100 Grandmasters and a World Champion: The Rise of Indian Chess

India got its 100th chess grandmaster on November 8 when Anuj Shrivatri, an international master, won the ASEAN+ Individual Open Chess Championship in the Philippines. The title has to be confirmed by FIDE, the ruling body of chess, but that should be a formality. Combine this moment with what is going to happen at the end of the month when Gukesh Dommaraju defends his world chess champion title and you get the story of the rise of Indian chess.

It was close to four decades ago that the country got its first grandmaster in Viswanathan Anand. In the last one year there have been about 10. After Shrivatri’s win, the All India Chess Federation president Nitin Narang posted on X, ‘A proud moment for Indian chess. Onwards to 200 Grandmasters!’ That is achievable. Every few months new grandmasters are made. Anand congratulated Shrivatri with a social media post that also said, 'Funnily only today I was thinking December 2027 will be the 40th anniversary of my GM title and literally this manifested.'

It didn’t manifest out of nothing and he himself had a huge role in it. The success of Indian chess is tied to the country’s post-liberalisation growth. It is not cheap to play the game at the higher levels. Usually, to become a grandmaster one has to collect norms by performing well in international tournaments. Players have to go abroad and play. That requires resources. Coaching is necessary and expensive. Anand, after becoming world champion, fueled an ecosystem beginning with Tamil Nadu, a reason why of the 100 grandmasters, around 40 are from that state. That includes Gukesh. But Shrivatri’s milestone also tells you that the base is expanding. He is the first person from Madhya Pradesh to become a grandmaster.

Cricket is supposed to be the great glory of Indian sports, but so is chess, even if it is not a mass sport. Gukesh, when he plays against Javokhir Sindarov from November 24 to December 12, will have had backend support that is a far cry from how Anand had to do it. If he doesn’t win, it won’t be because infrastructure failed him.