Author: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

Hosting the FIDE World Cup later this year will be a fitting feather in the cap for the latest superpower in chess. The world body of the game announced on Monday (July 21) that the 2025 edition will be held in India from October 30 to November 27. A total of 206 players including some top names will be in action in the biennial event played in a knockout format. The venue is yet to be named. “Further details, including the announcement of the host city, will be released in due course,” said a FIDE statement. However, as per early…

Atreyo Mukhopadhyay India versus China — there is a subplot brewing in the heat of the women’s chess World Cup. There were four Indians and three Chinese in the quarter-finals. Now, it’s come down to two versus two. Going by world rankings and performances in big events, it’s advantage China. But having come this far and given a good account of themselves in the process, the Indians will be formidable underdogs. Koneru Humpy admits that as far as aspirations go as a chess player, she doesn’t think about winning the big prizes anymore. “I used to think of becoming the…

Atreyo Mukhopadhyay The World Cup is a good reference point to study the phenomenal rise of India’s chess prodigies. In the 2023 edition of the biennial event in Azerbaijan, four Indians made it to the quarterfinals in the open section. R Praggnanandhaa finished runner-up. It was the first sign of the wave that subsequently saw players from the country win some of the biggest prizes on offer. Zoom into the women’s World Cup 2025 being played in Georgia. Four Indians are in the quarterfinals for the first time. Divya Deshmukh has knocked out the world No. 6 and Koneru Humpy…

Thanks to Viswanathan Anand and the generation of players known as his ‘children’, India has won almost everything at the highest level. After the five-time world chess champion cut down on competing, the country has found a Candidates and world champion in D Gukesh. The men’s and women’s teams have won the Olympiad gold. Even the world junior (U-20) champions are Indians. The biggest prize missing is the women’s world championship crown in the classical format. Progress in this section has been slower compared to the rapid strides made in the open segment. Koneru Humpy came the closest but…

Atreyo Mukhopadhyay There was something familiar for the hardcore India fan in the team’s capitulation while chasing a victory target of 193 in the third Test against England. It wasn’t the resistance of Ravindra Jadeja and the last two batters. Broadening the canvas, one could see that this is becoming a trend — India following up one spirited performance in an away Test by crumbling in the subsequent ones. South Africa in 2021-22, India were 1-0 up and lost the next two along with the series. England in 2021-22, in the series played over two trips, India were 1-0 and…

As if beating Magnus Carlsen twice in one month wasn’t enough, D Gukesh made the occasion memorable by making his first serious mark in the shorter versions of chess. Finishing on top after the rapid segment of the Grand Chess Tour Rapid & Blitz meet in Zagreb means the job is half done when it comes to winning the title. But in terms of making a statement, he made a big one. According to presenters on the official YouTube channel, this prompted Garry Kasparov to wonder whether the empire is crumbling. The Russian legend, who was Carlsen’s mentor during his…

Talk about Indian chess revolves mostly around the top of the pyramid. Three in the world’s first six, D Gukesh beating Magnus Carlsen in classical and rapid in quick succession, R Praggnanandhaa’s bull run — they have swung the world’s attention towards them for valid reasons. Everybody asks, what caused this, other than the influence of Viswanathan Anand? A look at the FIDE World Cup in the under 8, 10 and 12 segments provides the answer. There were open and girls categories in each section in the event played in Batumi in Georgia. Of the 18 medals on offer, Indians…

“Heh, heh,” he would grin, with heavy emphasis on the ‘h’s. “All good. We are all set for this edition of the event. But I won’t tell any individual representative of the media who the star attraction is. You all will know in due course,” Soumen Majumdar, who passed away in the early hours on Wednesday, used to say. He was perhaps India’s first and only star organiser of chess events. Even today, internationally-rated events in India are few and far between. Back in the 1980s and 90s, they were non-existent. Majumdar almost single-handedly delivered the Goodricke Open for over…

When it comes to Shreyas Iyer and Kolkata, it’s not primarily about Kolkata Knight Riders. It was at Eden Gardens in late 2014 when as a greenhorn he made an impact on a greentop against a fairly competent Bengal attack in a Ranji Trophy match. Weeks later, he was up against a four-pronged Tamil Nadu spin challenge on a turner at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Mumbai lost by an innings, Wasim Jaffer shook his head in disgust, a new generation from that powerhouse of a team flopped and Iyer burnt bright. S Sharath, the current India selector, was among…

Atreyo Mukhopadhyay “You will see at least one Indian in each of the top tournaments,” said Viswanathan Anand at the RevSportz Conclave in March this year. The five-time world champion was commenting on the surge of the youngsters on the world stage after D Gukesh became the youngest-ever world champion, of the impending revolution they were going to cause. What Anand might not have comprehended then and nobody did is the fact that there would be four Indians in the top 10 of the world rankings and they would excel in top events. Going by the ‘live ratings’ of FIDE…