When I was growing up, becoming a Grandmaster was a very real challenge for Indians. We were all competing to become the first Grandmaster and I spent two years chasing that title. I say two years because I became an International Master in 1984-85 and then took on this obvious next step.
So, the challenges we faced were not only becoming strong enough to fulfil the norm requirements but also getting to play in tournaments that ticked all the boxes for being a Grandmaster tournament. You had to have a certain number of players from a certain number of countries, a minimum number of Grandmasters, and a certain number of rounds (with a minimum of nine).
In those days, many norm hopefuls not only from India would meet there looking for those tournaments. I played a couple of tournaments in the then Soviet Union. I used to play in big open tournaments like the Lloyds Bank and some European events just to see if I could get my norm. I spent two years there and eventually something happened that somebody had told me about at the start of the journey. They said, ‘Right now you’ll keep falling short. But one day, you’ll shoot past the thing and you won’t even realise it.’ It kind of worked out like that for me.
So, for me, if you like, that was what fuelled my belief.
I felt that if I just kept on working I would get stronger and get there. Then the group that chased the title with me, Praveen Thipsay, Dibyendu Barua all became Grandmasters slowly. I was the youngest compared to this group, but a generation younger than me started to arrive on the scene. By 2000, we had six Grandmasters. At that point, we had representation from Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Maharashtra. This number kept expanding steadily. We were around 25-30 GMs in 2010.
This seemed to mirror the larger participation in chess, in open tournaments, junior competitions, everything. You also heard about a lot of academies that were full of students, summer coaching camps for chess. All the signs were that people were connecting with chess in increased numbers. It also coincided with my brushes with the world title, which clearly helped sustain a lot of interest then.
By 2010, the first generation of grandmasters was already starting to teach another wave. So, people like Ramesh and Kunte started to coach others systematically. Dibyendu was running an academy.
We got a kind of golden generation around that point. This generation, born between 2003 and 2006, is doing spectacularly well. They already include a world champion, a Top 10 player and the world junior champion. A special group. They started to compete with each other in junior tournaments. I would say they benefited from the opportunity to work and interact with the first generation.
Recently, I think there’s been a further swing, which dates back roughly to the pandemic. I wouldn’t say it started there, but that’s where it hit its peak, where chess started to find itself on phones, on YouTube and streaming. That drove a lot of interest and many youngsters seemed to emerge.
This brought in a lot of corporate support and government interest. Governments began giving many incentives for medals. This is the phase we are in now. Clearly, it’s a very healthy system. I think the need for us now is to keep expanding. For me, it’s very heartening that the number of states with one or two grandmasters has gone up by a lot. States like Assam and now Madhya Pradesh have their first Grandmasters. That’s very nice because it inspires interest at a state level.
I would say we could be in a growth phase right now because technology is on our side. There’s a lot of awareness and the broader trend of the sport getting younger is also making itself felt. I like this because it also helps the game spread to each and every corner of the country.
Also Read: The making of India’s GM century: It takes a village
It’s very heartening to see our women do so well; four of our women have the Grandmaster title, besides competing at the highest level. Hopefully this predicts that India’s chess future will have a lot more women in it.
I think that’s the stage that Indian chess is at now and should continue to work from, which is how to spread the game to more and more places. 100 is a nice milestone. I consider it the equivalent of a birthday or something similar. It’s a moment to celebrate. We deserve a moment of quiet self-congratulation and then the work goes on. Gukesh will play for the world title this month. Many others are doing well. It seems that we have a stable Olympiad team that will fight for gold, silver and bronze for the foreseeable future. And many, many markers are looking very positive for India.
(As told to Susan Ninan)