Why 2024 has been the year of Indian chess, even before Gukesh’s title

There has been plenty of seismic activity in chess over the past couple of years. But the tremors emanating from the epicentre — India — have truly shaken up the sport in 2024. No one can deny that 2024 has been the year of Indian chess. And Indian chess’ best year on the chessboard too.
It was a year that started with the Candidates tournament in Toronto. The Candidates — a test any player must pass if they are to earn a shot at the world champion’s crown — can accommodate only eight players, who make the cut through various, equally treacherous paths. Some make it via ranking, others via the FIDE circuit, and the rest via winning designated tournaments like the FIDE Grand Swiss.
The Candidates is designed to be tough to qualify for. Despite that, three Indians — Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi — made the cut in the eight-man field in the open category while two women — Koneru Humpy and Vaishali Rameshbabu — were in the eight-women field. It’s tougher still to win, because it’s an event where only finishing first matters, which is why every game is a knife fight.
Gukesh navigated through the field which had a mix of greenhorns like Pragg and veterans of many Candidates races like Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura to secure a shot at Ding Liren’s throne.
The Candidates tournament foreshadowed things to come in the future. If Pragg doesn’t get you, Vidit will. If Vidit doesn’t, Arjun Erigaisi will. If he does not, then there’s still Gukesh to worry about. Former world champion Magnus Carlsen experienced this last year at the FIDE World Cup, where he triumphed, but not before he had to defeat both Gukesh and Pragg.
“For years now, I’ve been expecting to face Indians in every super tournament there is. And if you look at the youth levels, Indians are absolutely dominating. I’m thoroughly impressed the chess revolution that has happened in India,” Carlsen had told The Indian Express earlier this year. “The current generation of Indians is certainly the strongest. And the most dangerous.”
The upside to India’s chess dominance
Winning the Candidates made Gukesh the youngest man to earn a shot at the world champion’s crown in hory. In the span of 10 months, Gukesh went on to rewrite hory again, prevailing over Ding Liren in a 14-game encounter in Singapore.
“Chess is in a great place!” declared chess legend Susan Polgar after Gukesh’s win over Ding at the world championship.
(Left to right) Indian Chess masters Gukesh, Viswanathan Anand, R. Praggnandhhaa,at the draw of men’s Tata Steel Chess India tournament in Kolkata on September 04, 2023. (Express photo Partha Paul)
Hikaru Nakamura had explained why, as a neutral with no horse in the World Championship race, he was cheering on Gukesh to win.
“When I look at chess hory, I can’t really see any upside to a Ding Liren victory, whereas, certainly in India, chess is very hot right now. So if Gukesh wins, it will become bigger. So, I’m actually definitely rooting for Gukesh to win the match against Ding. But whether it’s him or Arjun, all of them are playing great chess right now, and the future is extremely bright in India,” Nakamura had told The Indian Express in October, a month before the World Championship.
If Gukesh has become the poster boy for this generation of Indians his victory in Singapore, the generation as a whole had its coming-of-age moment in Budapest when they swept most medals on offer at an event where there are over 180 nations participating. The open team claimed the gold after going undefeated at the Olympiad. Gukesh and Arjun both had individual golds as well. To make things even better, the women’s team claimed the team gold too with Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal claiming individual golds on their boards.
Like Gukesh, Arjun has also chosen 2024 as his breakout year. He used the heartbreak of not qualifying for the Candidates as fuel to become only the 15th player in hory to touch the 2800 rating mark. It’s a symbolic achievement that rates high on many elite grandmasters’ goals. Arjun, though, merely shrugged after getting to Mount 2800.
The year also saw Divya Deshmukh win the girls title at the FIDE World Junior Chess Championship in Gandhinagar to send a message that the country could soon have its fourth woman becoming a grandmaster. Divya was the youngest member of the Indian women’s team at the Chess Olympiad and delivered wins even when more established players like Harika Dronavalli and Vaishali did not have their best tournaments.
As chess legend Garry Kasparov, the man who coined the phrase ‘Indian earthquake in chess’ noted earlier this week after Gukesh became the youngest world champion in hory at the age of 18: “Gukesh’s victory caps a phenomenal year for India. Combined with their Olympiad dominance, chess has returned to its cradle and the era of ‘Vishy’s children’ is truly upon us!”

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