Decisive moves defy setbacks as India beats Armenia in chess to enter semis

On August 22, India was playing Mongolia in the online chess Olympiad, a mega event organised by the World Chess Federation (Fide) and hosted at the Chess.com website. The Indians looked to be winning comfortably, when disaster struck.

Grandmasters Koneru Humpy and Vidit Gujrathi suffered near simultaneous power outages, with Humpy playing from Vijayawada and Gujrathi from Nashik. Both lost on time, while 30,000 Indian fans watched the debacle helplessly.

This story is quintessentially Indian in terms of poor infrastructure crippling native genius. Thanks to the power cuts, Mongolia drew and India was faced with the task of winning three matches to ensure qualification to the quarters.  

The next day, the Indians rallied in this back-to-the-wall situation. Thankfully, net connections remained stable as India beat two strong teams in Germany and Georgia to set up a needle last match. In their last league engagement, the Indians upset reigning world and Olympiad champions, China, to top their group and move into the quarterfinal.

Hordes of fans cheered as India beat Armenia tonight to enter the semi-finals. So far, the big scorers have been the juniors. Divya Deshmukh, a 14-year-old Woman International Master from Nagpur, has scored four points from five games, while 15-year-old Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa has a perfect 5/5 score.

It is no surprise the big scores have come on the junior boards given that every team must field two players (one of each gender) below 20. India’s strength in depth at junior levels has been a big talking point for the past few years.

There are four Indians in the Open Top 100 list, led by the peerless Viswanathan Anand. But there are ten Indian Grandmasters (the highest possible title) aged under 20, and as many as 14 Indians in the top 100 of the Under-20 Open rating list. That’s unmatched. Only Russia comes close with 12 juniors. India also has 13 rankers in the Top 100 of the U-20 girls’ list, a number only exceeded by Russia (20).

Both the Open and Women’s teams are consistent medal contenders in world team events, placing in the Top Ten. There have been innumerable medals at world age group championships. Just before the pandemic shut down normal chess, the 15-year-old Raunak Sadhwani became India’s 65th Grandmaster. As many as 45 grandmaster titles have been awarded in the last 10 years and 25 grandmasters (all under 25) have been minted in the past four years.

The implications for the future are acknowledged by no less than reigning world champion, Magnus Carlsen, who has lost speed games to teenagers like Grandmaster Nihal Sarin. Last year, Carlsen said, “India is going to be the strongest chess country. There are so many fearless young players. It just remains to be seen who will take the step up to the very highest level. But yeah, no doubt India will have many, many top players in the top ten, in a few years.”

 

That strength at the apex of the pyramid is drawn from a huge base. At least 95,900 Indians have played an internationally rated event in the past two years. The vast majority are under 25; indeed, most are under voting age. This is also why there are often over 50,000 daily sign-ins from India at online chess servers.

Pre-pandemic, open events around the world were inundated by young Indians hungry for exposure. A Georgian grandmaster says, “It’s tiring. You sign up for an open event and you are paired against some ridiculously under-rated Indian kid. He or she plays at master strength and fights tooth and nail. Next round, there’s another one, just as strong but different name and face!” Post-pandemic, online events organised by Indians have also drawn huge participation, despite network failures and disconnections.

This was unimaginable until a few years ago. In 1987, the 18-year-old Anand won India’s first world title, the World Junior in Manila, and became the country’s first grandmaster as well. But there were still only five Indian grandmasters circa 2000.  

The increase in interest and the improvements in playing standards owe a lot to the example set by multiple world champion Anand – a polite, well-read nice guy who finished first – who made the game seem respectable for middle-class parents. But the digitisation of chess was also a key factor. The younger players have all grown up online and honed their skills playing blitz on servers, and analysing with databases and engines.

Given the explosive progress India has made, the lack of official recognition is disappointing. Indeed, the very first Khel Ratna for chess went to Anand and there have been seven chess Arjuna awardees (including Anand). Two chess coaches have also received the Dronacharya Award. But the last official award was conferred back in 2013. Since then, Indians have won innumerable age-group medals, and Olympiad medals as well.

One reason for the lack of recognition may be lack of lobbying. Nominations must be made for awards and chess players aren’t necessarily great at self-promotion. The All-India Chess Federation has been mired in legal trouble for years with elections challenged in court. This means less attention to such details as award nominations. The confusion has also meant less financial support, with players often picking up their own tab for training and other expenses. One can only hope this situation will change for the better, and soon.

Country rating

> 65 Grandmasters: 10 aged less than 20; the youngest, Dommaraju Gukesh, won the title at 12 years, 7 months in March last year

> 123 International Masters

> Over 95,900 active internationally rated players – the largest player-base in the world

> Four in the Top 100 Open list

> Seven in the Top 100 Women’s list

> The first grandmaster was Viswanathan Anand (1987). The latest (65th) was Raunak Sadhwani (April 2020). Until 2000, there were only five grandmasters.

> India was seeded seventh and placed 6th at the last 2018 Chess Olympiad, out of 185 teams. In 2016, India placed 4th-6th and in 2014, it won the bronze (3rd place).

> At world age groups, Praggnanandhaa, Abhijeet Gupta, Murali Karthikeyan, Baskaran Adhiban, Nihal Sarin, and S P Sethuraman have all won gold in various categories.

> The last official award for chess was an Arjuna to Abhijeet Gupta in 2013. Only two coaches – Ashok Koneru (2006) and Raghunandan Gokhale (1986) – have ever received Dronacharya awards. Only one, Viswanathan Anand, has received the Khel Ratna. An average of 15 Arjuna Awards are handed out annually (a record 29 in 2020).