“You may be the best player in the world, but may not be the best in your house,” was how Viswanathan Anand summed up the Indian upsurge in global chess. Apart from the domination displayed by the youngsters at the top level in recent times, the other hallmark has been bench strength. In the top 15 in the open section, there are five Indians, including the ever-shining Anand.
This fosters healthy competition at home. These players know they have no time to relax. Any lapse and they will be overtaken by one of their own. This is a relentless pursuit of excellence by a clutch of hungry youngsters. After D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi stole the show last year, R Praggnanandhaa and Aravind Chithambaram have won the first two big competitions of 2025.
“In every top event, there will be at least one Indian. There will not be a tournament where India is not represented,” Anand said at the Tata Steel Trailblazers conclave in Kolkata. “From the internal perspective, there is so much capacity to grow. We have three or four youngsters competing against each other. We have a competitive field, which pushes everybody. It bodes well for Indian chess.”
Responding to a question on this in-house competition at the conclave organised by RevSportz, Gukesh shed light on how intense this is. The world champion and almost everybody else in the pack have learnt chess in Chennai since they were children. Naturally, they know each other closely. But for Gukesh, this relationship is as much about rivalry as friendship.
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“It helps that we know each other for a long time,” said the 18-year-old. “I have good relations with everyone. But I am not very close friends with anyone. Obviously, I wish them and feel happy when they are performing, but competition still takes the first priority for me.” The statement shows how the youngest-ever world champion makes a distinction between sentiments and the job to be done.
Gukesh elaborated how this situation has benefited Indian chess. “I don’t think there is any other country with so many players at the top. Arjun, Pragg and myself… Vidit (Gujrathi) is still going strong. Aravind played really well in recent times. It’s amazing to see how we are pushing each other. All of us are also hungry. We’re not stopping to work hard. I’m happy to be part of this amazing group.”
India trail the USA narrowly to be second in the international country ratings. This is done by calculating the average ratings of the top 10 players of every nation. The USA have a tally of 2729 and India 2722. China are a distant third with 2673. Gukesh pointed out that most of the top players from the USA are established ones. In India’s case, a majority of them are youngsters.
Anand explained why this is a great sign. “They are not just sitting at home and thinking that I have company. They are looking back at every stage thinking that ‘there is somebody at my back’. It’s nice to be the best player in the world, but you may not be the best in your house or in your city. It keeps you sharper,” said the father of this revolution.
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