With a remarkable display over the past two weeks, India swept the Open and Women's gold medals at the 2024 FIDE Chess Olympiad tournament in Budapest, marking yet another significant milestone in the sport for the nation.
Here we look at the big milestones that Indian chess has seen over the years:
First participation in Chess Olympiad: 1956
The Chess Olympiad was first held unofficially in 1924 in Paris (simultaneously with the Paris Olympics), and officially by FIDE in 1927 in London. In1956, the 12th edition of the official Olympiad, India made their debut. Representing the nation were Ramdas, BP Mhalskar Singh, S Venkatraman and RB Sapre.
India finished third in Final C with 20.5 points, well outside the podium places, and the tournament was won by the Soviet Union (31 points).
First international master: Manuel Aaron (1961)
Aaron became the nation's first IM in 1961, and the Tamil Nadu native was crowned national champion a record nine times. He also served as secretary of the TN chess association and did much to make the state a hub of Indian chess. In fact, India's next IM came from the state 17 years after Aaron's emergence: V Ravikumar.
The state also gave India its first ever GM...
First Grand Master: Viswanathan Anand (1988)
In 1988, Viswanathan Anand became India's first GM and Indian chess would change forever. Then just 19, Anand would embark on a journey that would catapult India to the global stage.
First Candidates win: Viswanathan Anand (1995)
The first step on that rise was challenging for the world title. To do that, a chess player has to win the notoriously difficult FIDE Candidates tournament, and that's just what Anand did in 1995. This saw him challenge Russia's Garry Kasparov for the world title, but he would lose that match 7.5-10.5.
First World Champion: Viswanathan Anand (2000)
Anand would try again in 1998 but lose out to Russia's Anatoly Karpov. In 2000, though, he wouldn't be denied as he beat Spain's Alexei Shirov 3.5-1.5 .
He would then go on to win it four more times, each a significant milestone in Indian chess and each driving home his position in not just Indian chess' but Indian sports' hall of fame.
2007: won a championship tournament of eight players with 9 points, beating out Russia's Vladimir Kramnik and Israel's Boris Gelfand (both tied on 8)
2008: beat Kramnik 6.5-4.5
2010: beat Bulgaria's Veselin Topalov 6.5-5.5
2012: beat Gelfand 8.5-7.5
He would compete in two more World Championship matches, losing both to Norway's Magnus Carlsen.
First women's grand master: Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi (2001)
S Vijayalaksmi became the nation's first Women's IM in 1996. The Chennai native then became India's first WGM in 2001.
Koneru Humpy of Andhra Pradesh became the youngest woman ever in history to become GM in 2002, aged 15 (a record she held till 2008)
First Chess Olympiad medal: 2014
In a close-run affair the Indian team of Parimarjan Negi, Sethuraman P, Krishnan Sasikiran, Adhiban Baskaran and Lalith Babu won bronze in the 2014 Olympiad. In fact, India were one among four teams to be second behind China on 17 points, but per the tie-breaker rules, Hungary took silver and India the bronze.
First Women's Chess Olympiad medal: 2022
The Indian women's team won their first medal with a bronze in the first Olympiad held in India (in Chennai, 2022). The team of Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavali, Vaishali Rambabu, Tania Sachdev, and Bhakti Kulkarni won 17 points to finish behind Georgia and Ukraine (both of whom had 18, Ukraine winning on tiebreakers).
Interestingly, the India 2 men's team of Dommaraju Gukesh, Nihal Sarin, R Praggnandhaa, Adhiban and Raunak Sadhwani also took bronze with a score of 18 (behind Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan)
Youngest winner of Candidates: Gukesh (17) in 2024
The FIDE Candidates 2024 marked a big moment for Indian chess with five Indians participating in the big event - the highest ever from a single country to feature. The Open tournament was won by the 17-year-old Gukesh, who won the tournament with 9 points. He's the tournament's youngest ever winner and will now face off with China's Ding Liren for the World Championship later this year.
First Chess Olympiad gold: 2024
In Budapest, India created history winning their first ever Olympiad gold, and doing so in both Open and Women's categories.
The Open team of Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi and Harikrishna Pentala won by a whopping margin of 4 points (21 vs USA's 17).
The Women's team of Harika, Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal and Sachdev won it with 19 points (vs Kazakhstan's 18)