It’s often said that Indians are not as good in speed chess as they are in classical. Almost all their exploits have come in the longest format. Not that returns have been zero in rapid and blitz, but compared to laurels in the traditional form, those are not many.
That seems to be changing. Arjun Erigaisi won double bronze at the World Rapid and Blitz, beating Magnus Carlsen in the process. In a disappointing 2025 for him, D Gukesh also defeated the world No. 1 in rapid, other than topping that section in a competition in Zagreb. In 2024, Koneru Humpy won the world rapid title, while R Vaishali took the blitz bronze.
Yet, when it comes to world rankings, especially in the open section, this progress isn’t evident. Erigaisi is in the top-10 in all three formats. The rest are well behind. In classical, there are six Indians in the top-30. In rapid, the number is three. It’s four in blitz. Indians on the podium in these events is more of a rarity, their success in classical making the contrast starker.
Viswanathan Anand, who continues to be in the top-20 in all three formats at the age of 56, says rankings in the shorter formats can be misleading because of the way they are calculated. The player to have won the world rapid title twice believes Indians are making good progress in these. According to him, it’s not reflected in rankings because of the method of determining them.
“It’s (gap between rankings in classical and speed chess) because the rapid and blitz rankings are based on very low numbers,” Anand said after finishing second in the rapid segment of Tata Steel Chess India. “There aren’t many tournaments in these formats, which means our players don’t play these very often.”
He explained that ranking is not always the best indicator of how an individual is performing at the moment. “The gap in rankings is really the lag from before. The older players are better positioned in rapid and blitz because our rating was already 2700-plus (when the calculations started). But at that time, Pragg or Nihal might have been 2200-something. It’s the same with all the youngsters. They have to make up for that gap. That’s a technical problem, not a real chess problem.”
The five-time world champion in classical pointed at the success stories. “Their performances are quite good. Arjun has just won a double bronze. Pragg has done well and so has Gukesh. I know he has this reputation (of not being top-level in rapid). But if you look at the results, it’s still decent.”
Nihal, who won the rapid crown at the Tata Steel event in Kolkata, also feels there are not enough rapid and blitz tournaments to increase rating points. Before the start of this competition, 2024 world rapid champion, Russia’s Volodar Murzin had said the same.
The Indian youngster, however, adds something interesting. “In our country and in many other places, chess players are evaluated on the basis of their performance in classical. Rapid and blitz are important, but the longest format is the pinnacle. That’s naturally the priority. Possibly that’s why we don’t have more tournaments in the shorter formats,” said Nihal.
Not as spectacular as in the classical format, the Indian graph in rapid and blitz is moving up. Other than Erigaisi’s double bronze, Humpy finished third in the world rapid in the women’s section. There were three more Indians in the top-10. Collective results in these formats from the 2024 World Rapid and Blitz are positive. The speed barrier doesn’t look insurmountable anymore.
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