	Board 3
		Padmini Rout	Board 3
		Bhakti Kulkarni	Board 4
		Kruttika Nadig	Board 5
	2012 Zaozhuang	Tania Sachdev	Board 3
		Padmini Rout	Board 5
	2014 Tabriz	Harika Dronavalli	Board 1
		Tania Sachdev	Board 2
		Mary Ann Gomes	Board 4
		Padmini Rout	Board 5
	2016 Abu Dhabi	Harika Dronavalli	Board 2
		Soumya Swaminathan	Board 4
	2018 Hamadan	Harika Dronavalli	Board 1
		Eesha Karavade	Board 3
		Padmini Rout	Board 4
		Aakanksha Hagawane	Board 5

World Cup

Medal	Event	Player
	2000 Shenyang	Viswanathan Anand
	2002 Hyderabad	Viswanathan Anand
	2023 Baku	Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu

Asian Games

Men's team standard

Medal	Event	Team
	2010 Guangzhou	Pentala Harikrishna Sasikiran Krishnan Surya Shekhar Ganguly Geetha Narayanan Gopal Adhiban Baskaran
	2022 Hangzhou	Gukesh Dommaraju Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu Vidit Gujrathi Arjun Erigaisi Pentala Harikrishna

Women's individual rapid

Medal	Event	Team
	2006 Doha	Koneru Humpy
	2010 Guangzhou	Harika Dronavalli

Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games

Men's individual rapid

Medal	Event	Team
	2007 Macau	Sasikiran Krishnan
	2009 Vietnam	Sasikiran Krishnan

Women's individual rapid

Medal	Event	Team
	2007 Macau	Harika Dronavalli
	2009 Vietnam	Harika Dronavalli

Mixed team rapid

Medal	Event	Team
	2007 Macau	Sasikiran Krishnan Surya Shekhar Ganguly J. Deepan Chakkravarthy Koneru Humpy Harika Dronavalli Tania Sachdev
	2009 Vietnam	Pentala Harikrishna Parimarjan Negi Sasikiran Krishnan Harika Dronavalli Tania Sachdev Eesha Karavade

Mixed team blitz

Medal	Event	Team
	2007 Macau	Sasikiran Krishnan Surya Shekhar Ganguly Subramanian Arun Prasad Koneru Humpy Harika Dronavalli Subbaraman Meenakshi
	2009 Vietnam	Pentala Harikrishna Laxman Rajaram Sasikiran Krishnan Harika Dronavalli Tania Sachdev Eesha Karavade

World Mind Sports Games

Mixed pairs blitz

Performance records

Firsts

• First National Champion: Ramchandra Sapre (1955)
• First Indian International Master: Manuel Aaron (1961)
• First Indian Grandmaster: Viswanathan Anand (1988)
• First Indian Woman 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 (2024)

National award recipients

Year	Recipient	Award	Gender
1991–1992		Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna	Male
1961		Arjuna Award	Male
1980–1981		Arjuna Award	Female
1983		Arjuna Award	Male
1984		Arjuna Award	Male
1985		Arjuna Award	Male
1987		Arjuna Award	Male
1987		Arjuna Award	Female
1990		Arjuna Award	Female
2000		Arjuna Award	Female
2002		Arjuna Award	Male
2003		Arjuna Award	Female
2005		Arjuna Award	Male
2006		Arjuna Award	Male
2007		Arjuna Award	Female
2009		Arjuna Award	Female
2010		Arjuna Award	Male
2013		Arjuna Award	Male
2022		Arjuna Award	Female
2022		Arjuna Award	Male
2023		Arjuna Award	Female
2021		Dhyan Chand Award	Male
2006		Dronacharya Award	Male
2023		Dronacharya Award	Male

See also

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

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Chess Rankings India Open . ratings.fide.com . World Chess Federation (FIDE).
2. Web site: Chess Rankings India Female . ratings.fide.com . World Chess Federation (FIDE).