With Indian chess at its acme, the stars are set to pose a strong challenge at the Candidates

Come April, chess followers in India – their number is rising rapidly – will have their eyes set on Toronto. The Canadian city is hosting the Candidates tournament. It is one of the most important events in the chess calendar, for it determines the challenger who will face the reigning World champion.

In chess, a World champion enjoys a tremendous privilege. Unlike the World champions of most sports, they usually needn’t bother about reaching the final, the World title match. The champion just has to be willing to defend his crown – and not all champions are – while the challenger has to come through a tough qualification cycle, culminating with the Candidates tournament.

So all Ding Liren – he became the first Chinese man to win the World championship earlier this year after defeating Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi – has to do is to find out who, from among the eight Candidates in Toronto, earns the right to challenge him. Two Indians – R. Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi – have already become the Candidates. There are chances for D. Gukesh too, but he needs to do exceedingly well in the tournaments he will be playing this month.

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Until now, only one Indian has played at the Candidates – five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand. The last time he played in a Candidates tournament was in 2016 in Moscow, where he finished third (four years earlier, he had won his last World title in the same city).

And the Indian presence is confirmed in the Women’s Candidates tournament as well, through R. Vaishali, Praggnananadhaa’s elder sister. She is likely to be joined by Koneru Humpy, former World rapid champion and one of the strongest female chess players in history. Humpy has the experience of playing in the Women’s Candidates.

Humpy is delighted that there is going to be a strong Indian presence in Toronto for the Candidates. “I think it is a fantastic achievement that Praggnanandhaa, Vidit and Vaishali have already qualified,” she tells The Hindu over phone from her Vijayawada home. “I feel I should also be able to make it on account of my World ranking.”

Praggnanandhaa was the first one to make it, back in August, with his stunning show at the Chess World Cup at Baku, where he finished runner-up to World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. The players who secure the top three places at the World Cup qualify for the Candidates.

Great day for Indians

Gujrathi became the second Indian to qualify for the Candidates, in the open section, early this month by winning – against all expectations, as he was seeded only 15th – the Grand Swiss tournament in the Isle of Man. Remarkably, Vaishali, seeded 12th, won the women’s title.

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“That was one of the greatest days for Indian chess,” says Humpy. “For Indian players to win both the open and women’s titles in such a strong event was really amazing. The performances of both Vidit and Vaishali were superb. After losing in the first round, Vidit came back strongly to post so many wins; that is never easy in a tournament featuring top players.”

Pravin Thipsay, India’s third Grandmaster, agrees. “I feel Vidit is a changed player now,” he says. “He is looking hungrier for success and that is good news for Indian chess. I think he is also motivated by the younger Indian players like Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin, who have all hogged the limelight with their exploits on the global stage.”

He feels that with the form Gujrathi is in, he has a good chance at the Candidates. “Praggnanandhaa also could do well,” he says. “It is, of course, a strong field that Toronto will see.”

Indeed. World No. 2 Fabiano Caruana, No. 3 Hikaru Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi have already qualified, and players like Alireza Firouzja and Wesley So are also in the running to join the list.

Thipsay believes Humpy – if she qualifies – has an excellent opportunity to emerge as the winner of the Women’s Candidates tournament. “She is very strong and is also very experienced,” he says. “I am happy that Vaishali has also qualified; her progress over the last year or so has been impressive.” Seven of the eight places in the Women’s Candidates have been decided. They are Lei Tingjie – she was the runner-up to the World champion and fellow Chinese Ju Wenjun – Kateryna Lagno, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Nurgyul Salimova, Anna Muzychuk, Tan Zhongyi and Vaishali. The last slot will be filled up by the highest-rated player on FIDE’s January list who has not otherwise qualified.

Hou Yifan is the World No. 1, but she, like her male counterpart Carlsen, is not expected to travel to Toronto. She is the second strongest woman player ever in chess, but three years ago, she became a professor at the School of Physical Education at Shenzhen University. Humpy had lost to her in the 2011 World title match.

Good support from AICF

Humpy is glad that the Women’s Candidates will be a double round-robin affair. “That is the right format for the Candidates,” she says. “The last time, in 2022, it was held as a knock-out event. I had one bad match, and I was out of the tournament in the first round itself.”

She believes the presence of multiple Indians at the Candidates will be another boost to chess in the country. The All India Chess Federation’s (AICF) decision to allocate ₹2 crore for Praggnanandhaa, Gujrathi and Vaishali to aid in their preparation for the Candidates needs to be lauded.

This is not something you would often see in Indian sport, where there is a tendency to shower the champion with money after the triumph. The significant sum of money from the AICF should be a huge relief to the players. That will help them set up top-quality groups of seconds, sparring partners that is, for their campaign in Toronto. They deserve all the support they can get.