Quest for greatness in chess

Sporting aura of a nation often manifests itself in two distinct ways. One is in the mould of England, where the sport bears an indelible impact of its origin, as it does through a legacy Lord’s Test or a Wimbledon spectacle. Second, by the sheer dominance over an extended period of time, which makes the country synonymous with the sport, as with Brazil and football or China and table tennis.

Though it is often acknowledged that modern chess is a derivative of the ancient Indian game Chaduranga, India is yet to display a similar aura in it. While five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand’s spectacular success landed India on the global chess scene, it has revolutionised the sport within his own country.

With five podium finishes (men’s and women’s combined) out of a possible 10 in the last six Olympiads (2 online) and being the third country after Russia and USA to have the highest number of Grandmasters (82), India has arrived and, with force!

Also Read | Grand Chess Tour: Anand, Gukesh tied 6th after nine games

However, the icing on the cake remains the potential prospects in the future. Four youngsters (Arjun Erigaisi, Gukesh, Nihal Sarin and Praggnanandha) have improved by leaps and bounds in a couple of years and are on the threshold of entering the elite bracket of the world’s best players.

GM Pravin Thipsay, India’s third GM and an eminent figure in the country’s chess, feels that finding sponsorships at the right time could be pivotal for young players.

“Indian youngsters are lucky as they have sponsorships,” he points out. “Players in Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan find it harder to pursue the sport despite having ratings around 2700. Financial stability translates into better resources and our players are utilising them well, as is visible from their constantly improving results. There is a lot of hope.” 

GM Srinath Narayanan, the coach of India A in the 2022 FIDE Olympiad, agrees. He feels regular opportunities to face elite GMs will help maximise their potential. “While all four are really talented, there is space for only one in most top tournaments. The person who gets to play these events regularly is bound to have an edge over the others in the long run,” says Srinath.

However, it is also a fact that 53-year-old Anand remains the country’s best player. The ‘Madras Tiger’ is also the only Indian to have been a consistent top-10 player and the sole representative of the country in the candidates tournament (an eight-player tournament  fought amongst the best in the world to determine a challenger to the world champion). In contrast stand China, who have fielded two players in the candidates thus far (Ding Liren and Wang Hao) despite having a shorter history in the sport. Ding is the reigning world champion too.

It is also true that other young prodigies such as Alireza Firouzja, the Iranian born French GM, who debuted in the candidates as an 18-year-old and Abdusattorov Nodirbek, the talented Uzbek who won the World rapid chess championship at 17, have delivered on the biggest stage, a feat the young Indian brigade is yet to accomplish, at least at the same scale.

In the women’s scene, while China clearly dominates and Russia too has a strong presence, India has been unable to improve from its tally of two female GMs despite having a compelling contingent of upcoming players. Thipsay feels that societal issues, which make it easier for boys to travel out of station and play tournaments when compared to girls, could also have been a hindrance for women’s chess.

Srinath says necessary steps are being taken to break the drought and adds that the initiative by Pravaha foundation to sponsor Vantika Aggrawal and Savitha Shri, two upcoming women players, is a welcome one. Indeed, such a sponsorship, where the lion’s share of two crore rupees go into funding two (out of six) for two years, is a welcome boost to women’s chess.

“It is reasonable to expect a couple of the young female stars to become GMs in a few years,” adds Srinath.

Things could go from bright to brighter on the men’s side with a few critical achievements. Thipsay says it is realistic to hope that one or two of the talented prodigies break into the world’s elite in a few years and even play the candidates, adding that it could be a watershed moment.

“Irrespective of the result, it will be a landmark achievement if a second player from the country can make it to the candidates,” he opines.

While making his stand clear that Anand is a genius and in a league which only a handful have breached in the history of the game, Thipsay feels that new landmarks time and again would revitalise chess players in any country.

“Austria and Germany produced the World’s first and second world champions but they later stagnated and are yet to produce another,” he adds.

With the candidates tournament scheduled for April 2024 and the selection process bound to only intensify in the months to follow, the next year may well be crucial for Indian chess. The spectacular post-pandemic chess growth in the country has meant that expectations on the players will be much higher. On the plus side though, it means that potentially, millions in the world’s most populated country will be rooting for their stars in the days to come, bringing the royal game closer to a mass sensation - a tag it richly deserves!