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Vishwanathan Anand almost single handedly brought Indian chess from relative obscurity to the international representation. Regarded as one of the greatest Indian sportspersons, the five-time world champion has also been responsible for many young talents taking up the sport as their profession.World Champion Magnus Carlsen has also claimed, that India would be the strongest chess playing nation, 10 years down the line. Now that Anand is 45, it would be a very big challenge for any player to fill his shoes. But, given the strong pool of talent India has, let us take a look at the top Indian players who could possibly replace Anand to represent India on the world stage.
#5 Baskaran Adhiban
Baskaran Adhiban made a name for himself in the world arena by defeating the highly rated duo of Evgeny Alekseev and Alexandr Fier in the opening two rounds.
In 2008 he became the youngest ever champion of the Indian national 'B' championships.
Becoming grandmaster at the age of 18, B. Adhiban won the Barcelona Sants Open chess tournament (2013). The 23-year old was also a part of the gold medal winning Indian team in the U-16 World Olympiad (2008) in Turkey.
Also at the Chess Olympiad (2014) his 7/10 was crucial for India as they went on to win the bronze medal at the event for the first time.
Adhiban, who also won the U-16 World Youth Championship (2008) has a FIDE rating of 2632 and is just two points behind Sethuraman who is at no.5.
The 9th grandmaster from Tamil Nadu, is ranked 144th worldwide.
#4 Sethuraman S P
Yet another talent from Chennai, Sethuraman, in 2010 was then the youngest grandmaster in India.
Ranked 5th (National) and 136th (Overall), Sethuraman has qualified for the 2015 Chess World Cup in Azerbaijan, after becoming the National Champion in 2014. He was also a part of bronze medal winning Indian team at the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromso.
Sethuraman, who considers Bobby Fischer as his idol, had his biggest breakthrough by winning the World Youth Chess Championship at Anatalya, in Turkey (2009).
He finished in second place at the International Chess Championship held in Chennai (2013), along with Ukraine’s Neverov Valeriy.
The Grandmaster considers himself an aggressive player and feels that his dynamic playing style as his major strength.
With a FIDE rating of 2632, he is quite close to the elusive 2700+ club and would be setting his sights high on the world cup, which starts at September.
#3 Parimarajan Negi
Considered as one of the brightest talents, Negi, at the age of 13, became the second youngest ever grandmaster in the world.
Though pursuing an under-gaduate course in Stanford, the lad from Uttarkhand has said that he would remain focused and active in the chess.
In the year 2008, Negi won the Silver Medal at the World Junior Chess Championship and was the joint winner of the World Open. which was held in USA. In the year 2012, he won the Asian Continental Championship.
An alumna of Amity International School, Negi has also won two Polikiten tournaments (2009 and 2013). He also won the 48th National Premier Chess Championship (2010) in New Delhi.
Conferred with the Arjuna Award in 2010, Negi has FIDE ratings of 2669. He is ranked 3rd in India and 58th in the world.
#2 Sasikiran Krishnan
Recently awarded with the Padma Shri, Sasikiran Krishnan, was the first player from India to reach 2700 points in FIDE ratings after Vishwanath Anand.
Currently ranked 58th in the world, Krishnan became India’s fifth Grand-master at the age of 19.
Sasikiran has been a very good team man and has represented India at the Olympiad since 1998. He has been instrumental in India winning gold in Asian Games in Doha 2007, the quadrennial World Team Championship in Turkey 2009 and bronze medal at the Tromso Chess Olympiad 2014 and.
Also an Arjuna Awardee, Krishnan, has had some close encounters with Anand and even managed to get the better of him. Sasikiran defeated Anand in the second round of the World Chess Championship.
Apart from these, he has also won Hastings tournament (2001), Asian Championship(2002) and Corsica Masters(2011).
Given his dedication and potential, this ONGC employee’s performance has somewhat fallen, after achieving his peak rating of 2720 in 2012.
Krishnan, who turned 34 this January, would be disappointed for not being able to break into top 10 in the world by this time. But, having seen what Anand has achieved, Sasikiran still has time to achieve his dreams.
#1 Pendyala Harikrishna
The 28-year old Grand-Master from Andhra Pradesh is second only to Vishwanathan Anand, among Indians in World Chess Federation (FIDE) rankings.
Only the third Indian to reach 2700+ points, Harikrishna became International Master (2000) and Grandmaster 2001 (at the age of 15). He started tasting success at a very young age and became World U-10 Champion in 1996. He was Asian U-14 Champion twice in 1999 and 2000.
The player from Guntur also became World Junior Champion in 2004.
As a member of the Indian chess team, Harikrishna has represented the country at every Olympiad since 2000. He helped India in securing gold medal in gold in Asian games (2006), Asian Championship (2009) and bronze in Asian Indoor Games (2009).
Harikirhsna, who also has a major in politcal science, is ranked 30th in the world and has a FIDE rating of 2723.
