April 22, 2024: "The "children" of Vishy Anand are on the loose!"
December 12, 2024: "The era of "Vishy's children" is truly upon us!"
Those were the words of Garry Kasparov, one of the greatest chess players of all time. The first when Gukesh Dommaraju won the Candidates tournament in 2024, and the second when he won the World Championship against Ding Liren.
Kasparov is right. Everywhere you look around in the chess world these days, you will find a young Indian competing for the top honours. You look around social media a little bit more, you'll find a picture of said young Indian in an even younger avatar receiving a trophy from Viswanathan Anand himself.
The latest in that line of young Indians winning top honours came last week at the FIDE Women's World Cup in Batumi, Georgia, as Divya Deshmukh got the better of Koneru Humpy in an all-Indian final, to win the biggest prize of her career, and in the process, become a Grandmaster as well.
Divya's win was as significant as the all-Indian final. Women's chess is a Chinese stronghold. It has been for almost double Divya's lifespan. From 1991 onwards, China have had six different women's world champions. In that 34-year span, the reigning women's world champion has been Chinese for 25 years.
The boy who would be King@FIDE_chess @WacaChess pic.twitter.com/kN8eG7fijq
- Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) December 13, 2024
But in chess, young India cares neither for reputation nor history. Gukesh was the youngest in the field at the Candidates. Five of the other seven players in it were rated higher than him at the time. It mattered not. Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi were all vanquished. And then, Ding Liren was. Just because Gukesh cared not for a position that was heading for the draw-est of draws. He pushed and pushed. That's why he's the World Champion now.
Similarly, in the Women's World Cup, Divya cared not for her inability to close games out in endgames. She struggled against Zhu Jiner in the fourth round, against Harika Dronavalli in the quarterfinals, against Tan Zhongyi in the semifinals, and then against Humpy in the final tie-breaks as well. She pushed and pushed, the odds were on her side, but putting the finishing touches on a win, in any sport, is arguably as tough to do as anything else in the sport. That's why she's World Cup winner and Grandmaster now.
It really was a win could just herald the beginning of her era of control over women's chess. It won't be easy, particularly given that there are also some young-ish Chinese in contention, like Jiner and Lei Tingjie. R Vaishali and Humpy were at the last women's Candidates tournament. Now, Divya and Humpy are guaranteed their spots there. Vaishali and Harika have one more opportunity to try and make it there as well.
India's conveyor belt of incredible chess players sees it now have three in the top 6 of the open FIDE standard ratings, and four in the top 20 of the women's standard ratings. Particularly in the open category, with the likes of Vidit Gujrathi and Aravindh Chithambaram on the cusp of the top 20 themselves, coupled with Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi in the top six, an era of Indian dominance isn't just a pipe dream.
At the eSports World Cup that just finished in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Friday, Erigaisi finished fourth. He lost a semifinal to Alireza Firzouja and a third-place match to Hikaru Nakamura, but the latter was incredibly close. Nihal Sarin was in it and also lost in the quarterfinals, but that was to Magnus Carlsen.
The faster time controls are definitely an area where the Indians all need to improve, but when you speak of an era of dominance, it comes from different players having different strengths. Where Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa have shown their class in classical chess, Erigaisi has gone close in the faster time controls, like at the World Rapid Championships last year and the eSports World Cup. Sarin has risen through the ranks and earned acclaim for his speed, particularly in online chess, which he would like to translate to over-the-board performances as well.
There were three Indians at the last Candidates tournament. This time, there could be as many as well. Praggnanandhaa is primed to make it through the FIDE circuit. Erigaisi has a couple of more massive opportunities. Gukesh will already be at the World Championship match.
Imagine telling Vishy Anand at his peak that one day he would see an India vs India World Championship match, and it would be between players dubbed "Vishy's kids". Actually, imagine being gutsy enough to even think it. It may or may not happen in 2026, but dismissing the possibility of it happening isn't very wise.
Anand is still around, hands-on, as a godfather, watching over this current generation of Indian chess players exert their dominance over the world. To paraphrase a popular English line, chess is coming home.