.jpeg)
In January 2020 I was in Chennai, attending a training camp we had organized for top Indian chess talents – mostly in their early teens. They were attending six to eight-hour daily sessions with Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand. At the time, I was asked by an Indian TV journalist what I expected from such training camps. I said I predicted that in five years at least two of the top ten players in the world would be Indians, and in ten years at least three or four. "Isn't that a bit unrealistic?" the journalist asked.
"No," I replied, "do you want me to tell you their names right now?" And I pointed to three of the young boys, boisterously kicking a football around the lawn. The Indian journalist smiled and said "Okay, that is so nice, but hardly realistic." Excessive optimism from one of the initiators of the coaching sessions.
And I will admit I was wrong. It happened sooner, and it was not two players. Three of the boys I had pointed out (Gukesh, Pragg and Arjun, as you can see in the front page thumbnail) achieved it in four years – and one of them in fact went on to win the World Championship. And then a few weeks ago I saw a fourth young Indian grandmaster on the verge of ascending into the top ten in the world. It was quite stunning and filled me with pride.
The newcomer surging to the top is Aravindh Chithambaram, whom I first met in Chennai during the World Championship match between Anand and Magnus Carlsen. He had just turned fourteen, and I took this picture of him (on November 22, 2013 at 2:53 pm – the Exif data in the picture tells me).
Aravindh, who was born on September 11, 1999, in Thirunagar, South India, showed tremendous promise from a very young age. At eleven he finished second in the U14 category at the World Youth Chess Championship, when he was twelve years old he won the Indian U19 National Championship. He earned his grandmaster title in 2015 after achieving all three norms in five months, an exceptional feat, as he bypassed the International Master title.
Aravindh won the Indian National Chess Championship consecutively in 2018 and 2019. In 2024 he emerged victorious in the Chennai Grand Masters, defeating top players like Levon Aronian and Arjun Erigaisi. This win marked his entry into the world's top 25 chess players.
In the Prague Masters this year Aravindh won this tournament, defeating strong competitors such as Anish Giri and Praggnanandhaa. Here is our report on that triumph. With it he climbed to place eleven in the world rating list.
This is Aravindh today – see what has become of the kid I first ran across in Chennai
Aravindh is known for his creative and aggressive playing style. His long-time coach RB Ramesh (who else?) played a crucial role in shaping his success, encouraging his family to relocate to Chennai for better training opportunities.
RB Ramesh is an Indian grandmaster from Chennai who is known for his chess academy “Chess Gurukul”. He has nurtured numerous talents and trained grandmasters up to the world elite. He has trained thousands of chess players including the top players in the world. His most famous student is Praggnanandhaa, who is currently ranked number 7 in the world and took part in the 2024 Candidates Tournament.
If you want to join the crowd, you can get yourself Ramesh's video course Improve your pieces - a winning system you need to know, where he underlines the importance of regrouping pieces and gives you key positions against Fritz on various levels.
In my correspondence with Aravindh I struggled for a while with the form of address. I asked him to stop using the Indian adages of respect and to simply call me Frederic, Fred or Hey dude. His reply: "I know you don't like it, but I will continue to call you 'Sir' for your modesty, Sir." But when my missives to the teenager began with "Respected Grandmaster Chithambram," he folded and wrote "Roger that Fred!"
Here are the current live ratings:
The latest Live Chess Ratings – with five Indians in the top fifteen
A description of the ascent of Indian chess can be found in the book Chess Stories by Frederic Friedel and Prof Christian Hesse. It has been published in English by ChessBase India and is a one-to-one translation – by the bilingual authors themselves – of the German edition, with the additional chapter on Indian chess. The book has been endorsed by five World Champions and other notable chess personalities.
Purchase options
The authors have donated all proceeds from the sale of this book to ChessBase India's HelpChess foundation, which has zealously contributed to the ascent of India to the status of chess superpower.
| Advertising |
