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Indian chess has experienced a wonderful growth over the past 2 years, but 2024 has undeniably been a breakthrough year for the sport. The year began with the Candidates Tournament in Toronto, Canada, where 5 Indian players made it to the prestigious event despite the hard qualification criteria.
Only 8 players qualify for the Candidates, and in the open category, D Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, and Vidit Gujrathi got their spots, while Koneru Humpy and Vaishali Rameshbabu earned places in the women’s category.
In the men’s field, Gukesh secured his opportunity to challenge Ding Liren for the world title, and overcomed strong competition from veterans like Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana, and Hikaru Nakamura. He became the most young player to earn a shot at the world championship.
But this was just the start of an extraordinary year for Indian chess. 180 nations participated in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest and India’s team clinched gold in both the men’s and women’s open categories.
India also secured 4 individual gold medals, topped the medal tally—Gukesh (Board 1) and Arjun Erigaisi (Board 3) was in the open category, and Divya Deshmukh (Board 4) and Vantika Agrawal (Board 4) in the women’s category.
Similar to Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi also had an amazing 2024. Although he missed out on the Candidates, he became only the second Indian player after five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, and the 16th overall, to reach the prestigious 2800 Elo rating. He got a rating of 2801 and reached a career-high world rank of No. 3.
Divya Deshmukh too enjoyed a standout year, winning the girls’ title at the FIDE World Junior Chess Championship in Gandhinagar. She is just on the verge of becoming just the 4 Indian woman to reach the title of Grandmaster.