Although Indian chess has been improving over the last two years or so, 2024 is without a doubt the nation’s year in the sport.
Even though Indian chess has been improving over the last two years or so, there is no denying that 2024 was a huge leap forward for the sport. The year began with the Candidates tournament in Toronto, Canada, where five Indians made the cut in the open field despite the difficult qualifying requirements of the competition; only eight made it to the Candidates. While D Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, and Vidit Gujrathi made the cut in the eight-man lineup, Koneru Humpy and Vaishali Rameshbabu were in the eight-women’s division.In the men’s category, Gukesh won his shot at challenging Ding Liren for the world title, overcoming various hurdles despite the presence of veterans such as Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana, and Hikaru Nakamura. He became the youngest person to win a shot in the world championship.
However, this was only the beginning of what proved to be an unparalleled year for Indian chess. Over 180 countries competed in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest, and the Indian contingent won open team golds in both the men’s and women’s categories.In order to secure the most medals available, India also secured four individual golds: Gukesh (Board 1) and Arjun Erigaisi (Board 3) in the open category, and Divya Deshmukh (Board 4) and Vantika Agrawal (Board 4) in the women’s category. Similar to Gukesh, Erigaisi also reached his peak in 2024 after missing out on the candidates, becoming only the second Indian after five-time champion Viswanathan Anand and 16th overall to attain the gold-standard ELO rating of 2800. According to the most recent rating point, he was at 2801 rating points, and he peaked at number three.In 2024, Divya Deshmukh also had a historic year as she took home the girl’s championship from the FIDE World Junior Chess Championship in Gandhinagar. In addition, she is vying to become just the fourth female Grandmaster in the nation.
And to top it all off, Gukesh took full advantage of his chance to win the traditional world title, defeating the reigning champion Ding Liren. Gukesh became the youngest-ever world champion after defeating Ding in the 14-game match in Singapore. In addition, his victory meant that India had its second world champion following Vishy.Following Gukesh’s victory, chess great Garry Kasparov, the previous youngest world champion, aptly captured India’s unexpected chess rise.
“Gukesh’s triumph completes an incredible year for India. Together with their Olympiad supremacy, chess has returned to its roots, and the time of “Vishy’s children” is here to stay.” Kudos to Gukesh for breaking his own record, Kasparov pointed out.
