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 ...

has risen in popularity in India in the last few decades primarily due to chess Grandmaster and former 5-time

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

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 ...

. It is believed that chess originated from

Chaturanga Chaturanga ( sa, चतुरङ्ग; ') is an ancient Indian strategy game. While there is some uncertainty, the prevailing view among chess historians is that it is the common ancestor of the board games chess (European), xiangqi (Chinese), ...

of ancient India. The

All India Chess Federation 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 (FIDE), the world body for chess. The AICF has produce ...

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:

(1988). * First Indian Women's Grandmaster:

Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi (born 25 March 1979) is an Indian chess player who holds the FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM), the first female player in her country to achieve these titles. She has won more medals ...

(2001). * First Indian participation in a Chess Olympiad: 1956,

12th Chess Olympiad The 12th Chess Olympiad (, ''12-ya Shakhmatnaya olimpiada''), organized by the FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. team tournament, as well as se ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. * First Blind Chess Olympiad hosted by India: 2012, 14th

Blind Chess Olympiad The Blind Chess Olympiad is an international chess competition for the blind in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event takes place every four years, and is sponsored by the International Braille Chess Associati ...

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 ...

. * First Indian Asian Senior Chess Champion (65+): Wazeer Ahmad Khan, 6th Asian Seniors at Lar in 2015. * Youngest Indian Grandmaster:

R 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 ...

at the age of 12. (2018) * Maximum number of Indian National Championship wins: 9 by Manuel Aaron. * Maximum number of Indian National Championship (Women) wins: 6 by

. * Maximum number of Indian National Championship (Blind) wins: 6 by Kishan Gangolli.

World Champions

, 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: *

, ranked 16th in the world as of November 2021 with a rating of 2751. *

Koneru Humpy 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 ...

, ranked 3rd in the world (Women's FIDE ratings) as of November 2021 with a rating of 2586. *

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 his ...

, ranked 5th in the world (Junior FIDE ratings) as of December 2021 with a rating of 2662. *

Vaishali Rameshbabu Rameshbabu Vaishali (born 21 June 2001) is an Indian chess player from Chennai who holds the FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). Personal life Vaishali Rameshbabu born in a Tamil family in Chennai. She is the ...

, ranked 7th in the world (Girls Junior FIDE ratings) as of December 2021 with a rating of 2401.

Average national rating

The average rating of India on the FIDE list (as of Dec 2021) is 2670.

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: * 75 Grandmasters. The latest GM is Pranav.

Medals won by Indian Chess Team

Player statistics

Men

The top 10 Indian grandmasters as of September 2022 are listed below. For the first time ever, in the year 2022, India has 8 players in top 100 FIDE Open rating list in 2022.

is currently No. 15 in the

FIDE World Rankings The International Chess Federation (FIDE) governs international chess competition. Each month, FIDE publishes the lists "Top 100 Players", "Top 100 Women", "Top 100 Juniors" and "Top 100 Girls" rankings of countries according to the average rating ...

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.

Blind players

The top blind Indian chess players are listed below as of December 2021.

Notes

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
{{Indian woman grandmasters