Indian chess needs a tournament that pits the best players of the country against the strongest players in the world
Days after winning his fifth consecutive World Chess Championship, Magnus Carlsen suggested he might give up his crown – until Alireza Firoza qualified as his challenger for the next world title. The Norwegian genius told how the 18-year-old Iran-born French player’s recent performance inspired him. The teenager is now at the fore in the race to rival Carlsen for next year’s world title clash. A few years later, for the first time since 2014, an Indian can face the world champion on a chessboard. It may not be an exaggeration to say that India currently possesses the world’s most exciting group of chess prodigies. Arjun Arigasi (18), Nihal Sarin (17), R. Players like Pragyananand (16), D. Gukesh (15) and Raunak Sadhwani (16) have been able to break into the elite of world chess. And there are many more outside that bunch, like Bharat Subramaniam, who on Sunday became India’s 73rd Grandmaster at the age of 14. The list of top juniors in the world is a fair indicator of future stars. In the latest list released by FIDE, five out of the top 13 are Indians. Among the seniors, Viswanathan Anand remains the highest ranked Indian. The five-time world champion who single-handedly revolutionized chess in the country is the world number 16.
Anand is 52 and keeping him company with six other Indians in the top 100 is no trivial feat. Among countries, India ranks fifth. In the women’s list, Koneru Humpy is third and Dronavalli Harika is at the eleventh position. However, many exceptional talents among junior girls are not coming to the fore. This is a shortcoming that the All India Chess Federation can look to. The federation also needs to make every effort to ensure that Indian chess maintains its momentum. Never before had we seen so many talented youths marching fast on the global stage at the same time. He is being coached by Anand, it is one of the most positive developments in Indian chess in recent times. Organizing some top-tier tournaments that can pit India’s best against the world’s strongest, apart from a large number of open events, is something that administrators have to do on a regular basis. Currently, there is only one; And that too thanks to Tata Steel. Chess has recently become more mainstream in India, and the huge increase in popularity of live streams of chess events shows that even better days are ahead. If there is a time to harness the immense potential of the sport in the country where it originated 15 century ago, it is now.
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