BUDAPEST: The Indian chess ecosystem keeps producing positive headlines. On Sunday, just as the country was celebrating Deepavali, Anuj Shrivatri, a player from Madhya Pradesh, became the 100th Grandmaster.
For at least a few months, this number has been whispered in chess circles up and down the corridors of the game. Now that it's officially here, how did India get to 100 GMs? Almost 40 years ago, when Viswanathan Anand became the first Indian to wear that title, it was considered aspirational for many chess players.
These days? It has become de rigueur.
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When this daily had asked Anand the question of 100 GMs earlier this year, this is what he had to say.
"I don't know if 100 is going to be that much more significant than 99," he had remarked. "Yes, from 90 to 100 you can say that it was pretty amazing (the pace). Could have celebrated 98 or 99 as well but 100 is also a nice number, three digits. Why do we have anniversaries? It's nice."
The pace. That's the one thing that has been truly outstanding in India's recent bull run in the board game. From Anand in late 1987 to Raunak Sadhwani becoming the 65th GM, it had taken over 30 years. Yet, India has averaged around 5 GMs per year over the last six years. If you were to consider from the beginning of 2025, Shrivatri is the 15th to earn that title.
Shrivatri, the first ever from Madhya Pradesh to become a GM, has some story to tell. At a time when teenagers are dropping out of school to become GMs as a 13-year-old, the 22-year-old took the scenic route to the top. It included eschewing the chance to settle abroad. He earned his third and final GM norm by winning the 7th ASEAN Plus Individual Open Championship on Sunday.
Typically, a lot of teenagers hire the best coaches, travel the world to try and earn those titles and progress up the ranks as soon as possible. Shrivatri's was different. He's self thought. Swayams Mishra, a highly respected coach, told this daily that: "I am particularly happy for someone like Anuj, who is self trained and has achieved this milestone without following the conventional path of becoming a GM as a teenager. It is not easy for players in such circumstances, especially with the additional pressure they face."
Stories like Shrivatri is what has helped turbocharge India's push to 100 GMs. At one point of time, the game was played in specific pockets. Not anymore. Young parents are seeing opportunities and consider it as a viable career for their kids.
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Chess wasn't always like this, both in terms of opportunities as well as accessibility. But the pandemic changed the perception overnight. When every other sport suffered, when recreational playgrounds were shuttered for months on end and when cricket bats were in genuine danger of housing cobwebs, children — some of them as old as young as four — turned to chess, especially games online.
Vaibhav Suri, a GM and R Praggnanandhaa's coach, picks up the story. "Every single GM title comes with its own set of stories about growth, accomplishment and endurance," he told this mast. "It's quite heartening to see the Indian chess ecosystem grow rapidly.
"I think that period (around the pandemic) saw a lot of people sharing their knowledge, be it through courses, YouTube or content. Overall, the level of play has gone up in the last couple of years. Earlier, when a young player used to reach 10th or 12th standard, they would have to take a decision to prioritise academics or chess and generally it made more sense to stick to a safer approach with academics. I think seeing interest and support growing in chess also attracts players to take up chess a bit more seriously."
It's the same theory Srinath Narayanan, a GM and somebody who has worked with Arjun Erigaisi, has espoused on multiple occasions. "It showcases the immense depth of our country," he said.
Here's one illustration to drive home this point about how accessibility has started to create a lot of players from a very early age. In May this year, Tamizh Amudhan, all of eight, was battling it out in an online game against Vincent Keymer, the then World No. 7.
Amudhan, whose home in Thiruthangal in Sivakasi was shrouded in darkness because of a power cut, had logged on to take part in a Freestyle Friday Championship, an online meet where the world's best like Keymer regularly feature. Amudhan, the World No. 1 in the Under-9 category then, played his game to perfection to best the German. Since then, he has seen his ratings soar in Classical and he could be in line to attain the GM title in the next few years.
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While increased opportunities and newer avenues have given the game a way forward in hitherto uncharted territories, that is the other part of the jigsaw. The main part of the piece, by and large, is young parents and their kids willingly subjecting themselves to the world of competitions, travel, incurring huge financial costs with no guarantees and prioritising chess from a very early age.
When the chess Olympiad was held in Mahabalipuram near Chennai in 2022, RB Ramesh, a celebrated coach, had explained this phenomenon and why the west has problems replicating this model. "In India," he has told this daily then, "we don't frown upon hard work. It's considered a virtue, unlike in the west. When we work hard in one aspect of our life, in the west there is a tendency to say 'you are missing out, you are not having a complete childhood. Here, we appreciate it.
"Many children take it up seriously at a very young age when they have fewer distractions (social media and video games). So, they are hopeful and energetic. It's the best age to learn." What has also helped Indian kids who have the means to learn is the ready availability of trainers and academies to learn the game.
Ramesh, Narayanan, Shyam Sundar, Vishnu Prasanna, Mishra and Sandipan Chanda are six GM-turned coaches who have been training or mentoring the next generation for years. Because of the availability of quality trainers, Indian kids generally do not have to resort to taking classes from an outsider.
The Soviet Union may have ruled the game for almost a century but it's fairly safe to say that chess' next great capital is going to be India.