Baku lies 28 metres beneath sea degree. No capital metropolis on the planet is located decrease. During the previous one month, the Azerbaijan capital witnessed Indian chess hovering increased and better, on the Chess World Cup.

First, D. Gukesh broke into the world’s top 10 and replaced five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand as India’s No. 1 in stay score (he’s anticipated to stay in that unique membership when the world chess governing physique FIDE releases its September record). Gukesh is 17.

That was a improbable feat, particularly by somebody so younger. Few would have imagined it could be overshadowed by one other Indian at Baku, the birthplace of Garry Kasparov, who was the world’s greatest participant for greater than 20 years. R. Praggnanandhaa performed a collection of spectacular strikes to achieve the ultimate of the World Cup, probably the most prestigious and gruelling tournaments in worldwide chess.

He defeated the World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura and No. 3 Fabiano Caruana earlier than establishing the title clash with Magnus Carlsen, the undisputed king of chess for over a decade. Praggnanandhaa is eighteen. His birthday fell throughout the match.

In the World Cup’s quarterfinals, Praggnanandhaa’s opponent was Arjun Erigaisi. The latter put up an excellent combat earlier than taking place to his buddy — the duo have been photographed taking a night stroll a number of hours earlier than their match acquired beneath means — within the sudden dying. Arjun is nineteen. So is Nihal Sarin, who misplaced to fourth seed Ian Nepomniachtchi within the fourth spherical; he had fought arduous to take the match to the tie-breakers.

Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Arjun and Nihal certainly stored the Indian flag flying excessive at Baku. They belong to the golden era of Indian chess.

The undeniable fact that they’re all beneath 20 factors in direction of a vibrant future for the nation in a really world sport that’s gaining quickly in reputation — due to quite a lot of causes, such because the pandemic (the coronavirus paused just about all different worldwide competitions in sports activities), the streaming of chess occasions and content material, and the Netflix collection The Queen’s Gambit. ‘The Fabulous Four’ raises the potential for an Indian domination a number of years later.

They supplied a glimpse to the long run when three of them helped India 2 win the bronze on the Chess Olympiad final 12 months, held at Mamallapuram close to Chennai. Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Nihal have been a part of that staff, whereas Arjun performed for India 1.

Gukesh was the standout performer on the Olympiad. He scored eight wins on the trot on the highest board. That is the type of efficiency you very hardly ever get to see in chess; for the potential for a draw could be very excessive, and a participant wouldn’t thoughts sharing the purpose, particularly with black items. For Gukesh, the color of the chess items didn’t matter at Mamallapuram. Neither did the power of his opponent.

He simply went for the win, in recreation after recreation. His efficiency on the Olympiad is thought to be one of many biggest of all time in chess.

Gukesh, the one little one of a Chennai-based ENT surgeon and a microbiologist, received the World Under-12 title in 2018. The following 12 months, he got here near beating the report of changing into the world’s youngest Grandmaster ever; he missed it by simply 17 days.

Every chess participant’s dream

Becoming a Grandmaster — each critical chess participant’s dream — at 12 isn’t any small feat, however he had wished to be the youngest ever. He quickly overcame that disappointment, as his power as a participant grew at speedy, even bewildering, pace. Everyone knew he was a particular expertise, however maybe no person anticipated him to interrupt into the world’s elite so shortly.

Gukesh crossed the magical mark of 2700 Elo factors final 12 months. A chess participant’s power is decided by Elo factors and presently there are solely 34 gamers on the planet with a score of 2700 or above. Last month, he turned the world’s youngest participant to achieve 2750. At current, there are solely 12 gamers in that elite record.

Praggnanandhaa isn’t there but. But he must be, earlier than the 12 months is out, in all probability. He has 2707 Elo factors in FIDE’s August record and he’s ranked World No. 29. He ought to transfer increased within the subsequent record, because of his gorgeous efficiency at Baku, the place he had begun because the thirty first seed.

He wasn’t anticipating to play the ultimate, which he misplaced largely due to erring in time strain within the tie-breaker. He had no bother drawing each the classical video games (of longer period), although it needs to be added that Carlsen was affected by meals poisoning.

The Norwegian was the overwhelming favorite to win the World Cup. He is, for no matter match he turns up at. He is an all-time nice with the very best Elo score (2882, May 2014) in historical past.

But, Praggnanandhaa has had a good bit of success in opposition to Carlsen; he had scored successive wins in opposition to him final 12 months. When he managed to take the World No. 1 to the tie-breaker of the World Cup remaining, he had raised hopes of a nation, the place even individuals who had no clue in regards to the recreation have been following what was taking place in Azerbaijan. Rarely has chess obtained as a lot consideration in India.

Praggnanandhaa, the son of a financial institution supervisor and a homemaker in Chennai, had caught the eye of the chess world quickly after he started taking part in chess. His elder sister R. Vaishali was his sparring associate at house.

Vaishali — she is now one in all India’s high feminine gamers — would often beat him. But someday, when he was seven, he beat her. She was upset that she misplaced to her child brother, however she realised he was no peculiar little one. As did the world, quickly.

Living as much as expectations

It took the world longer to find Arjun. The son of a neurosurgeon and a homemaker in Warangal didn’t precisely set the chessboard on hearth early on in his profession the best way the opposite three prodigies did, however on the Tata Steel Chess India match — the nation’s solely elite occasion — in 2021, he was sensational. He received the title within the speedy part, after starting his marketing campaign as an outsider in a robust area. He almost received the blitz title too, however needed to accept the runner-up spot after tying with Levon Aronian.

Arjun has been residing as much as the large expectations since, together with his very good performances throughout codecs. He is ranked thirty second on the planet with a score of 2704.

Nihal has not touched 2700 but. He is on 2684 and ranked 51st. The son of a physician couple from the central Kerala metropolis of Thrissur confirmed his distinctive expertise in chess when he was little. He received the World Under-10 blitz title in 2013. He relishes the format, the shortest of the three (classical and speedy being the others). Carlsen, after shedding to him in an unofficial on-line recreation in 2020, had known as him one of many higher blitz gamers round. He has had some vital achievements within the classical format too, like the person gold medal he received on the Chennai Olympiad.

Indian chess may afford to dream of extra golden achievements within the coming years, particularly with Anand, the person who single-handedly revolutionised the sport within the nation the place it originated, appearing because the mentor of the golden era.