Indians storming global chess stage. Can your kid be a Grandmaster too?

When 10-year-old chess prodigy Charvi Anilkumar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January to receive the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar Award, she made a request to him. “Please introduce chess in schools”. The Prime Minister promised to look into it.

Charvi fell in love with the sport when she was five and has evolved into one of the most promising young talents in the world. However, it also needed a lot of sacrifice. The 10-year-old hasn’t watched TV at home in the last five years.

Charvi is unique, but she is also part of a trend. Youngsters from India are taking the chess world by storm.

Gukesh D created history in Toronto by becoming the youngest player to win The Candidates Chess tournament. But it wasn’t just Gukesh. Five young Grandmasters from India, including two women, were at the premium Candidates tournament.

Contrast this with 2014. Vishwanathan ‘Vishy’ Anand was the only Indian Grandmaster in The Candidates.

“The Indian earthquake in Toronto is the culmination of the shifting tectonic plates in the chess world as the 17-year-old Gukesh D will face the Chinese champion Ding Liren for the highest title. The “children” of Vishy Anand are on the loose!” chess legend Garry Kasparov said in his social media post. The post came a day after Gukesh became the youngest-ever world title challenger, breaking Kasparov’s 40-year-old record.

So, what has changed that we have this sudden burst of chess Grandmasters, young and bubbling, ready to checkmate the best in the world?

There are several factors, both domestic and international. Among the most interesting is a number of Indian Grandmasters who are ready to give back to society by creating a line of champions. They have set up schools and are spotting talent and coaching them.

Ten-year-old Charvi from Bengaluru is being trained by Grandmaster RB Ramesh.

Charvi’s parents spotted her talent early, and she started making rapid progress under the guidance of an International Master. She was just 8 years old when she won the Under-10 national tournament in Jammu and the Under-8 Girls World Championship in 2022.

Now, Charvi is the only woman Under-11 player with an ELO rating of 1,900 or more and is ranked No. 2 in the Under-11 category. She is also a Woman Candidate Master — a strong candidate to become a Master.

INDIA IS MAKING THE RIGHT MOVES

Dommaraju Gukesh became the youngest man to win the Chess Candidates in Toronto (PTI Photo via FIDE/Michal Walusza)

The prodigies are taking Indian chess to a whole new level.

So, you have 84 Grandmasters in India now, while there was just one, Vishwanathan ‘Vishy’ Anand, in 1987.

Until 1999, India had only three chess Grandmasters. However, in the last 24 years, there have been 81 Grandmasters emerging from India.

In terms of the number of Grandmasters, with 84, India ranks fifth in the world.

The numbers are staggering and speak for themselves.

There are four Indians in the Top 20 of the FIDE world chess rankings in the open section. In the junior rankings, three of the top five are Indians. They are R Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh and Nihal Sarin.

In the women’s section, three of the Top 20 are Indians, including R Vaishali — Praggnanandhaa’s sister.

Vishwanathan ‘Vishy’ Anand was elated in describing the unprecedented success of D Gukesh at The 2024 Candidates.

“It’s difficult to add adjectives to a historical performance. The fact that, in one of the strongest tournaments, he [Gukesh] became the youngest world challenger in history,” Viswanathan Anand told IndiaToday.in.

In fact, Gukesh and two others in The Candidates — Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali — are from the first batch of Vishwanathan Anand’s chess institute — the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA). The world-class facility was founded by Vishy in 2020.

So, is it actually that any child can be honed into a master chess player?

But before we get into that, let’s talk about the factors that have all come together to help India surge towards chess dominance.

India has produced 81 Grandmasters since 2000 (India Today Graphics)

MULTIPLE FACTORS HELPING CREATE INDIAN GRANDMASTERS

It’s tough to pinpoint a particular reason for the assembly line of chess prodigies in the country. The overall improvement in the landscape makes the pre-2000 era feel like a “different planet”, says GM Ramesh.

The internet boom has given budding talents access to better training, software and chess literature. Young players have access to the moves and strategies of legends across the globe.

“MagnusCarlsen, Vishy Anand sir, Mikhail Tal and Judit Polgar,” are my idols, says Charvi, revealing how the little girl is aware of the Grandmasters from different eras and geographies.Â

The pandemic also helped by giving young minds time to work on their skills and not worry about the rigours of competitions.

The collective success is also helping India at the highest level. Like China in the early 2000s, India is riding on reputation and winning half the battle before the game is played.

“When some country is doing very well, it demoralises the others. It’s a psychological advantage that Indians have got. I think many are fearing playing against Indians,” Grandmaster RB Ramesh, who’s training Charvi among others, tells IndiaToday.In.

Government support over the years has also increased. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted the rise in Indian Grandmasters during her Budget speech this year.Â

All India Chess Federation president Nitin Narang told IndiaToday.In that an extensive action plan to ride on the new wave would be announced on May 4, promising meticulous strategies to take the game forward.

Also, more private businesses are interested in pumping money into chess now. Anand’s Chess Academy WACA, funded by Westbridge Capital — a capital markets company – is a good example of how partnerships can help chess grow in India.

HOW CHESS INSTITUTES HELP SHAPE PRODIGIES

India is lucky to have an ecosystem in which Grandmasters are taking the lead in moulding the next generation. Grandmaster RB Ramesh and his wife, Women’s Grand Master Aarthie Ramaswamy, have been running the Chessgurukul in Chennai since 2008. Praggnanandhaa, who became a Grandmaster at 12, and his sister and Grandmaster, Vaishali, are from there.

Young minds at work at RB Ramesh’s Chess Gurukul in Chennai (Courtesy: chessgurukul_official/Instagram)

World title contender D Gukesh has been trained by Grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna, who runs his academy in Chennai.

At a higher level, Viswanathan Anand, inspired by the Botvinik School of Chess, which produced an assembly line of world-beaters from the Soviet Union, is keen on building on the groundwork.

Founded in 2020, the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy has a powerful core group of coaches, including Poland’s Grzegorz Gajewski, Grandmaster Sandipan Chanda, Russian Grandmaster Artur Yusupov and Belarusian-Israeli Grandmaster Boris Gelfand.

“What we try to do is come in and see what’s going well for them. Many of them already have good support teams, like their parents and their coaches, and so on. And then try to see the areas we can fill in,” Vishwanathan Anand tells IndiaToday.In.

“We will continue to identify great talents and see how to make them top players. That conversion, you can’t take it for granted. And I think that’s what WACA is going to try and focus on,” says Anand.

It’s not fair to ignore the role schools have been playing in developing chess. For instance, the Velammal Vidyalaya in Chennai has been home to 15 out of 29 Grandmasters from Tamil Nadu.

State-wise split of Indian Grandmasters (India Today Graphics)

ARE INDIAN KIDS NATURALLY GIFTED?

Chess originated in India in the form of chaturanga in the 6th Century AD. It reached Persia, where it was named shatranj, and spread to all corners of the world.  Â

Being played originally in India, do Indians have some innate talent for the game? Have you ever wondered whether your child is capable of becoming a chess Grandmaster? Or if the likes of Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa are born with some gift?

“I wouldn’t make a sweeping statement that Indians are naturally gifted in this or that. But it’s clear that culturally, our parents and our culture point us in a certain direction. I am very happy to know that so many Indian parents want their kids to learn chess. It’s a wonderful mental activity for them,” says Vishwanathan Anand, when asked if Indians were born with skills for chess.Â

“Even if you take this generation that’s at the top, they are all 20 and under, and they are constantly looking over their shoulders. They may be one of the best players in the world. But they may not be even the best players in India, or even in their region in India. So, that forces them to be on their toes and this competitive environment is very healthy for chess,” he tells IndiaToday.In.

Anyone can become a Grandmaster, provided he or she is willing to learn, work hard and constantly look to improve, according to Grandmaster Ramesh.

However, it is evident that it needs a lot of sacrifice. Remember, Charvi hasn’t watched TV at home in the last 5 years.

D Gukesh “sacrificed his childhood” to become one of the best in the world, says his coach Grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna.

“Gukesh has basically given up his childhood… He does not have anything that a normal kid has. He does not have free time. He has to take more stress than an average child,” says Prasanna.Â

So, how do the chess institutes really help? Â

“Most of the children are extremely talented. I feel you need good hardware, and we install software in it. The human brain is the basic requirement to become a Grandmaster,” Grandmaster Ramesh tells IndiaToday.In.

Young minds with big dreams at the Chess Gurukul in Chennai (Courtesy:chessgurukul_official/Instagram)

CHANGING ATTITUDE AND CHESS LANDSCAPE IN INDIA 

The boom in chess also coincides with the idea of ‘New India’ in which young Indians are more confident of becoming the best in the world. The landscape is changing across sports. Take Neeraj Chopra for example. Since his historic Gold at the Tokyo Olympics, more and more track and field athletes are shining at the highest level.

So, a child in India seeking to be a Grandmaster has a much better chance now than she would have a decade ago.Â

“The ecosystem develops slowly. We help build on that, and it’s a long-drawn process. Many of the people who became Grandmasters are working with youngsters, whom we are working with in WACA. So you can see a clear progression there,” says Vishwanathan Anand.

“It’s speeding up. As Indians get access to more tools and the best sporting methods… You can see India is doing well in sports, not just in chess, but across disciplines. The competitive environment is becoming world-class,” Anand adds.

The attitude in Indian families regarding sports as a career has undergone a sea change too. Families now don’t take sporting talent for granted.

Charvi’s mother, a techie by profession, gave up her job in Bengaluru to devote time to her talented daughter.

“Quitting the job was not an easy decision. We are also from a middle-class background. But she was attending international tournaments, one after the other. It was very difficult for me to manage my work. I quit my job in March 2023 to support her. I have to help her with her studies also,” Akhila, Charvi’s mother, says.

THE STALEMATE BEFORE THE CHECKMATE

So, is it all rosy in the Indian chess landscape?

“From lack of everything, I think it has become too much of everything. It has its own problems,” says Grandmaster RB Ramesh, explaining that kids are spoilt for choices in terms of the number of tournaments available.

“Chess is also becoming very expensive, especially in training. When I used to be a trainer, I used to charge Rs 200 per hour. But now, nine out of ten who become Grandmasters, become trainers,” says Grandmaster Ramesh.

“I think some are charging Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,500 per hour when they are starting out as trainers. Some don’t even know what it requires to offer the right training. But the Grandmaster title is helping them,” he adds.Â

Grandmaster Ramesh also points to the pressure this is creating for parents.Â

“Parents are feeling the pressure. Some of them are thinking, ‘my son/daughter has to learn from a Grandmaster because someone else’s son is learning from a Grandmaster’.”

While online tournaments and the availability of web applications have spiked the interest in chess, it has its pitfalls, the decorated coach added.

“Too much use of the computer is unhealthy. I think a lot of children play chess only on their PCs. They don’t use a physical chess board. You need to form a bond with the chess pieces, and you need to speak to the pieces. You need to read books, understand and try out the moves and then go back. I think self-learning has gone down,” says Ramesh.

Much like the battle on the board, every step toward holistic growth in Indian chess needs to be calculated. There’s no dearth of talent and with the right support, India can indeed become the next powerhouse of the sport.

There was a moment in the Soviet Union in the 60s when there were four champions — Mikhail Tal, Mikhail Botvinnik, Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky. There were four champions in the same decade. That is unique.

“I don’t know if we will manage to replicate that. It’s possible that we could have an Indian world champion and an Indian challenger, at some point,” says Viswanathan Anand, adding to what promises to be an exciting decade for Indian chess.

There are multiple factors, including the Covid-time break, Indian Grandmasters grooming fresh talent and government and private push, that has resulted in India seeing a spike in chess prodigies. Children, including your child, have it in them to be groomed into master chess players, but it needs dedication, support, guidance and sacrifice.Â

Because dozens of children, Indian families and coaches are willing to make the sacrifices, India seems to have a bright future in chess in the coming years.

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