The challenges that await India's new golden generation of chess stars

The sky is the limit if the current generation of emerging Indian chess stars can keep improving their game.

When the likes of R Praggnanandha, Arjun Erigaisi, and D Gukesh first burst on to the scene a few years ago - just before the COVID-19 era - few would’ve realistically expected them to achieve the heights that they’ve already conquered.

Sure, the talent, skills, composure, patience, and temperament has always been there but making a splash at the highest level requires so much more. It’s a completely different ball-game and it’s no wonder then that the greatest name in Indian chess - Viswanathan Anand - also predicted that it would take five or six years for the prodigies to enter the elusive and elite club of 2700-rated players.

Only 35 people around the world belong to that fabled group so therefore, Anand’s claims from December 2020 carried plenty of realistic weight.

Anand, however, would be proven wrong quickly. Gukesh became a member of the 2700 club in July last year - within less than two years of Anand’s prediction - while Pragg and Erigaisi have also reached the much sought-after milestone. Nihal Sarin is only six points away.

So, is this the golden generation of Indian chess taking baby steps on the world stage? The first grandmaster from India certainly seems to think so!

“The reason I say this is a golden generation is because all of these guys are still teenagers — with the exception of Arjun, who became 20 two days ago — which means, very conservatively, for the next 10 years at every top tournament as Indians we can hope for one of our players to be there. It’s a great time to be an Indian chess fan,” Anand told journalists on the sidelines of the Tata Steel Chess India tournament.

Meanwhile, Praggnanandha, fresh off the back of his runners-up finish at the FIDE World Chess Championship, told media in Kolkata that he feels he has what is needed to be a world champion. It is definitely a sign of how much the shy, soft-spoken teenager has grown in confidence over the last couple of years.

Despite his steely resolve and faith, the road ahead can be quite tricky. It’s one thing qualifying for the prestigious Candidates tournament for the first time but in order to truly challenge the best of the best, the Indian youngsters will have to keep qualifying for and playing the Candidates repeatedly in order to establish themselves at that level.

Another factor that the chess sensations will have to keep in mind is that, although their rise to the top has been spectacular, they will need to tread with a lot more caution now. More and more chess players around the world will try to work them out and look for flaws and areas of concern in their game. As a result, they will need to keep evolving.

The current generation also started out as prodigies, got good coaching early on but what truly helped them to attain their spot in the limelight was their performances and landmark victories on the internet. During the entire COVID era, Pragg, Gukesh, Erigaisi and others beat the best of the best in the world on multiple occasions in online chess tournaments.

As a result, these players have accumulated a lot of games under their belt. Viswanathan Anand is worried that with the current generation having exposure to so much chess, fatigue can quickly set in and the inspiration might take a back-seat.

“Fatigue is a big part of chess in modern times. The players will have to pay a lot of attention to physical fitness. All the top players in the world follow it, these guys will need to do it as well,” he says.

“There is such a thing as too much chess. They will need to learn to stop once in a while. Right now they’re hungry for chess. The schedule they have coming up is very demanding. But if they want it, they should go for it. It’s also different when you’re a teenager. When you’re 19, nothing matters.”

Meanwhile, Anand’s famed opponent from his 2012 World Chess Championship final, Boris Gelfand, seems to think that overexposure to information can also be detrimental to the chess players of this generation. With the internet and news media constantly surrounded and saturated by information of all kinds, it is becoming more and more difficult to preserve clarity.

“Of course, this generation has a big access to information. But also, nowadays there is too much information. To navigate through that excess information is maybe as challenging as it was for us (back in the day) to navigate without information,” Gelfand chimed in.

The Israeli grandmaster also agree that it is an exciting time to be a fan of chess in India with the rise of the golden generation.

“We cannot generalise. Some of them have amazing talent, and it’s really a golden generation. Of course, they learnt things much quicker because of the tools available now. They play much more than we used to play. They learnt a lot from games (of their predecessors). They’re very motivated. Maybe, they’ve had different mediums to learn aspects of the game than us, but they are as motivated and ambitious as us.”