The All India Chess Federation (AICF) is central administrative body for the game of chess in India. Founded in 1951, the federation is affiliated to

Fédération Internationale des Échecs The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

(FIDE), the world body for chess. The AICF has produced

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time 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 ...

Nihal Sarin Nihal Sarin (born 13 July 2004) is an Indian chess player and chess prodigy. He achieved the title of Grandmaster at age 14. In 2018, he passed the Elo rating of 2600 at 14 years old, which at the time made him the third youngest player in hi ...

Pentala Harikrishna Pentala Harikrishna (born 10 May 1986) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He became the youngest grandmaster from India after attaining the title in 2001, a record now held by Gukesh D. He was Commonwealth Champion in 2001, World Junior ...

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (born 10 August 2005) is an Indian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned the international master title at the age of 10, the youngest at the time to do so, and the grandmaster title at age 12, the second-you ...

and

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (born 24 October 1994) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He attained the title of grandmaster in January 2013, becoming the 30th player from India to do so. he is the second highest rated player in India (behind Viswana ...

and many other grandmasters. The organisation is also in charge of managing women's chess in India. AICF's current headquarter is in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

History

The All India Chess Federation was registered in 12 December 1958 and was registered as a Society under the Societies Registration act of 1860. In August 2022, AICF hosted the 44th Chess Olympiad in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, which was the first

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

ever to take place in the country. The event was organised by AICF in association with the International Chess Federation (

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

) and the

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

Government. The current AICF President, Sanjay Kapoor was the President of the Organising Committee for the 44th Chess Olympiad, and AICF Secretary, Bharat Singh Chauhan was the Tournament Director.

Charges of bureaucratic interference

AICF has been repeatedly accused of bureaucratic interference. In October 2009, chess Grandmaster

Humpy Koneru Koneru Humpy (born 31 March 1987) is an Indian chess player best known for winning the FIDE Women's rapid chess championship in 2019. In 2002, she became the youngest woman ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster (GM) at the age of 15 years ...

(then female world No. 2) accused the AICF secretary DV Sundar of preventing her from participating in the

37th Chess Olympiad The 37th Chess Olympiad ( it, Le 37° Olimpiadi degli scacchi), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and a women's tournament, as we ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

. The same year the AICF was accused of arbitrarily banning grandmaster G N Gopal for not playing in a match (the ban was subsequently revoked). In 2012 the AICF president

N Srinivasan Narayanaswami Srinivasan (born 3 January 1945) is an Indian industrialist. He is a former Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and former President of the BCCI, the governing body for cricket in India. He is also the managing ...

was criticised for not supporting

World Chess Championship 2010 The World Chess Championship 2010 match pitted the defending world champion, Viswanathan Anand, against challenger Veselin Topalov, for the title of World Chess Champion. The match took place in Sofia, Bulgaria from 24 April to 13 May 2010, wit ...

, by not trying to host the match in India. However, things appear to be changing for better since the present management took over on January 04, 2021. The new AICF President, Sanjay Kapoor, and Secretary, Bharat Singh Chauhan have taken a slew of measures to ensure that the Federation actively focuses on promoting Chess sport in the country and works towards empowering the players.

Affiliates

Till date the federation has more than 30 affiliated state associations, 16 special members and 23 recognised academies as its constituents. Here is a list of them:

Affiliated state bodies

*All Arunachal Pradesh Chess Association * All Assam Chess Association *All Bihar Chess Association *All J&K Chess Association *All Jharkhand Chess Association *All Rajputana Chess Association * All Tripura Chess Association *Andaman Nicobar Chess Assn *Andhra Pradesh Chess Association * Bengal Chess Association *Chess Association – Kerala *Chandigarh Chess Association *Chess Association of Uttaranchal *Delhi Chess Association *Gujarat State Chess Association * Goa State Chess Association *H.P.State Chess Association *Madhya Kshetra Shatranj Sangh *

Maharashtra Chess Association The Maharashtra Chess Association (MCA) is the apex body for the game of chess in Maharashtra, India. It was formed in 1963 and is affiliated with the All India Chess Federation. History The first chess association in Maharashtra is South Maharas ...

*Manipur Chess Association *Meghalaya Chess Association *Mizoram Chess Association *Nagaland Chess Association *Orissa Chess Association *Pondicherry State Chess Assn *Punjab State Chess Association *The Haryana Chess Association *

Tamil Nadu State Chess Association The Tamil Nadu State Chess Association (TNSCA) is the apex body for the game of chess in Tamil Nadu, India. It was formed on 26 April 1947 with a view to identifying upcoming chess players and mould them into world-class professionals. The asso ...

*Telangana State Chess Association * United Karnataka Chess Association *United Chess Association Of Chhattisgarh *UP Chess Sports Association

Special units

*AAI Sports Control Board * Air India Sports Promotion Board *

All India Chess Federation for the Blind The All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB) is the governing body for the game of Chess among visually impaired in India. It was formed in 1997 with a view to promoting the game of chess among the visually impaired all over the country. ...

* BSNL Sports and Cultural Board *Defence Accounts Sports Control Board *Delhi Development Authority * Indian Bank Central Sports Committee *LIC Sports Promotion Board * Ordnance Factory Board *Petroleum Sports Control Board *Railway sports Promotion Board *Services Sports Control Board

Events

AICF has also played host to a number of major world events in India. Some of them are: *World Junior Championships *

Commonwealth Chess Championship The Commonwealth Chess Championship is a gathering of chess players from Commonwealth countries. Winners : History A championship was planned for New Zealand in 1949, but it was canceled because the British Chess Federation was unable to attend ...

*Asian Team Championships * 44th Chess Olympiad

References

External links

* {{National members of the World Chess Federation

Chess in India

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

1951 establishments in Madras State Sports organizations established in 1951 Chess organizations 1951 in chess Organisations based in Tamil Nadu