Future of Indian Chess: Top Indian Chess Prodigies Who Will Rule The World In Coming Years

Chess is a highly-rated sport in India. The nation boasts 76 Grandmasters (GM), 124 International Masters (IM), 18 Woman Grandmasters (WGM), and 42 Woman International Masters (WIM), and the list continues. The FIDE Chess Olympiad 2022 held in Chennai, India, witnessed India winning the bronze medal in both the men’s and women’s team events. Founded in 1951, the All-India Chess Federation (AICF) has had a significant influence on the evolution of the chess environment in the country. India has emerged as a dominating force in junior-level Chess, owing to the strategies initiated by the organization. Let us look at some of the future Indian stars who will rule the chess world in the upcoming years.

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa

R Praggnanandhaa, popularly known as ‘Pragg’ is hailed as the ‘next big thing’ in Indian Chess. Pragg took up the sport at the tender age of three as his parents wanted to keep the children away from excessive ‘TV exposure’. This act by their parents took an unexpected turn when both Pragg and his sister Vaishali Rameshbabu emerged to become two of the most promising Chess prospects for India. 

Praggnanandhaa became a FIDE Master at the age of seven after claiming the World Youth Chess Championship Under-8 title in 2013. He then became the world’s youngest International Master(IM) in 2016 at the age of 10 years, 10 months, and 19 days during that period. On June 23, 2018, he accomplished his third and final norm at the Gredine Open, Italy, by outclassing Luca Moroni in the eighth round to earn the title of the Grandmaster, having achieved the first and second grandmaster norms at World Junior Chess Championship in November 2017 and Heraklion Fischer Memorial GM norm tournament respectively. He is presently the fifth-youngest Grandmaster in history.

The young chess sensation made the headlines after becoming the youngest Indian at that time to defeat the legendary Magnus Carlsen in the eighth round of the AirThings Masters chess tournament conducted virtually in February 2022. Pragg had to face Carlsen in his fourth game of the night. In the earlier games, he had won, lost, and drawn one game each. He gave stiff competition to the five-time world champion through the first 31 moves of the game, until the Norwegian played what the commentators addressed as ‘a blunder’. It then took only seven moves for the youngster to wrap up the game to become the youngest Indian to defeat Carlsen during that period.

The Indian again replicated his performance against Carlsen as he overcame him for the second time in the Chess Masters online rapid chess tournament on May 20, this year. Pragg completed a hat-trick of victories over the World No. 1 in 2022 in the last round of the FTX Crypto Cup which took place on August 22, 2022. The 17-year-old also claimed the Norway Chess Group A open chess tournament after scoring 7.5 points from 9 rounds on June 13. Earlier, in April 2022, he defeated compatriot Gukesh D in the last round of Reykjavik Open chess tournament. With a final score of 7.5/9, he came out first by 0.5 points.

Vaishali Rameshbabu

Vaishali, the elder sibling of R Praggnanandhaa, is another young chess sensation who presently holds the FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She accomplished the WGM title in 2018 by accomplishing her final norm in the Riga Technical University Open chess tournament in Latvia in August 2018 and the IM title in 2021. Vaishali won the eighth edition of the Fischer Memorial with a score of 7.0/9, earning her second Grandmaster norm in May 2022. 

Her parents enrolled her in chess when she was around six or seven years old. It was only after bagging the youngest participant award in her first chess tournament when she decided to pursue chess as a sport. At the age of 12, she competed with World Champion Magnus Carlsen who had come to India as a part of World Chess championship promotion and decided to match against 20 junior players of the country. She was among the four chess players who defeated Carlsen in the Simultaneous exhibition match.

In 2020, Vaishali was a member of the Indian team which scripted history by winning the gold medal which was also the country’s first medal ever in Online Olympiad 2020. In the FIDE Chess Olympiad 2022 conducted in Mamallapuram, Chennai, the 21-year-old played a pivotal role in earning the bronze medal for India A. The team also included Koneru Humpy, Tania Sachdev and Bhakti Kulkarni. Vaishali also clinched the individual bronze medal in women’s board 3.

Nihal Sarin

Nihal is another young prodigy who rose to fame alongside Praggnanandhaa at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic when the outbreak was on the rise. When it comes to online chess, Nihal is simply phenomenal. He surpassed World Champion Magnus Carles in the chess.com ratings in Blitz and presently stands in the second position with 3214 points, behind the USA’s Hikaru (3249). 

In an interview, Nihal’s father Dr. Sarin Abdulsalam mentioned that by the age of three, his son was able to recognize the flags of almost all 190 countries and could speak fluently in the English language when he was in his UKG. This implies how special and brilliant Nihal was since his childhood and is one of the reasons why his parents raised him with a very careful approach. During the holidays before joining the first standard, Nihal wasn’t engaged in any sort of activities. It was when his grandfather AA Ummar taught him the rules of playing the board game. 

When Nihal was admitted to Devamatha CMI Public School after his family moved to Thrissur in 2011, his chess career began to prosper slowly. The relocation to the city paid off instantly as he was crowned Kerala state chess champion in the same year. In 2012, he started training under EP Nirmal who refined Nihal’s calculations and openings while playing games with him. Another person who played a huge role in Nihal’s development was Ukrainian Grand Master Dimitri Komarov as he assisted Nihal by pointing out the areas where he needed to work on and opened the way for him to succeed.

The year 2013 saw Nihal win the U-10 World Blitz Championship. He claimed the U-10 World Youth Chess Championship the subsequent year with a score of 9/11. The young boy from Kerala achieved grandmaster status in 2018 at the age of 14. He achieved remarkable success in 2020 by winning the Junior Speed Chess Championship presented by Chess.com. He played an instrumental role in winning the gold medal won for the Indian team in the FIDE Chess Olympiad. Nihal peaked in August 2022 with a rating of 2662, which he attained in December 2021. At the 2022 FIDE Chess Olympiad, he won the bronze medal for India after finishing with a performance rating of 2774 and an individual rating of 7.5/10.

Gukesh D

The next grandmaster on this list is Gukesh D, who recently became the youngest Indian to defeat World Chess champion, Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen had the advantage in a double-edged scenario when an unassuming move shifted the odds in the Indian’s favor. Gukesh, who was 16 years, 4 months, and 20 days old, became the youngest player ever to beat Carlsen after the Norwegian won the world title. When Pragg defeated the world No. 1, he was 16 years, 6 months, and 10 days old. Earlier, Gukesh had reached the 2700 rating this year, making him the youngest Indian player to do so. He also entered the World Top 100 as the youngest-ever Indian. 

Gukesh took up the sport at the age of seven. In 2015, Gukesh won the Asian School Chess Championships in the Under-9 division. He went on to win the Under-12 category in the World Youth Chess Championships in 2018. He clinched five golds in the U-12 individual rapid and blitz, U-12 team rapid and blitz, and U-12 individual classical formats at the Asian Youth Chess Championships in 2018.

Gukesh came close to breaking Sergey Karjakin’s record for being the youngest grandmaster ever but fell short by just 17 days. On January 15, 2019, he scripted history becoming the second-youngest and youngest Indian grandmaster at the age of 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days during that period. He collected 14 out of 19 points to claim the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour’s Gelfand Challenge in June 2021.

However, Gukesh delivered one of his career’s best performances during the FIDE Chess Olympiad which was hosted by Chennai, India. He played an invaluable role in powering India 2 to win the eighth match against the No. 1 ranked United States with a flawless 8/8. Besides this, he clinched the gold medal on the first board with a final performance of 2867 Elo and a score of 9 out of 11. The India 2 team comprising young R Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin, and Raunak Sadhwani and experienced Adhiban Baskaran secured a bronze medal triumph at home.

Arjun Erigaisi

Before Gukesh D defeated Magnus in the Aimless Rapid online chess tournament, it was another Indian named Arjun Erigaisi who had achieved the same feat and hogged the spotlight. Erigaisi defeated the Norwegian for the first time in 54 moves in the seventh round of the Aimchess Rapid Tournament. Erigaisi may not be as well-known as Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh, or Nihal Sarin, but he has recently proven that he is just as talented as them. 

Arjun earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 13 days in 2018, making him the 32nd youngest GM to achieve this feat during that period. In 2021, he was the first Indian to qualify for the Goldmoney Asian Rapid of the Champions Chess Tour 2021, beating Alireza Firouzja, Daniil Dubov, Peter Svidler, and Vidit Gujrathi, only to lose in tie breaks against Levon Aronian. Arjun came second at the Junior U21 Round Table Open Chess Championship (Classical), which was held in Bulgaria in October 2021, scoring  7 out of 9.  With a score of  6.5/9, he clinched the Rapid division of the Tata Steel India Chess Tournament in November 2021 (Rapid and Blitz), ahead of Vidit Gujrathi, Levon Aronian, Sam Shankland, and Lê Quang Liêm.

In the year 2022, Arjun won the Tata Steel Chess 2022 Challengers in January, earning him a spot in the masters’ division of the upcoming Tata Steel Chess competition. His TPR in the competition was 2800+ and his final score of 10.5/13 elevated his FIDE Rating to 2659.5, breaking into the top 100 in the Classical format. He then became the National Champion in March 2022 after winning the 58th MPL National Championship of India with an overall score of 8.5/11. Arjun also clinched the 19th Delhi Open title in March, defeating Gukesh D. and Harsha Bharathakoti on a tie-break after three of them scored 8.5/10 each.