Chess has a deep-rooted history inIndia, widely believed to have originated from the game ofchaturanga during the Gupta Empire in circa 6th century CE. Over centuries, it evolved and spread across the world, influencingmodern chess as we know it today.[1]
In the contemporary era, India has emerged as a major chess power, excelling in international tournaments and the country currently has thesecond best federation in the world with a 2721 top-ten rating.[2] The country holds multipleChess Olympiad victories in both the men's and women's sections[3] and has crowned two World Chess Champions:Viswanathan Anand, a five-time champion who revolutionized Indian chess, andGukesh D, the current reigning champion.[4]
The rise of chess inmodern India is often credited to Anand, whose dominance from the late 1990s to the early 2010s inspired a generation of players. His success, coupled with the growth of digital platforms and widespread grassroots training programs, has fueled a chess boom, making India one of the leading nations in the sport. The country now has a robust chess ecosystem, supported by the All India Chess Federation (AICF) and a network of state associations, academies, and online communities.[4][5]
Chess originated in India with its earliest known form,chaturanga, dating back roughly 1,500 years to the 6th century, during the Gupta Empire.Chaturanga is considered the earliest precursor to modern chess because it had key features that would appear in later variations: different pieces possessing different powers and victory depending on the fate of one piece, the king.[1][6]
As trade and cultural exchanges flourished along theSilk Road, Chaturanga spread toPersia, where it evolved intoShatranj. The game underwent further refinements in theIslamic world andmedieval Europe, ultimately transforming into the modern chess we recognize today.[1][6]
Modern chess in India began officially with the formation ofAll India Chess Federation in 1951. This was soon followed by the firstIndian Chess Championship, held inEluru, Andhra Pradesh. In 1956, India made its debut at the12th Chess Olympiad in Moscow.[4] Then,Manuel Aaron achieved the feat as the first Indian to become anInternational Master, in 1961.
In 1977,Rohini Khadilkar became the first female player to compete in theIndian Chess Championship. Some players objected to her being in the tournament because she was female. Her father wrote to theWorld Chess Federation president,Max Euwe, and Euwe ruled that female players could not be barred from open chess events.[7]
In 1988, 19-year oldViswanathan Anand of Chennai became India's first Grandmaster. He then embarked on a journey to become the first Indian to qualify for theCandidates Tournament, win the Candidates in 1995, 1998 and then finally become theWorld Champion in 2000 by beating Spain's Alexei Shirov. He would go on to defend the title for more than a decade, until he lost the Championship toMagnus Carlsen in 2013. In 1997, theAll India Chess Federation for the Blind was formed with the intention of promoting chess amongst the country's visually impaired people.[4]
Subbaraman Vijayalaksmi became the country's firstWoman International Master in 1996. She then became India's firstWoman Grandmaster in 2001. Soon, in 2002Koneru Humpy became the youngest female player ever, and the first Indian female player, to achieve the title ofGrandmaster, aged 15 years, 1 month, 27 days, a record only since surpassed byHou Yifan.[8][9] India's first Chess Olympiad medal was a bronze in 2014. In 2022, India won bronze medals in the Open and Women category in the firstChess Olympiad hosted by India at Chennai. The nation's first Olympiad gold was then clenched in both categories at the45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest.[4][10]
In 2024,Gukesh D made history by becoming the youngest player to win the Candidates Tournament, subsequently clinching the World Chess Championship title with a narrow one-point victory overDing Liren.[11]
As of December 2024, India boasts 85 chess grandmasters, with 13 ranked among the world's top 100 players. The country has over 30,000 rated players actively participating in officially sanctioned tournaments nationwide. This robust participation has solidified India's status as a chess superpower, with its top 10 players achieving an average Elo rating of 2721, ranking second globally.[12][13][14]
As perFIDE's October 2024 rankings.[15]
| # | Title | Player | World Rank | Rating | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Arjun Erigaisi | 4 | 2801 | 21 years, 242 days |
| 2 | GM | Gukesh Dommaraju | 5 | 2777 | 18 years, 339 days |
| 3 | GM | Viswanathan Anand | 10 | 2750 | 55 years, 143 days |
| 4 | GM | Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | 14 | 2741 | 19 years, 266 days |
| 6 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram | 21 | 2729 | 25 years, 234 days |
| 6 | GM | Vidit Gujrathi | 25 | 2721 | 30 years, 191 days |
| 7 | GM | Pentala Harikrishna | 36 | 2695 | 38 years, 358 days |
| 8 | GM | Nihal Sarin | 44 | 2687 | 20 years, 294 days |
| 9 | GM | Raunak Sadhwani | 56 | 2666 | 19 years, 132 days |
| 10 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | 78 | 2651 | 27 years, 113 days |
As perFIDE's October 2024 rankings.[16]
| # | Title | Player | World Rank | Rating | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Koneru Humpy | 6 | 2530 | 38 years, 33 days |
| 2 | IM | Divya Deshmukh | 11 | 2501 | 19 years, 145 days |
| 3 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 13 | 2493 | 34 years, 111 days |
| 4 | GM | Vaishali Rameshbabu | 15 | 2487 | 23 years, 316 days |
| 5 | IM | Tania Sachdev | 54 | 2396 | 38 years, 256 days |
| 6 | IM | Vantika Agrawal | 58 | 2392 | 22 years, 217 days |
| 7 | Sarayu Velpula | 76 | 2370 | 19 years, 122 days | |
| 8 | IM | Bhakti Kulkarni | 82 | 2363 | 32 years, 349 days |
| 9 | WGM | Savitha Shri Baskar | 99 | 2348 | 18 years, 98 days |
| 10 | IM | Padmini Rout | 100+ | 2328 | 31 years, 118 days |
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Medal | Event | Player |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 Cap d'Agde | Viswanathan Anand |
| 2014 Dubai | Viswanathan Anand |
| 2017 Riyadh | Viswanathan Anand |
| Medal | Event | Player |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 Moscow | Viswanathan Anand |
| 2009 Moscow | Viswanathan Anand |
| 2017 Riyadh | Viswanathan Anand |
| Medal | Event | Player |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 Batumi | Koneru Humpy |
| 2019 Moscow | Koneru Humpy |
| 2022 Almaty | Savitha Shri Baskar |
| 2023 Samarkand | Koneru Humpy |
| Medal | Event | Player |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 Almaty | Koneru Humpy |
| Medal | Event | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 Bursa | Pentala Harikrishna Surya Shekhar Ganguly Sasikiran Krishnan Geetha Narayanan Gopal Subramanian Arun Prasad Adhiban Baskaran | 13 |
| 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 |
| Medal | Event | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 Sitges | Harika Dronavalli Vaishali Rameshbabu Tania Sachdev Bhakti Kulkarni Mary Ann Gomes | 13 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Medal | Event | Player |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 Shenyang | Viswanathan Anand |
| 2002 Hyderabad | Viswanathan Anand |
| 2023 Baku | Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu |
| Medal | Event | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 Hangzhou | Koneru Humpy Harika Dronavalli Vaishali Rameshbabu Vantika Agrawal Savitha Shri Baskar |
| Medal | Event | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 Doha | Sasikiran Krishnan Pentala Harikrishna Koneru Humpy |
| Medal | Event | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 Doha | Koneru Humpy |
| 2010 Guangzhou | Harika Dronavalli |
| Medal | Event | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 Ashgabat | Sasikiran Krishnan |
| Medal | Event | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 Macau | Harika Dronavalli |
| Medal | Event | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 Macau | Sasikiran Krishnan Surya Shekhar Ganguly J. Deepan Chakkravarthy Koneru Humpy Harika Dronavalli Tania Sachdev |
| Medal | Event | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 Macau | Sasikiran Krishnan |
| 2009 Vietnam | Sasikiran Krishnan |
| Medal | Event | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 Ashgabat | Karthikeyan Murali Diptayan Ghosh |
| Medal | Event | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 Macau | Harika Dronavalli |
| 2009 Vietnam | Harika Dronavalli |
| Medal | Event | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 Ashgabat | Padmini Rout Tania Sachdev |
| Medal | Event | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 Macau | Sasikiran Krishnan |
| Medal | Event | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 Ashgabat | Sasikiran Krishnan Surya Shekhar Ganguly |
| Medal | Event | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 Ashgabat | Diptayan Ghosh Vaibhav Suri |
| Medal | Event | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 Macau | Koneru Humpy |
| Year | Recipient | Award | Gender |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–1992 | Viswanathan Anand | Khel Ratna Award | Male |
| 1961 | Manuel Aaron | Arjuna Award | Male |
| 1980–1981 | Rohini Khadilkar | Arjuna Award | Female |
| 1983 | Dibyendu Barua | Arjuna Award | Male |
| 1984 | Pravin Thipsay | Arjuna Award | Male |
| 1985 | Viswanathan Anand | Arjuna Award | Male |
| 1987 | Devaki Prasad | Arjuna Award | Male |
| 1987 | Bhagyashree Thipsay | Arjuna Award | Female |
| 1990 | Anupama Gokhale | Arjuna Award | Female |
| 2000 | Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi | Arjuna Award | Female |
| 2002 | Krishnan Sasikiran | Arjuna Award | Male |
| 2003 | Koneru Humpy | Arjuna Award | Female |
| 2005 | Surya Shekhar Ganguly | Arjuna Award | Male |
| 2006 | Pentala Harikrishna | Arjuna Award | Male |
| 2007 | Harika Dronavalli | Arjuna Award | Female |
| 2009 | Tania Sachdev | Arjuna Award | Female |
| 2010 | Parimarjan Negi | Arjuna Award | Male |
| 2013 | Abhijeet Gupta | Arjuna Award | Male |
| 2022 | Bhakti Kulkarni | Arjuna Award | Female |
| 2022 | R Praggnanandhaa | Arjuna Award | Male |
| 2023 | R Vaishali | Arjuna Award | Female |
| 2021 | Abhijit Kunte | Dhyan Chand Award | Male |
| 2006 | Koneru Ashok | Dronacharya Award | Male |
| 2023 | RB Ramesh | Dronacharya Award | Male |
