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Meet the 75 Grandmasters of Indian chess on our 75th Independence Day

by Sagar Shah - 15/08/2022

India got its independence from the British empire on 15th of August 1947. Chess was almost non-existent in India back then. 75 years later, India is becoming a stronger nation in economic, technological and in various sphere and in the growth of chess it is already moving towards the status of a super power. India's last GM Pranav V. achieved the grandmaster title on 8th of August 2022. With that the country got its 75th GM in the 75th year of its independence. Check out the article to know more about each of these 75 grandmasters and the growth and development of Indian chess. Thumbnail image created by Vivek Sohani. 

Celebrating India's 75th Independence Day with 75 GMs

15th August 2022 is the 75th year of Independence of India. 75 years ago in 1947, India got Independence from the British Empire. It's quite a co-incidence, that on this 75th Independence day India has 75 GMs. Check out the photo below to see all the grandmasters of Indian chess:

All 75 GMs of Indian chess in one frame. From no.1 on top left Vishy Anand to the 75th Pranav V.

Chess in India is booming thanks to many factors. The main one being the presence of Vishy Anand, who is still actively playing chess and has motivated the entire nation by becoming the World Champion for a record five times. At the same time we have a strong national federation, work that is being done at the grassroot level. The Olympiad that has recently happened is sure to boost the sport in the country in the coming days. The streaming boom that happened in the pandemic thanks to Samay Raina and other stand-up comedians has increased the number of casual viewers of the game. This is bound to make chess a more spectator friendly sport and will bring in more finances into the game. The Government and Public sector companies support, the slowly growing chess in schools program and the overall growth in the number of tournaments have all contributed to Indian chess going from one GM in 1987 (Vishy Anand) to 75 GMs as on 15th of August 2022. Let's have a look at some of the statistics.:

The state wise distribution shows how southern India has contributed heavily to the total number of grandmasters in Indian chess.

This graph shows us that although India has 28 states and 8 union territories, we have GMs only from 13 states. Tamil Nadu has contributed 27 of the 75 GMs which comes to a whopping 36%. The other states which have a good number of GMs are Maharashtra (10) West Bengal (9), Delhi (6) and Telangana (5) quickly rising up 

States like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and others which are some of the biggest states in our country are finding it hard to get their first GMs. What might be the reason for that? The main reason is surely the lack of chess culture in these places. Very few tournaments are held and players don't get enough exposure to play and improve. The other reason could also be because of the language. Hindi is the main spoken language in these states and most of the chess literature exists in English. With ChessBase India Hindi we have tried in our own way to bridge this gap, but of course, this issue needs to be tackled in a more intensive manner. It must be said that thanks to the internet, there are talents sprouting up from all parts of the country and we are sure that when India reaches 100 GMs in the next couple of years, we will have GMs from more than 13 states of India.

This graph tells us the number of GMs that were created in Indian chess from 1987 onwards

It is this graph that lets us believe that Indian chess is truly on the right track. Vishy Anand became a GM in 1987. It took four more years for Barua to become one in 1991. In 1997, Pravin Thipsay became India's third GM. India had created three GMs in ten years! From 2000 onwards, chess in India was growing steadily and we have one or two GMs every year except for 2005 when we had none. But that was compensated by India getting four GMs in the next year in 2006. The year 2014 was also very special because it was for the first time that India got six new GMs in a calendar year. However, you could see that this was not a sustainable growth as in the year 2015, the number went down to just one GM. In 2017 India once again got six new GMs, but this was followed not by a slump, but by a rise. In 2018 we had eight GMs and in 2019 there were seven. And then the pandemic struck and chess tournaments all across the world came to a halt. Even in such a precarious situation, India has managed to create 10 GMs! This speaks volumes of the dedication towards chess of not just these youngsters but also their parents. ChessBase India began in January 2016 and since then India has been able to create 34 new GMs. We are glad to be right in the center of this chess revolution.

Meet the 75 G(e)Ms of Indian chess!

1st GM of India - Vishy Anand, 1988

2nd GM of India - Dibyendu Barua, 1991

3rd GM of India - Pravin Thipsay, 1997

4th GM of India - Abhijit Kunte, 2000

5th GM of India - Sasikiran Krishnan, 2000

6th GM of India - P. Harikrishna, 2001

7th GM of India - Koneru Humpy, 2002

8th GM of India - Surya Sekhar Ganguly, 2003

9th GM of India - Sandipan Chanda, 2003

10th GM of India - R.B. Ramesh, 2004

11th GM of India - Tejas Bakre, 2004

12th GM of India - Magesh Chandran, 2006

13th GM of India - Deepan Chakkravarthy, 2006

14th GM of India - Neelotpal Das, 2006

15th GM of India - Parimarjan Negi, 2006 | Photo: Anastasiya Balakhontseva

16th GM of India - GN Gopal, 2007

17th GM of India - Abhijeet Gupta, 2008

18th GM of India - Arun Prasad, 2008

19th GM of India - Sundararajan Kidambi, 2009

20th GM of India - R.R. Laxman, 2009

21st GM of India - Sriram Jha, 2010

22nd GM of India - Deep Sengupta, 2010

23rd GM of India - B. Adhiban, 2010

24th GM of India - S.P. Sethuraman, 2011

25th GM of India - D. Harika, 2011

26th GM of India - Lalith Babu, 2012

27th GM of India - Vaibhav Suri, 2012

28th GM of India - M.R. Venkatesh, 2012

29th GM of India - Sahaj Grover, 2012 | Photo: Tata Steel Chess

30th GM of India - Vidit Gujrathi, 2013

31st GM of India - Shyam Sundar, 2013

32nd GM of India - Akshayraj Kore, 2013

33rd GM of India - Vishnu Prasanna, 2013

34th GM of India - Debashis Das, 2013

35th GM of India - Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury, 2013

36th GM of India - Ankit Rajpara, 2014

37th GM of India - Aravindh Chithambaram, 2015

38th GM of India, Karthikeyan Murali, 2015

39th GM of India, Ashwin Jayaram, 2015

40th GM of India - Swapnil Dhopade, 2015

41st GM of India - S.L. Narayanan, 2015

42nd GM of India - Shardul Gagare, 2016

43rd GM of India - Diptayan Ghosh, 2016

44th GM of India - K. Priyadharshan, 2016

45th GM of India - Aryan Chopra, 2017

46th GM of India - Srinath Narayanan, 2017

47th GM of India - Himanshu Sharma, 2017

48th GM of India - Anurag Mhamal, 2017

49th GM of India - Abhimanyu Puranik, 2017

50th GM of India - M.S. Thejkumar, 2017

51st GM of India - Saptarshi Roy, 2018 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

52nd GM of India - R. Praggnanandhaa, 2018

53rd GM of India - Nihal Sarin, 2018

54th GM of India - Arjun Erigaisi, 2018

55th GM of India - Karthik Venkatraman, 2018

56th GM of India - Harsha Bharathakoti, 2018

57th GM of India - P. Karthikeyan, 2018

58th GM of India - Stany GA, 2018

59th GM of India - Visakh NR, 2019

60th GM of India - D.Gukesh, 2019

61st GM of India - P. Iniyan, 2019

62nd GM of India - Swayams Mishra, 2019

63rd GM of India - Girish Koushik, 2019

64th GM of India - Prithu Gupta, 2019 | Photo: Reykjavik Open

65th GM of India - GM Raunak Sadhwani

66th GM of India - G. Akash

67th GM of India - Leon Mendonca

68th GM of India - Arjun Kalyan

69th GM of India - Harshit Raja

70th GM of India - Rithvik Raja

71st GM of India - Sankalp Gupta

72nd of GM of India - Mitrabha Guha 

73rd GM of India - Bharath Subramaniyam

74th GM of of India - Rahul Srivatshav

75th GM of India - Pranav V.
A beautiful video created by Vivek Sohani

The future?

Who are the next players of Indian chess who are close to the GM title? The list is pretty long. We will try and name a few!

Born in 2006, Aditya Mittal has an Elo of 2496 and has already scored all of his 3 GM norms. He will become a GM in a few days from now.

Also born in 2006, Pranav Anand has 3 GM norms and has a rating of 2489! A soon-to-be GM.

Improving rapidly at a breathtaking pace, Prraneeth Vuppala, born in 2007, is one GM norm away and 36 Elo points from becoming India's next GM

With a live rating of 2480 and having completed all his GM norms, IM Sayantan Das is all set to become a GM soon.

Although he was in 2490s and has been pushed back to 2455, it won't take Rathanvel much time to climb back towards the 2500 Elo mark. He already has all 3 of his GM norms made.

With 2 GM norms and a rating that is lurking around the 2450 mark, Vaishali is all set to become a GM. She will be third female player from India to achieve that title after Humpy and Harika

Shyam Nikhil has already crossed 2500 on the Elo scale and only has to get one GM norm to become a grandmaster. He has been waiting for his final norm for quite some time now. But one tournament is all that it will take for this Tamil Nadu lad to become India's next GM.

After his brother Visakh NR achieved his GM title in January 2019, it is now time for Vignesh to make it a double for the family in 2019. He already has three GM norms and a rating of 2467.

Already has a FIDE rating of 2512, IM Aronyak Ghosh, needs to score all 3 of his GM norms. But with the strength that he has, it won't come to us as a surprise if he achieves it in 3 back to back events!

Koustav Chatterjee - Elo 2513, 1 GM norm. This talented player from West Bengal, might become India's next GM.

All Indian GMs with their names, state and year of becoming a GM

Name State Year of becoming GM
1. Vishy Anand Tamil Nadu 1987
2. Dibyendu Barua West Bengal 1991
3. Pravin Thipsay Maharashtra 1997
4. Abhijit Kunte Maharashtra 2000
5. K Sasikiran Tamil Nadu 2000
6. P Harikrishna Andhra Pradesh 2001
7. K Humpy Andhra Pradesh 2002
8. Surya Sekhar Ganguly West Bengal 2003
9. Sandipan Chanda West Bengal 2003
10. R B Ramesh Tamil Nadu 2004
11. Tejas Bakre Gujarat 2004
12. P Magesh Chandran Tamil Nadu 2006
13. Deepan Chakravarthy Tamil Nadu 2006
14. Neelotpal Das West Bengal 2006
15. Parimarjan Negi Delhi 2006
16. G N Gopal Kerala 2007
17. Abhijeet Gupta Rajasthan 2008
18. S Arun Prasad Tamil Nadu 2008
19. S Kidambi Tamil Nadu 2009
20. R R Laxman Tamil Nadu 2009
21. Sriram Jha Delhi 2010
22. Deep Sengupta West Bengal 2010
23. B Adhiban Tamil Nadu 2010
24. S P Sethuraman Tamil Nadu 2011
25. Harika D Andhra Pradesh 2011
26. Lalith Babu M R Andhra Pradesh 2012
27. Vaibhav Suri Delhi 2012
28. M R Venkatesh Tamil Nadu 2012
29. Sahaj Grover Delhi 2012
30. Vidit Gujrathi Maharashtra 2013
31. Shyam Sundar M Tamil Nadu 2013
32. Akhshayraj Kore Maharashtra 2013
33. Vishnu Prasanna Tamil Nadu 2013
34. Debashis Das Odisha 2013
35. Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury West Bengal 2013
36. Ankit Rajpara Gujarat 2014
37. Aravindh Chithambaram Tamil Nadu 2015
38. Karthikeyan Murali Tamil Nadu 2015
39. Ashwin Jayaram Tamil Nadu 2015
40. Swapnil S Dhopade Maharashtra 2015
41. S L Narayanan Kerala 2015
42. Shardul Gagare Maharashtra 2016
43. Diptayan Ghosh West Bengal 2016
44. Priyadharshan K Tamil Nadu 2016
45. Aryan Chopra Delhi 2017
46. Srinath Narayanan Tamil Nadu 2017
47. Himanshu Sharma Haryana 2017
48. Anurag Mhamal Goa 2017
49. Abhimanyu Puranik Maharashtra 2017
50. Thejkumar M S Karnataka 2017
51. Saptarshi Roy West Bengal 2018
52. R Praggnanandhaa Tamil Nadu 2018
53. Nihal Sarin Kerala 2018
54. Erigaisi Arjun Telangana 2018
55. Karthik Venkataraman Telangana 2018
56. Harsha Bharathakoti Telangana 2018
57. P Karthikeyan Tamil Nadu 2018
58. Stany G A Karnataka 2018
59. Visakh N R Tamil Nadu 2019
60. Gukesh D Tamil Nadu 2019
61. P Iniyan Tamil Nadu 2019
62. Swayams Mishra Odisha 2019
63. Girish Koushik Karnataka 2019
64. Prithu Gupta Delhi 2019
65. Raunak Sadhwani Maharashtra 2019
66. G. Akash Tamil Nadu 2020
67. Leon Mendonca Goa 2020
68. Arjun Kalyan Tamil Nadu 2021
69. Harshit Raja Maharashtra 2021
70. Rithvik Raja Telangana 2021
71. Sankalp Gupta Maharashtra 2021
72. Mitrabha Guha West Bengal 2021
73. Bharath Subramaniyam Tamil Nadu 2022
74. Rahul Srivatshav Telangana 2022
75. Pranav V. Tamil Nadu 2022

State-wise distribution of GMs

Name of State No.of GMs
Tamil Nadu 27
West Bengal 9
Maharashtra 10
Delhi 6
Telangana 5
Andhra Pradesh 4
Kerala 3
Karnataka 3
Odisha 2
Gujarat  2
Goa 2
Rajasthan 1
Haryana 1
Total 75

 

Year and No. of GMs

Year No. of GMs
1987 1
1991 1
1997 1
2000 2
2001 1
2002 1
2003 2
2004 2
2005 0
2006 4
2007 1
2008 2
2009 2
2010 3
2011 2
2012 4
2013 6
2014 1
2015 5
2016 3
2017 6
2018 8
2019 7
2020 2
2021 5
2022 3
Total 75

We hope that you enjoyed this compilation related to grandmasters of Indian chess. If you have any feedback, let us know in the comments section below.


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