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Chess in India

Country India
Governing body All India Chess Federation
National team India

Chess has risen in popularity in India in the last few decades primarily due to chess Grandmaster and former World Champion Viswanathan Anand.

As of August 2015, the FIDE World Rankings of the top Indian male and female chess players:


It is believed that the game originated from India as a successor to Chaturanga or Shatranj. The All India Chess Federation is the governing body for chess in India.

Player statistics

As of November 2013

FIDE, the World Chess Federation, lists 32 active Indian grandmasters, 8 woman grandmasters, 58 international masters and 7 woman international masters.

Men

The Top 10 Indian grandmasters as of July 2014 are listed below.

Indian players in FIDE Top 100
Viswanathan Anand
Rank 2
46 years
P Harikrishna
Rank 20
29 years
Parimarjan Negi
Rank 78
22 years
Sasikiran Krishnan
Rank 85
35 years

# Player Birth year GM Title Rating World rank
1 Viswanathan Anand 1969 1988 2816 2
2 Pendyala Harikrishna 1986 2001 2740 20
3 Sasikiran Krishnan 1981 2000 2666 85
4 Parimarjan Negi 1993 2006 2645 127
5 Abhijeet Gupta 1984 2008 2634 151
6 Surya Shekhar Ganguly 1983 2003 2619 188
7 Koneru Humpy 1987 2002 2613 208
8 B. Adhiban 1992 2010 2610 212
9 Vidit Santosh Gujrati 1994 2013 2602 242
10 Chanda Sandipan 1983 2003 2597 256

Viswanathan Anand is currently No. 2 in the FIDE World Rankings and the former World Champion. Anand is considered a hero by many Indians. His rise in the world chess stage has inspired a whole generation of young Indians to take up the game of Chess.

Women

The Top 10 women Indian chess players are listed below as of November 2013.

Indian women players in FIDE Top 100
Koneru Humpy
Rank 3
28 years
Dronavalli Harika
Rank 26
24 years
Tania Sachdev
Rank 42
29 years
Mary Ann Gomes
Rank 61
26 years
Eesha Karavade
Rank 78
28 years

# Player Birth year Title Rating World rank
1 Humpy Koneru 1987 GM 2618 3
2 Dronavalli Harika 1991 GM 2484 26
3 Tania Sachdev 1986 IM 2441 42
4 Mary Ann Gomes 1989 WGM 2414 61
5 Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi 1979 IM 2399 70
6 Eesha Karavade 1987 IM 2380 78

Blind players

The Top blind Indian chess players are listed below as of October 2013.

# Player Birth year Rating State World rank
1 Kishan Gangolli 1992 2054 Karnataka
2 Darpan Inani 1994 2022 Gujarat
3 Charudatta Jadhav 1998 Maharashtra
4 Kaustubh Khare 1982 Maharashtra
5 Oza Rajesh 1977 1861 Maharashtra
6 Shah Swapanil 1966 1860 Karnataka
7 Makhwana Ashwin K 1858 Maharashtra
8 Krishna Udupa 1972 1853 Karnataka
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