Famous Chess Personalities from India

India is home to 76 Grandmasters (GM), 124 International Masters (IM), 18 Woman Grandmasters (WGM including some who also hold the higher IM title), and 42 Woman International Masters (WIM) (as of January 2022). 

In 1947 When India got independence, There was only one person who was known for his Chess Skills Mir Malik Sultan Khan. He was a servant to Sir Umar Hayat khan who trained him in Europian style chess and he went on to win the British championship and even defeated the Great Capablanca. Despite his great feats, Sultan khan stayed an untitled player.

Fast forward today to 2022, India has 75 GMs among whom 9 of them are currently ranked under the top 100 players of the world.

Led by 5 times world champion Vishwanathan Anand who 1st Indian GM, India has performed stupendously in the last 2 decades in Chess and has increased the number of titled players manyfold. Today we will be knowing a bit about the Famous chess personalities of India.

Vishwanathan Anand

Vishwanathan Anand, Made India home of the World champion in 2000 beating Alexis Shirov. He was the first Asian World Chess Champion and also, Second non-Russian who won this title after the GOAT Bobby Fischer. 

Currently, Vishwanathan Anand is 52 yr old and is still active in professional Chess. His world ranking as of Dec 1, 2022, is  9 and he is also the current Deputy president of FIDE.

Dibyendu Barua

Dibyendu Barua is the 2nd Grand Master of India. He has defeated the World Championship challenger to Anatoly Karpov, Victor Korchnoi. Currently, he is active in training a new generation of Chess players in Kolkata. 

Surya Shekhar Ganguly

Surya Shekhar Ganguly is 8th GM of India. He is known for his Anti Computer Skills. He has worked as Anand's Second in World Championship matches. He is currently active in professional chess and also running Pro Chess Academy.

Vidit Gujrathi

Vidit is the 30th GM of India. He is very popular in the chess world. He streams regularly from his youtube channel. He is the only second Indian who reached to Semi-final of the Chess World cup. 

Prior to him, only Vishwanathan Anand reached Semis.

Indian Prodigies

D Gukesh Gukesh is just 16 years old. He recently won the gold medal in Chess Olympiad and helped India win the Bronze medal. he held the record of Youngest GM in the world until Abhimanyu an Indian American surpassed him to win this title
Pragnananda is the 52nd GM of India. He was recently facilitated with The prestigious Arjuna Award. He has won many tournaments and has been in buzz due to multiple victories over none other than Magnus Carlsen in Rapid Format.
Arjun Erigiasi is the 54th GM of India. Magnus himself has praised Arjun on multiple occasions. He predicted that Arjun will soon cross the 2700 rating and rightly so Arjun did it.
Nihal Sarin is one the best player in Blitz format. He won the recently concluded Tata Steel chess 2022 Rapid. He is the 53rd GM of India

Adhiban Bhaskaran, aka The Beast

Adhiban Bhaskaran is the 23rd GM of India. He is popularly known as the Beast in India. He popularized the famous 1. b3 opening in chess, known as Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack.

Humpy Koneru

Humpy is one the most Elit Women chess player in the world. She has raised her performance mostly by breaking the norm of playing in women's tournaments. She has favored playing in open sections multiple time and have proved her level.

Harika Dronavalli

Harika Led India to win the first medal in World Women's Team Chess Championship in 2021. She is the 25th GM of India. She also represented India in the 2022 olympiad where she was 7 months pregnant and went through the event without losing a single game. 

Tania Sachdev

Tania Sachdev is not a GM but an IM and is very popular in India. She has represented India in multiple events and has won India many crucial matches. Along with being an active professional chess player, she is also a professional chess commentator. 

Harikrishna Pentala

Harikrishna is arguably one of the best chess endgame players that we have. He is the 6th GM of India and is known for very serious chess.

List of Indian Chess Grand Masters