The state of Indian chess at the end of 2023 | Data

Indian GMs (L-R) Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh, Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna present their silver medals at the presentation ceremony of the Men’s Chess Team occasion at the nineteenth Asian Games, in Hangzhou, China.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The yr 2023 was yet one more good one for Indian chess. Two chess stalwarts — Grandmasters (GMs) R. Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi — certified to play in the 2024 Candidates Tournament which can decide the challenger to the present World Champion, Ding Liren, of China.

Praggnanandhaa managed to qualify by ending runner-up in the Chess World Cup held in July-August 2023. Magnus Carlsen, the highest-rated participant in chess as we speak, received that event.

Table 1 | The desk exhibits the chess gamers certified to enter the 2024 Candidates Tournament

*Expected to withdraw. If he does, Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan will take his spot.

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Vidit scored an emphatic victory in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament held in October-November 2023 to safe a spot in the eight-player Candidates Tournament together with 2023 World Championship runner-up Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia; Carlsen, the five-time World Champion who is anticipated to withdraw as he has expressed little interest in contending for that crown once more; Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura of the U.S.; and Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan, if Carlsen withdraws.

Two different slots can be found in the Candidates Tournament. Caruana leads the 2023 FIDE Circuit, a system comprising the high chess tournaments in 2023, however he has already certified by way of the Chess World Cup. This has opened up the risk for Indian GM, D. Gukesh, to qualify as he’s ranked second in the Circuit after profitable the highest ELO-rated event held in India, the Chennai Grand Masters, final week. However, Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi can nonetheless upend Gukesh’s possibilities if he wins the World Rapid Championship, which is to be held from December 26 to twenty-eight. And GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands also can take this spot if he options in the Top 3 of the Rapid Championship or finishes first in the World Blitz Championship.

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Gukesh has one foot in the door resulting in the Candidates Tournament even after enduring a roller-coaster of a yr when he turned the top-rated Indian GM after which misplaced ELO factors as a result of comparatively poor performances in the Grand Swiss event, amongst others. Gukesh is about to end 2023 as India No. 5 behind the semi-retired Viswanathan Anand, Praggnanandhaa, Vidit, and Arjun (Table 2).

Table 2 | The desk exhibits the high 11 Indian gamers in the world high 100 and their ELO scores.

The final slot for the candidates (Table 1) will likely be awarded to the highest FIDE-rated participant left.

If Gukesh or Arjun make it to the Candidates Tournament, there will likely be three Indians in the eight-player event, permitting for an opportunity for an additional Indian world champion since Anand received it 5 occasions earlier than Carlsen started his period of domination.

Table 3 | The desk exhibits the high 10 international locations, the common ELO scores of high 10 gamers, the quantity of gamers in high 100 record (dwell ELO scores) and the quantity of Grandmasters (GMs) in the nation.

Other international locations having gamers in the high 100 embrace Uzbekistan (4), Romania (3), England (3), Poland (3), Netherlands (2), Iran (2), Hungary (2), Serbia (2), Israel (2), Norway (1), Bulgaria (1), Vietnam (1), Turkey (1), Austria (1), Croatia (1), Czech Republic (1), Sweden (1), Egypt (1), Slovenia (1) 

This will likely be the icing on the cake in yet one more robust yr for Indian chess, with six Indians having an ELO ranking above 2700, and veteran GM P. Harikrishna being the sixth. GMs SL Narayanan (dwell ELO: 2694.2) and Nihal Sarin (2692.6) additionally got here near the Super GM mark, whereas GMs Aravindh Chithambaram (2662.3), Raunak Sadhwani (2654) and Abhimanyu Puranik (2640.4) additionally managed to succeed in the high 100 gamers record, making certain 11 Indians in the record, second solely to Russia’s 12. Based on the newest FIDE record, the high 10 Indian gamers had a mean ELO ranking of 2703, second solely to the U.S.’s 2720 (Table 3).

Table 4 | The desk lists the international locations with the most quantity of GMs

*Three extra will likely be added to FIDE’s newest record early subsequent month

There at the moment are 84 Indian GMs, with three but to be finalised by FIDE. India has the fifth highest quantity of GMs (Table 4). One of the three new Indian GMs is R. Vaishali, who is simply the third Indian lady chess participant after Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika to turn into a GM. Vaishali and Praggnanandhaa are the solely Indian siblings who’re GMs. India is in the high 5 amongst international locations with the most GMs amongst ladies. (Table 5). Vaishali and Humpy have additionally certified for the Women’s Candidates Tournament.

Table 5 | The desk lists the international locations with the most quantity of feminine GMs.

*One extra (Vaishali) to be added to FIDE’s newest record early subsequent month.

Germany (21), U.S. (15), Serbia (14), Poland and Azerbaijan (10) spherical up the high 10 international locations with the most WGMs.

srinivasan.vr@thehindu.co.in

Source: FIDE web site, 2700chess.com

Also learn |Data | Another tiger from Madras: The rise and rise of D. Gukesh 

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