List of 85 Chess Grandmasters in India (1988-2024)

Total 85 Chess Grandmasters in India List (1988 to 2024)

List of Chess Grandmasters in India: The table below presents the list of Chess Grandmasters in India from 1988 to 2024 along with the state from where they belong and the year in which they won the Grandmaster title. Viswanathan Anand was the first person from India to win this title in 1988 and popularize the game of chess once again in the country. There are a total of 84 chess grandmasters in India. Vuppala Prraneeth is the 84th chess grandmaster of India.

List of chess Grandmasters in India

First & Most in Chess Grandmasters in India

Check out some interesting details about Indian Chess Grandmasters in terms of first and most.

First Grandmaster from India- Viswanathan Anand

Viswanathan Anand is the first person from India to become Chess Grandmaster and one of the few players to achieve Elo rating above 2800. Anand won the Grandmaster title in 1988 when he was only 18 years old after winning Shakti Finance International chess tournament held in Coimbatore, India. For his historic achievement, he was awarded Padma Shri at age 18 and was also the first sportsperson to receive the Padma Vibhushan award. Anand is a five-time World Chess Champion currently serving as the deputy president of FIDE.

First Female Grandmaster of India- Koneru Humpy

Koneru Humpy was the first Indian woman to win Grandmasters title and the eighth ever female Grandmaster. She won the title in 2002 and became the youngest woman ever to do so at the age of 15 years, 1 month, 27 days. Recently, she won the FIDE Women’s rapid chess championship in 2019 after coming back from a two-year maternity sabbatical.

Youngest Grandmaster of India- Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, a chess prodigy, earned the international master title at the age of 10 and the Grandmaster title at age 12. with these achievements, he became the youngest and the second-youngest player to win these titles respectively. Again in 2022, Praggnanandhaa became the youngest player to defeat current world champion Magnus Carlsen at only the age of 16. He is the younger brother of Woman Grandmaster and International Master, R Vaishali.

State with maximum Grandmaster from India- Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is the Indian state to produce most number of Grandmaster title from India. Out of 75 Grandmasters, 26 belong to the state of Tamil Nadu, followed by Maharashtra (10) and West Bengal (9). Viswanathan Anand, the first India to ever become a Grandmaster, also belong to the Tamil Nadu state.

FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs)

The International Chess Federation (also known as World Chess Federation and referred to by its French acronym FIDE) is an international organization based in Switzerland that acts as the governing body of international chess competition. The organization was founded in France in 1924 and is recognized as the major organizer of chess championships at international levels by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). FIDE defines the rules of chess, both for individual and international competitions, and calculates the Elo ratings of players and awards titles, including Grandmaster.

Chess Grandmasters in India: FAQs