chessbase india logo

The biggest rating gainers in Indian chess in the last year

by Dnyansagar Gadgil - 01/05/2020

It's 1st of May and being the first day of a new month, the new FIDE rating list is published. However, there has been absolutely no change in anyone's rating in the last month as no tournaments were held across the country and the world. Hence, we at ChessBase India decided to dig up some data. We took the entire FIDE Rating lists from April 2019 to April 2020 and analyzed it thoroughly to bring you some very interesting findings. We tell you about the players who did really well and who are the ones you should watch out for once this lockdown ends.

The rating fluctuations of Indian players from April 2019 to April 2020

By Dnyansagar Gadgil

 

There is a general feeling in the world of chess that Indian chess is on the rise. The sheer number of victories and upsets created by Indian youngsters in different tournaments across the world gives us the feeling that in a few years India may dominate the world of chess like Russia did in the last few decades. However, it is one thing to get a feeling based on certain results, and quite another to analyze the data available on hand in detail. What I have tried to do is dig into the rating lists of the last 12 months from 1st of April 2019 to 1st of April 2020 to give you an idea as to how the Indians have performed in the past year. Let's first begin with the best players in the country in classical (standard) rating section.

Classical Top 50 players of India (April 2019 to April 2020):

Name Apr-19 Apr-20 Increase/decrease
1 Anand  Viswanathan 2774 2753 -21
2 Vidit  Santosh Gujrathi 2717 2726 9
3 Harikrishna  Pentala 2723 2719 -4
4 Adhiban  B. 2701 2659 -42
5 Sasikiran  Krishnan 2673 2647 -26
6 Sethuraman  S.P. 2624 2644 20
7 Aravindh  Chithambaram VR. 2602 2641 39
8 Negi  Parimarjan 2639 2639 0
9 Ganguly  Surya Shekhar 2654 2635 -19
10 Nihal Sarin 2589 2620 31
11 Narayanan.S.L 2603 2618 15
12 Gupta  Abhijeet 2602 2612 10
13 Praggnanandhaa R 2537 2608 71
14 Karthikeyan  Murali 2596 2606 10
15 Vaibhav  Suri 2599 2600 1
16 Gopal G.N. 2589 2593 4
17 Koneru  Humpy 2549 2586 37
18 Aryan Chopra 2547 2585 38
19 Puranik  Abhimanyu 2548 2584 36
20 Gukesh D 2536 2563 27
21 Erigaisi Arjun 2526 2559 33
22 Lalith Babu M R 2577 2553 -24
23 Kannappan Priyadharshan 2553 2553 0
24 Sadhwani  Raunak 2475 2545 70
25 Chanda  Sandipan 2521 2543 22
26 Ghosh  Diptayan 2555 2541 -14
27 Narayanan  Srinath 2529 2540 11
28 Deepan Chakkravarthy J. 2534 2535 1
29 Sengupta  Deep 2551 2527 -24
30 Stany  G.A. 2514 2522 8
31 Shyam  Sundar M. 2519 2518 -1
32 Visakh N R 2509 2516 7
33 Harika  Dronavalli 2492 2515 23
34 Gagare  Shardul 2482 2514 32
35 Harsha Bharathakoti 2497 2509 12
36 Panchanathan  Magesh Chandran 2500 2508 8
37 Arun Prasad  S. 2501 2507 6
38 Iniyan  P 2512 2506 -6
39 Grover  Sahaj 2511 2504 -7
40 Debashis  Das 2538 2501 -37
41 Anurag  Mhamal 2504 2499 -5
42 Girish  A. Koushik 2437 2498 61
43 Swapnil  S. Dhopade 2488 2495 7
44 Akash G 2414 2495 81
45 Venkatesh  M.R. 2517 2493 -24
46 Swayams  Mishra 2478 2489 11
47 Karthik Venkataraman 2505 2483 -22
48 Akshayraj  Kore 2482 2482 0
49 Ashwin  Jayaram 2494 2480 -14
50 Saksham Rautela 2210 2480 270

 

The last year was pretty tough for Vishy as he lost 21 Elo points and moved from 2774 to 2753. But the Madras Tiger is still world no. 15 and would be raring to gain back some rating points this year! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Vidit Gujrathi and P. Harikrishna have been pretty solid. While Vidit has gained 9 Elo points, Hari lost 4 points. This has propelled Vidit to India no.2 | Photo: Prague Chess Festival

When it comes to Adhiban, you can expect the unexpected! The beast has shed a massive 42 Elo points which has brought him down from 2701 in April 2019 to 2659 in April 2020. But the last perfect to get affected by this is Adhiban himself. He is working quite hard in this lock down period and it will be interesting to see if he can close of 2020 by coming back in the 2700 zone! | Photo: Niki Riga

If there is one man who is quietly making his way to the top without making any noise, then it has to be Aravindh Chithambaram! The youngster has gained 39 Elo points in the last 12 months and is now 2641. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Sethuraman also clawed his way back to 2644, by gaining 20 Elo points | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The last twelve months turned out to be quite fruitful for both Nihal Sarin and Praggnanandhaa. While Pragg gained 71 Elo points (winning Xtracon, World Youth and London Chess Open) and moved to 2608, Nihal has been rock solid and from 2589 has progressed to 2620! | Photo: David Llada

He not just became a GM but also gained 70 Elo points and moved from 2475 to a strong 2545 - Raunak Sadhwani | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Definitely an inspiring year for Girish Koushik, who became a GM and also gained 61 Elo points. From 2437 to 2498. | Photo: Akshayakalpa

Very close to becoming India's next GM G. Akash has gained 81 Elo points and from 2414 and moved to 2495 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Showing unbelievable improvement in rating is Saksham Rautela from Uttarakhand. He not only became an IM but in 12 months managed to pump up his Elo from 2210 to 2480! A massive 270 Elo points. | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Classical Top 20 women players (April 2019 to April 2020)

Name Apr-19 Apr-20 Increase/decrease
1 Koneru  Humpy 2549 2586 37
2 Harika  Dronavalli 2492 2515 23
3 Divya Deshmukh 2432 2305 -127
4 Soumya  Swaminathan 2402 2351 -51
5 Tania  Sachdev 2397 2392 -5
6 Karavade  Eesha 2370 2345 -25
7 Padmini  Rout 2364 2370 6
8 Vaishali R 2353 2393 40
9 Kulkarni Bhakti 2350 2391 41
10 Vijayalakshmi  Subbaraman 2345 2332 -13
11 Nandhidhaa  P V 2314 2365 51
12 Gomes  Mary Ann 2314 2354 40
13 Priyanka Nutakki 2313 2263 -50
14 Raghavi  N. 2290 2162 -128
15 Pratyusha  Bodda 2277 2328 51
16 Aakanksha Hagawane 2271 2238 -33
17 Tejaswini  Sagar 2246 2166 -80
18 Mahalakshmi  M 2245 2253 8
19 Makhija  Aashna 2245 1958 -287

It was a brilliant year for Koneru Humpy who not just made a powerful comeback to chess, but also became the World Rapid Champion. She gained 37 Elo points, taking her Elo to 2586 and is now ranked no.2 in the world.  | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Harika also had a great year making a comeback to 2500+ zone. She gained 23 Elo points and is now rated 2515. | Photo: David Llada

Watch out for this youngster - R. Vaishali! With a rating of 2393, she is India no.3. She gained 40 Elo points last year | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Bhakti is climbing up the ladder. She gained 41 Elo points, and is now up to 2391. She also became an International Mater! | Photo: David Llada

A 51 Elo point gain for P.V. Nandhidhaa who is now rated 2365 and is very close to becoming an IM. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

It's nice to see Mary Ann Gomes back in the reckoning. She gained 40 Elo points and now has an Elo of 2354 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The latest WGM of India Pratysuha Bodda had a great year, gaining 51 Elo points. From 2277, she is now rated 2328.

2300+ Biggest rating gainers from April 2019 to April 2020

In this list you have players who have managed to gain massive rating to end the year with a 2300+ rating.

Name Apr-19 Apr-20 Increase/decrease
Mohamed Anees M 1847 2312 465
Ayushh Ravikumar 1928 2319 391
Harshad S 1957 2343 386
Shahil Dey 2066 2376 310
Saksham Rautela 2210 2480 270
Manish Anto Cristiano F 2114 2340 226
Vatsal Singhania 2150 2371 221
Srihari L R 2263 2414 151
Bharath Subramaniyam H 2301 2437 136
Matta  Vinay Kumar 2176 2305 129
Rathanvel  V S 2327 2445 118
Mitrabha  Guha 2328 2445 117
Kushagra Mohan 2234 2351 117
Mullick Raahil 2275 2386 111
Neelash Saha 2303 2413 110
Bhambure  Shantanu 2261 2367 106
Pranesh M 2335 2437 102
Aronyak Ghosh 2340 2436 96
Sankalp Gupta 2339 2429 90
Pranav  V 2258 2348 90

465 Elo point gain in one year! Wow! Mohamed Anees (left) from 1847 is now 2312! | Photo: Sunway Chess Festival

Ayushh Ravikumar (left) gained 391 Elo points | Photo: Sunway Chess Festival

Harshad S gained 386 Elo points and moved from 1957 to 2343 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The list is filled with all of the young talents of Indian chess who are going to make a big mark in the years to come.

2000+ to 2300 Biggest rating gainers from April 2019 to April 2020

In this list you have players who have managed to gain massive rating to end the year with a rating between 2000 and 2300.

Name Apr-19 Apr-20 Increase/decrease
Sreyas Payyappat 1616 2156 540
Morvekar Kedar 1637 2127 490
Harshini A 1788 2189 401
Tanmay Chopra 1887 2273 386
Garv Gaur 1711 2083 372
Gugan G 1779 2149 370
Savitha Shri B 1895 2261 366
Dere Pushkar 1892 2254 362
Hiren K G 1704 2058 354
Kaushik G Iyer 1771 2119 348
Tanmay Jain 1789 2132 343
Namitbir Singh Walia 1760 2093 333
Rohit S 1868 2189 321
Hari Charan Sai Kalluri 1773 2086 313
Nawin J J 1806 2109 303
Sharma Isha 1989 2276 287
Adarsh Tripathi 1840 2115 275
Polakhare Aryan 1898 2166 268
Komal Srivatsav Sajja 1778 2021 243
Gaurav Rajesh Zagade 1933 2174 241

Sreyas Payyapat, just 11 years old, gained 540 Elo points!

Kedar Morvekar gained 490 Elo points and moved from 1637 to 2127

The talented Harshini A is now 2189 after gaining over 400 Elo points in the last year | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Tanmay Chopra has already been featured a couple of times on the ChessBase India YouTube channel. He is now rated 2273 gaining a massive 386 Elo points last year.
A big talent from Haryana Garv Gaur is also the Commonwealth under-12 Gold medal winner. He gained 372 Elo points 

Just 12 years old and already 2261! Savitha received great support from Deepan Priya last year and she made the best use of the resources and is now close to becoming not just a WIM but also a WGM. | Photo: Deepan Priya

1600+ to 2000 Biggest rating gainers from April 2019 to April 2020

In this list you have players who have managed to gain massive rating to end the year with a rating between 1600 and 2000.

Name Apr-19 Apr-20 Increase/decrease
Setumadhav Yellumahanthi 1207 1843 636
Rosh Jain 1217 1811 594
Aggarwal Vansh 1353 1922 569
Asna Abdeen 1227 1782 555
Vaibhav Kalpaka 1349 1859 510
Yogesh Selvam 1139 1644 505
Divitt Arora 1147 1629 482
Sai Alagappan S 1500 1959 459
Md Imran 1521 1936 415
Aditya Chatterjee 1438 1849 411
Sasvatha A 1363 1773 410
Vrashank Chouhan 1387 1795 408
Ishant Kumar 1267 1674 407
Sankalan Shah 1507 1903 396
Parekh Vishrut 1358 1753 395
Manmay Chopra 1221 1610 389
Lad Mandar Pradip 1430 1818 388
Aditya Kumawat 1264 1650 386
Dhruv Khosla 1496 1880 384

While the highest points gainer Setumadhav Yellumahanthi is 14 years old born in 2006, the second highest gainer Rosh Jain is just 9 years old, born in 2011. Rosh from Delhi is a big talent and to prove our point we present an interview with the youngster:

Rosh Jain the boy who gained 590 Elo points in the last year

1000+ to 1600 Biggest rating gainers from April 2019 to April 2020

In this list you have players who have managed to gain massive rating to end the year with a rating between 1000 and 1600.

Name Apr-19 Apr-20 Increase/decrease
Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy 1094 1573 479
Lohakare Pratham 1100 1573 473
Jval Saurin Patel 1124 1572 448
Shreshtha Surai 1073 1497 424
Sachi Jain 1047 1460 413
Pavan Anand S 1090 1494 404
Mithula Venugopal Srinivasan 1002 1403 401
Kavyansh Agrawal 1170 1569 399
Vivaan Amarnani 1020 1414 394
Sajitha B 1041 1431 390
Sharnarthi Viresh 1069 1445 376
Gopal Aravamuthan Iyengar 1122 1490 368
Shreeyash Kejriwal 1146 1502 356
Suhaani Lohia 1122 1477 355
Yashvi Jain 0 1376 355
Jaivant R 1239 1590 351
Sherla Prathamesh 1081 1430 349
Darshan Sasthaa M 1053 1398 345
Adithya S 1090 1430 340
Vatsal Singla 1041 1380 339

Top ten Indian players in Rapid

Player Name Apr-19 Apr-20 Increase/decrease
Anand  Viswanathan 2733 2751 18
Harikrishna  Pentala 2670 2690 20
Ganguly  Surya Shekhar 2594 2646 52
Vidit  Santosh Gujrathi 2664 2636 -28
Adhiban  B. 2608 2624 16
Negi  Parimarjan 2613 2613 0
Chanda  Sandipan 2602 2602 0
Sethuraman  S.P. 2578 2588 10
Aravindh  Chithambaram VR. 2478 2586 108
Sasikiran  Krishnan 2601 2577 -24

 

Top ten Indian players in Blitz

Player Name Apr-19 Apr-20 Increase/decrease
Anand  Viswanathan 2747 2785 38
Vidit  Santosh Gujrathi 2715 2755 40
Harikrishna  Pentala 2605 2663 58
Nihal Sarin 2654 2657 3
Adhiban  B. 2612 2631 19
Narayanan.S.L 2597 2617 20
Negi  Parimarjan 2613 2613 0
Erigaisi Arjun 2464 2609 145
Aravindh  Chithambaram VR. 2533 2599 66
Harsha Bharathakoti 2380 2575 195

 

Top ten women in rapid

Player Name Apr-19 Apr-20 Increase/decrease
Koneru  Humpy 2472 2483 11
Harika  Dronavalli 2440 2450 10
Padmini  Rout 2355 2355 0
Karavade  Eesha 2342 2344 2
Tania  Sachdev 2350 2339 -11
Kulkarni Bhakti 2318 2325 7
Gomes  Mary Ann 2305 2305 0
Vijayalakshmi  Subbaraman 2279 2262 -17
Mohota  Nisha 2260 2260 0
Soumya  Swaminathan 2249 2249 0

 

Top ten women in blitz

Player Name Apr-19 Apr-20 Increase/decrease
Koneru  Humpy 2466 2483 17
Harika  Dronavalli 2452 2422 -30
Vaishali R 2339 2313 -26
Tania  Sachdev 2285 2280 -5
Karavade  Eesha 2258 2258 0
Vijayalakshmi  Subbaraman 2254 2252 -2
Divya Deshmukh 2031 2239 208
Kulkarni Bhakti 2320 2224 -96
Padmini  Rout 2251 2196 -55
Mahalakshmi  M 2133 2176 43

About the author:

Dnyansagar Gadgil is the Strategic Operations Manager at ChessBase India