Chess in India

• First National Champion: Ramchandra Sapre (1955).
• First Indian International Master: Manuel Aaron (1961).
• First Indian Grandmaster: Viswanathan Anand (1988).
• First Indian Women's Grandmaster: Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi (2001).
• First Indian participation in a Chess Olympiad: 1956, 12th Chess Olympiad at Moscow.
• First Blind Chess Olympiad hosted by India: 2012, 14th Blind Chess Olympiad in Chennai.
• First Indian Asian Senior Chess Champion (65+): Wazeer Ahmad Khan, 6th Asian Seniors at Lar in 2015.
• Youngest Indian Grandmaster: R Praggnanandhaa at the age of 12. (2018)
• Maximum number of Indian National Championship wins: 9 by Manuel Aaron.
• Maximum number of Indian National Championship (Women) wins: 6 by Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi.
• Maximum number of Indian National Championship (Blind) wins: 6 by Kishan Gangolli.

Viswanathan Anand, held the FIDE title from 2000 to 2002, and the unified title from 2007 to 2013.

The highest ranked Indian players are:

• Viswanathan Anand, ranked 16th in the world as of November 2021 with a rating of 2751.
• Koneru Humpy, ranked 3rd in the world (Women's FIDE ratings) as of November 2021 with a rating of 2586.
• Nihal Sarin, ranked 5th in the world (Junior FIDE ratings) as of December 2021 with a rating of 2662.
• Vaishali Rameshbabu, ranked 7th in the world (Girls Junior FIDE ratings) as of December 2021 with a rating of 2401.

The average rating of India on the FIDE list (as of Dec 2021) is 2670.

As of November 2021, the following is the number of Indian chess players in various segments:

• World's Top 100: 6
• World's Top 100 Women: 6
• World's Top 100 Juniors (age under 20): 20
• World's Top 100 Girls (age under 20): 12

India has produced:

• 81 Grandmasters. The latest GM is Sayanta Das.[1]

The top 10 Indian grandmasters as of September 2022 are listed below.[2] For the first time ever, in the year 2022, India has 8 players in top 100 FIDE Open rating list in 2022.

Some of the top Indian players

Viswanathan Anand
Rank 12
53 years

Gukesh D
Rank 23
17 years

P Harikrishna
Rank 29
36 years

Vidit Gujrathi
Rank 35
29 years

Nihal Sarin
Rank 63
19 years

Praggnanandhaa R
Rank 66
18 years

Viswanathan Anand is currently No. 15 in the FIDE World Rankings and the former World Champion. Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and former world chess champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of 2800, a feat he first achieved in 2006

The top 10 women Indian chess players are listed below as of November 2013.[3]

Indian women players in FIDE Top 100

Koneru Humpy
Rank 3
36 years

Dronavalli Harika
Rank 26
32 years

Tania Sachdev
Rank 42
36 years

Mary Ann Gomes
Rank 61
33 years

Eesha Karavade
Rank 78
35 years

The top blind Indian chess players are listed below as of December 2021.[4]