Did you know about these Popular Chess Grandmasters of India?

Being awarded the title of 'Grandmaster' requires a lot of determination, effort, and talent, and the Grandmasters of India have exemplified this since 1987. The Grandmaster (GM) title is awarded to chess players by the world chess organisation FIDE. Besides the world champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Players must achieve a FIDE rating of at least 2,500 and fulfill multiple tournament norms to become a GM. Once achieved, the title is held for life. Today, we are talking about the top 10 chess grandmasters of India as of July 2024, who have made our country proud!

Viswanathan Anand 

Viswanathan Anand, who hails from Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu has gained the title and has been one of the top names in World Chess. He is also the first and the only player to have won the FIDE World Championship five times. Anand learned the game from his mother at the age of 15 and had even won the 1984 Asian Junior Championship for players under 20. He earned his Grandmaster title in 1988.

Arjun Erigaisi 

Arjun Erigaisi won the title of the Grandmaster right at the age of 19! Currently, he is one of the highest-rated players in the world. He earned the title from his state, Telangana in 2018 while winning the National Championship in 2022. Belonging to Warangal, he rose to the world number 4 spot based on the FIDE live ratings, making him the highest-ranked Indian player in chess currently. 

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu

Not a single world tournament goes by without Praggnanandhaa R making headlines! The Chennai teenager is one of the youngest grandmasters and world championship candidates ever. Praggnanandhaa R is also the first of a historic quartet of contemporary young Indian players. He became an international master at the age of 10 and received the Grandmaster title at the age of 12 in 2018.  

Vidit Gujrathi

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, who belongs to Nashik, Maharashtra became a Grandmaster in January 2013. At the age of 18, in the eighth round of the Rose Valley Kolkata Open Grandmasters' chess tournament in 2012, he finished third. He was the 30th player from India to achieve the title at that time. Gujrathi is also the fourth Indian player to have crossed the Elo rating threshold of 2700.

Gukesh Dommaraju

Gukesh Dommaraju became a chess Grandmaster at the age of 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days back in 2019! Dommaraju, who belongs to Chennai, is the second-youngest grandmaster in history. He also became the challenger to the 2024 FIDE World Championship on April 21, 2024, as he won the 2024 FIDE Candidates Tournament with a score of 9/14. The chess community believes that Gukesh is a gifted player!

Pentala Harikrishna

Pentala Harikrishna, who was born in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh learned chess at the age of 4 from his grandfather Ranga Rao. Rao was also his first chess coach. He got his Grandmaster title at the age of 14 years and 5 months in September 2001. He was, at that time, the seventh-youngest to get the title ever. He has also played in FIDE's knockout world championship events in 2002 and 2004.

Koneru Humpy

Koneru Humpy has on her name, the achievement of being the youngest woman ever to get the title of Grandmaster (GM) in 2002 at the age of 15 years, 1 month, 27 days. She belongs to Vijayawada and is also the first Indian female grandmaster. By the end of 2004, at the age of 16 years, she had already won three national titles!

Krishnan Sasikiran

Krishnan Sasikiran, from Chennai, has won many national and international tournaments. He earned his Grandmaster title at the age of 19 in 2000. He won the historic Hastings Chess Tournament in 2001, followed by the Asian Championship in 2002. In 2012, Sasikiran and his team, Petroleum Sports Promotion Board, also won the Indian Team Championship.

Surya Shekhar Ganguly

Surya Shekhar Ganguly, who hails from Kolkata, won his Grandmaster title in 2002 at the 35th Olympiad in Slovenia. He got the title at the age of 23 while team India got the 6th position at the 36th Olympiad in Spain in 2004. In the World Team Chess Championship 2010, while the team India won bronze, he won the individual gold!

Parimarjan Negi

Parimarjan Negi was awarded the Grandmaster title at  2005/2006 at the Hastings International Chess Congress. He won the under-10 division at the Asian Youth Chess Championship in 2002 in Tehran. He got the title at the age of 3 years, 4 months, and 20 days which also made him the second youngest grandmaster in history at the time!