For a country which once dominated the Olympic hockey circuit, winning eight gold medals from 1928 to 1980, the lack of supremacy in global sports ever since has remained a harsh reminder of the fall in India’s sporting culture. Even as the search continued for players and champions who would redefine glory in Indian sports in the 1980s and 1990s, India’s performance in global quadrennial events like the Olympics remained disappointing with victories being few and sparse.
As cricket gained popularity in India, the other games remained in the shadows. The feats of Leander Paes and Viswanathan Anand remained consigned to the background as the Sachin Tendulkar era loomed large. However, with cricket remaining confined to a few nations, the quest for superstars who would bring laurels in a truly world-wide sport remained an elusive search.
But cricket – and kabaddi – despite the victories, cannot be defined as truly global sports. While the hockey and archery teams’ performances remain sporadic and inconsistent, Indian tennis has failed to find a worthy successor to the legendary Paes, though Saia Mirza has achieved a great deal. Golf and squash are often quoted as being elitist. Only badminton has started a journey towards global triumphs.
There is, however, a new contender. Or rather, an old one with new vigour. With skilled youngsters crowding around chess boards all over India, chess is fast emerging as a sport where India can reign supreme for some period of time.
Anand's brave new era
It has long been established that the game of chess was invented in India way back in the sixth century. However, the player who deserves sole credit for popularising the mentally tough sport in India is Viswanathan Anand.
Now 46, he was not only the first Indian to clinch the World Junior Chess Championship in 1987, but also India’s first Grandmaster, the highest title a chess player can achieve. With five World Chess Championship titles, the Indian heralded a new era for the game into the country.
His biggest contribution can be gauged from the fact that when he first challenged Gary Kasparov way back in 1995, India had only two Grandmasters. After a career spanning almost three decades, during which he held the No. 1 ranking for 21 months and inspired youngsters, particularly from Chennai and West Bengal, India boasts of 44 Grandmasters and more than a hundred International Masters. The Anand effect is huge and palpable.
Alongside Anand, women players like Tania Sachdev and Koneru Humpy too have been instrumental in changing the face of chess in India. While Grandmaster Humpy became only the second woman’s player to cross 2600 rating points in 2007, Sachdev holds the titles of International Master and Woman Grandmaster.
At just 15, Humpy became the youngest Grandmaster in the world in 2002. She has won trophies in every World Championship category, from the World Under-8 to Under-20. The World Championship still eludes her, but India's top-ranked women’s chess player has been nothing less than a role model in her chosen field.
Without much government support in the initial days, the trio single-handedly scripted stunning victories on a regular basis and broke the notion that Indians are not satisfactory in sports that requires mental precision.
An array of dazzling stars
Even though the Indian chess contingent failed to win medals in the Chess Olympiad held in Baku in September, they put up impressive performances, with the men’s team finishing fourth and the women’s ending up in fifth place. The men’s team, which comprised six Grandmasters, failed to replicate their 2014 bronze medal winning feat, but performed very well against USA, Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and England.
Earlier, Padmini Rout, with a gold medal in the individual Tromso Olympiad in 2014, and Sasikaran’s silver medal triumph in the same event, announced India’s arrival on the global chess arena with some élan.
The current Indian No. 2, Pentala Harikrishna, became the youngest Grandmaster from India in 2001, a record now owned by Parimarjan Negi. His FIDE ranking passed 2700 ratings for the first time in 2013, making him only the third Indian to cross the 2700-mark.
Harikrishna has won the national junior titles in all categories and even won the World Under-10 Championship in 1996. An epitome of consistency, he has managed to hold on to his 2700 rating for three years and has represented India in seven Chess Olympiads.
Vidit Gujrathi, with 2686 FIDE ratings, is the fourth-best Grandmaster in India today. Executing rational moves with an encyclopaedic awareness of the game has kept his loss percentage at a minimum, and he has been dubbed one of the brightest stars of Indian chess.
Negi, who became the second youngest Grandmaster in the world, was instrumental in handing India the bronze medal in the Tromso Olympiad two years ago. He drew a crucial game with Levon Aronian, and his victory over Rustam Kasimdzhanov helped India get to third.
The other promising players include B Adhiban, Sasikaran Krishnan, and SP Sethuram along with the former prodigy Surya Shekhar Ganguly.
In the women’s circuit, Dronavalli Harika has been termed the “new poster girl of Indian chess.” Besides having the Under-18 and Under-14 Championship titles under her belt, she is also a Commonwealth Chess Champion. Harika won the Junior Girls Championship in 2008 and became India’s second female Grandmaster.
With bronze medals in the 2015 World Championship and the 2010 Asian Games, Harika remains India’s second best female chess player. She recently defeated Humpy en route to her Women’s Grand Prix triumph. Earlier in 2016, she was adjudged the best woman player in the Eurasian Blitz Cup, which had the strongest competitors from Europe and Asia. Involving eleven rounds, the 58th seed demonstrated masterful control to walk away with gold.
The next generation
After winning 17 medals, including five golds, in the Asian Youth Chess Championship, the Indian juniors swept the World Youth Championships in Greece in 2015. Fielding 50 players in a massive field of 1596 participants, India staged an impressive performance to finish with a mammoth 11 medals, including five golds. Their previous best was six medals, in the 2014 World Youth Event.
With no nation winning more than one gold medal, India remained the sole dominant force in the World Championship, throwing up an array of talented youngsters in the Under-8 to Under-18 categories.
M Mahalakshmi, the gold winner in the Under-18 Girls event, scored 9.0/11 and won the title with a round to spare. The 32nd seed won 209 points in the FIDE ratings, and became a Woman International Master in the process.
Bharath Subramaniyam, all of eight years old, defeated compatriot Dev Shah for the gold in her age group. Coached by Grandmaster RB Ramesh, the youngster believes in solving tactical problems mentally to sharpen his mind before big games.
Rakshitta Ravi showed intense calmness after a poor opening to clinch gold in the Under-10 category. Despite having just a 3.0/5 start, the nine-year-old scripted a miraculous victory. She practices chess for almost eight hours a day, and her aim is to become the youngest World Champion.
R Vaishali and R Praggnanandhaa also won golds in the Under-14 and Under-10 categories, respectively. While Vaishali has won the National Women Challengers 2015 and was the top ranked in her event, her brother Praggnanandhaa took the sole lead with 6.5/7 early on, and clinched gold after defeating the top-ranked player, Javokhir Sinarov, in his category.
Youngsters like Nihal Sarin, Murali Karthikeyan and Aravindh Chithamnaram too have set the junior chess circuit in India ablaze with their achievements. While the former is already the Asian under-10 rapid chess and classic chess champion, Murali and Aravindh have attained the Grandmaster title. Aravindh won the 2013 Chennai Grandmaster Open ahead of several Grandmasters and International Masters who were taking part.
Aryan Chopra became India’s 44th Grandmaster in 2016, at the age of just 14. He is already World No. 11, Asian No. 4, and India’s top ranked player in the Under-16 category.
With at least one Indian winner in each of the under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16, under-18 and under-20 groups in both boys' and girls' chess, it will not be an exaggeration to state that Indian chess, after Anand, has a truly exciting future.
How it's all happened
The importance of Anand in revolutionising an era in chess cannot be emphasised enough. He has not only challenged higher ranked players but has managed to consistently ward off threats. His remaining a world-beater in a game which demands mental conditioning has played a huge role, as parents now readily encourage their children to take up the game.
The value of the game in developing young minds is a major reason for a large number of juniors venturing into chess. It not only helps sharpen the memory, but also enables analysis and decision-making at crucial junctures. Chess has also been credited for helping people become more creative and intuitive.
Another reason for the unprecedented growth is the emergence of a number of age-group tournaments, which began in the 1990s. By continuously playing against competitors in the same age group at the district, state and national levels, a chess player can gain invaluable experience by the time they're 20. Players like Humpy, Negi and Harikrishna are all age-group champions who have succeeded at the senior level.
But perhaps the most important factor is the development of a well-formed database and computer-aided analysis techniques. As chess is often broadcast live on the internet, new ideas or “novelties” can be easily picked up by upcoming talents for incorporating in their games.
Software like Fritz, Hiarcs and Rybka sharpen the skills of the players and enable them to find flaws in their own techniques. Chess-playing engines can be downloaded within seconds, and this way the 64 squares remain accessible at all times, whether there is a human adversary to play against or not.
The large number of Grandmasters in India also means that many of them turn to coaching when they are done with their professional career. Hence, youngsters are guided by excellence from an early age. Take Grandmaster RB Ramesh's Chess Gurukul in Chennai – all five gold medal winners in the World Youth Championships are from his academy.
With the All India Chess Federation being well-funded and disbursing almost Rs 7 crore in prize money every year in domestic tournaments, and with a growing list of sponsors over the past five years, chess in India has all the support it needs. It will not be a surprise, then, if India clinch the coveted Olympiad golds in the next few years.