6 Best chess players in India

You have already understood which topic this article is based on. These players helped to boost Indian chess. Of course, some players are very famous and you have known them but some are not. Let’s start and see who are the best chess players in India.

6 best chess players in India

• Viswanathan Anand
• Vidit Gujrathi
• Harikrishna Pentala
• Nihal Sarin
• Praganananddha R
• Gukesh D

Viswanathan Anand

Who doesn’t know Vishy? He is also famous as Madras Tiger. Viswanathan Anand was 5 times former world champion and currently his rating is above 2750. He is also playing actively in many tournaments

Some Major achievements of Vishy Anand 

• 5 times world champion
• World rapid champion in Riyadh
• Champion in candidates 2014

Best game of Vishy Anand against Garry Kasparov

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.O-O
Be7 8.a4 Nc6 9.Be3 O-O 10.f4 Qc7 11.Kh1 Re8 12.Bf3 Bd7 13.Nb3
Na5 14.Nxa5 Qxa5 15.Qd3 Rad8 16.Rfd1 Bc6 17.b4 Qc7 18.b5 Bd7
19.Rab1 axb5 20.Nxb5 Bxb5 21.Qxb5 Ra8 22.c4 e5 23.Bb6 Qc8
24.fxe5 dxe5 25.a5 Bf8 26.h3 Qe6 27.Rd5 Nxd5 28.exd5 Qg6 29.c5
e4 30.Be2 Re5 31.Qd7 Rg5 32.Rg1 e3 33.d6 Rg3 34.Qxb7 Qe6
35.Kh2 1-0

Vidit Gujrathi

Vidit Gujarati is Grandmaster from Nashik, Maharashtra. He becomes Grandmaster in 2013 and currently he is 22nd on the world ranking list.  Vidit struggled a lot for getting his final Grandmaster Norm. Vidit also started youtube channel in lockdown and he currently has 150k subscribers. He also streams regularly with his friends Anish Giri, Samay Raina, Sagar Shah, etc. Vidit was captain when India won the gold medal online olympiad 2020.

Major Achievements by Vidit Gujrathi 

• Grandmaster title – 2013
• Captain of Gold winning Indian team in FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2020
• First place in 2019 Biel Chess Festival Grandmaster tournament.
• Rank #12 out of 154 in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2019 with a score of 7.0/11

Best Game of Vidit Gujrathi 

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qb3 c5 6. cxd5 exd5
7. dxc5 Nc6 8. Bg5 Be6 9. O-O-O O-O 10. Bxf6 Qxf6 11. Nxd5
Qh6+ 12. e3 Bxc5 13. Qb5 Rac8 14. Kb1 b6 15. Nc3 Nb4 16. Nd4
Rfd8 17. Nxe6 Rxd1+ 18. Nxd1 Qg6+ 19. Bd3 Nxd3 20. e4 Qxe4
21. f3 Qg6 22. Nxc5 Nxc5+ 23. Ka1 Nb3+ 0-1

You can watch his videos from here and don’t forgot to subscribe to him.

Harikrishna Pentala

Harikrishna is the no.2 Indian chess player. He became the youngest grandmaster from India on 12 September 2001. Harikrishna is married Serbian Nadezda Stojanovic in 2018. He lives since 2018 in Prague and plays for the chess club Nový Bor.

Major Achievements of Pentala Harikrishna 

• In July 2020, he won with 5.5 points out of 7 games the Chess960 event, that was part of the chess tournament in Biel.
• tied for first from Gabriel Sargissian and Laurent Fressinet at the Isle of Man International on tiebreak
• Gold Medal in 15th Asian Games 2006, Doha Qatar

Best games by Pentala Harikrishna

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Qb6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. Be2 cxd4
7. cxd4 Bb5 8. O-O Bxe2 9. Qxe2 Nc6 10. Nc3 Nge7 11. Qd3 Rc8
12. Rd1 h6 13. Bd2 Ng6 14. h4 Bb4 15. Na4 Qc7 16. h5 Nge7
17. Bf4 Qa5 18. b3 b5 19. Nb2 Ba3 20. Qe2 O-O 21. Rab1 Rc7
22. Nd3 Qb6 23. b4 a5 24. bxa5 Nxa5 25. Bc1 Bxc1 26. Rdxc1
Rxc1+ 27. Nxc1 Nc4 28. Nb3 Ra8 29. Rc1 Nc6 30. g3 Ra3 31. Kg2
Qa7 32. Rc2 Nb4 33. Rc3 Nxa2 34. Rd3 Rxb3 35. Rxb3 Nc1 36. Qc2
Nxb3 37. Qxb3 Qa4 38. Qb1 b4 0-1

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 Bb4 5. Nxe5 O-O 6. Bd3
Nxd4 7. O-O d6 8. Nc4 Bxc3 9. bxc3 Ne6 10. Ne3 Re8 11. c4 Nc5
12. f3 Nfd7 13. Rb1 Ne5 14. Bb2 f6 15. Qd2 Be6 16. Rbe1 Qd7
17. f4 Nexd3 18. cxd3 f5 19. Rf3 Re7 20. Rg3 Rf7 21. exf5 Bxf5
22. Rg5 Bxd3 23. Ng4 Bg6 24. f5 Rxf5 25. Nh6+ gxh6 26. Qd4 Ne6
27. Qh8+ Kf7 28. Rxf5+ Bxf5 29. Qf6+ Kg8 30. Qxf5 Nf8 31. Qd5+
Qf7 32. Re7 1-0

Nihal Sarin

Nihal is very strong chess player and currently his rating is 2600 above. He is sponsored by akashaykalpa company. Nihal is one of the most promising player who can become world champion. You can read many articles about Nihal Sarin.

Best achievements of Nihal Sarin 

• In January 2020, Nihal made his debut in the TATA Steel Challengers tournament
• Grandmaster in the year 2018.
• Nihal won Junior Speed Chess Championship (JSCC) conducted by Chess.com.

Best games of Nihal Sarin

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Na6 6. Nxf6+
gxf6 7. d4 Bf5 8. c3 Qd5 9. Qc4 Nc7 10. Qxd5 Nxd5 11. Be2 Rg8
12. g3 e6 13. Nh4 Bh3 14. Bd2 Bd6 15. O-O-O O-O-O 16. Rhe1 Rd7
17. f4 Ne7 18. Bh5 Nf5 19. Nxf5 Bxf5 20. Re2 Kc7 21. Rde1 a5
22. Be3 a4 23. Bf2 b5 24. Bf3 b4 25. c4 Bd3 26. c5 Be7 27. Rd2
Bc4 28. Kb1 Bd5 29. Bh5 Rf8 30. f5 exf5 31. Be3 Be4+ 32. Kc1
Kb7 33. Bd1 Ra8 34. g4 fxg4 35. Bxg4 f5 36. Bh5 Bf6 37. Bd1 a3
38. Bb3 Rad8 39. bxa3 bxa3 40. Red1 f4 41. Bxf4 Bxd4 42. Rxd4
Rxd4 43. Re1 Bd5 44. Re7+ Ka6 45. Be5 Bxb3 46. Bxd4 Rxd4
47. axb3 Rd1+ 0-1

You can watch the video and subscribe to Nihal’s youtube channel

 

Praggnanandhaa R 

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (born 10 August 2005) is an Indian chess player. A chess prodigy, he is the fourth-youngest person ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster (GM). Praggnanandhaa is the future of Indian chess after Nihal Sarin. He can become a future world champion. He has achieved a lot than his age.

Praggnanandhaa’s best achievements

• Praggnanandhaa won the World Youth Chess Championships Under-8 title in 2013
• Praggnanandhaa won the Xtracon Chess Open in Denmark scoring 8½/10 points
• In April 2021, Praggnanandhaa won the Polgar Challenge

Best games of Praggnanandhaa 

1. Nf3 d5 2. b4 Bg4 3. Bb2 Bxf3 4. gxf3 Nd7 5. f4 Ngf6 6. e3
e6 7. a3 g6 8. d4 Bg7 9. Nd2 O-O 10. Bd3 Nb6 11. a4 Qd6
12. O-O Nc4 13. Nxc4 dxc4 14. Bxc4 Qxb4 15. Bb3 Qa5 16. Qf3 c6
17. Ba3 Rfd8 18. Rfb1 Qf5 19. Qg2 h5 20. a5 Ne4 21. Bc4 Nd2
22. Bd3 Qd5 23. Qxd5 Rxd5 24. Rd1 Nf3+ 25. Kg2 Nh4+ 26. Kh3
Bf6 27. a6 Rd7 28. Be4 Rc8 29. axb7 Rxb7 30. Rdb1 Rd7 31. Bc5
Rcc7 32. Rb8+ Kg7 33. Ra6 Nf5 34. Bxc6 Rd8 35. Rb7 Rdc8
36. Raxa7 Rxb7 37. Bxb7 Rc7 38. Be4 Rxa7 39. Bxa7 Nd6 40. Bd3
g5 41. fxg5 Bxg5 42. c4 1-0

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bb7
7. c3 Nxe4 8. d4 exd4 9. Re1 d5 10. Ng5 Qf6 11. Bxd5 Qxf2+
12. Kh1 O-O-O 13. Nxe4 Qf5 14. Bb3 dxc3 15. Qf3 Qxf3 16. gxf3
Ne5 17. Nbxc3 b4 18. Bg5 f6 19. Bf4 bxc3 20. Bxe5 fxe5
21. bxc3 Be7 22. Rab1 Kb8 23. Re2 Ka7 24. Kg2 Rhf8 25. Rd1
Rxd1 26. Bxd1 Rd8 27. Bc2 Bd5 28. Bb3 Bc6 29. Bc2 g6 30. Kg3
a5 31. h4 h6 32. Rh2 Rb8 33. Bb3 a4 34. Bf7 Rb1 35. Rd2 Rg1+
36. Kh2 Rc1 37. Bxg6 Bxh4 38. Kh3 Be1 39. Rd3 Rc2 40. Re3 Bd7+
0-1

Gukesh D

 

Gukesh D is the player who played the most tournaments at this age. No one played such amount of tournament in the world. Gukesh almost surpassed Sergey Karjakin as the youngest grandmaster ever but missed the record by 17 days.

Major achievements of Gukesh D 

• Grandmaster at age of 12
• He won the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour, Gelfand Challenge in June 2021

Best games of Gukesh D 

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. b3 Bf5 6. Bb2 e6
7. Nh4 Bg4 8. Qc2 Nbd7 9. h3 Bh5 10. g4 Bg6 11. Nxg6 hxg6
12. g5 Ng8 13. f4 Ne7 14. O-O-O Nf5 15. Bd3 Nh4 16. Kb1 Qa5
17. Ne2 Nc5 18. cxd5 Nxd3 19. Qxd3 O-O-O 20. Qc2 Rxd5 21. e4
Rd7 22. Rhf1 Qb5 23. d4 Qa5 24. Nc1 f6 25. Nd3 Bd6 26. gxf6
gxf6 27. d5 exd5 28. Bxf6 Rhh7 29. exd5 Nf5 30. dxc6 Rc7
31. Ne5 Kb8 32. Bd8 Bxe5 33. fxe5 Qxe5 34. Bxc7+ Rxc7 35. Rfe1
Qb5 36. Rd8+ Ka7 37. Qf2+ b6 38. Qf4 1-0

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