The biggest rating gainers in Indian chess in the last year
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
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