Gukesh & Co. ready to shine as Chess World Cup returns to India
The last time India hosted the Chess World Cup — way back in 2002 in Hyderabad — for most people, Indian chess began and ended with Viswanathan Anand, who ended up as the champion at the event. Even ardent sports fans would have struggled to answer if they were asked to name the second-best player in Indian chess.
How times have changed.
The likes of D. Gukesh, R. Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and Divya Deshmukh are now familiar names. They are regularly in the headlines, often for their stunning achievements on the chessboard in some corner of the globe. And they are all competing at the upcoming Chess World Cup in Goa, at Resort Rio, near Baga Beach.
Chess is indeed a much-changed game in India as the World Cup returns to the country after a gap of more than two decades. Even a casual glance at the list of players would tell you as much: all the top three ranked players in the tournament are Indians.
Gukesh may not be the highest-ranked Indian in the latest ratings released by FIDE — he is, in fact, not even in the top 10. But he is the No. 1 seed at the World Cup. As the defending World Champion, he will be looking forward to this tournament after all the disappointments he has had to face of late. Fellow Chennaite Praggnanandhaa is seeded second, while Arjun is third. It is not often that you see all the top three seeds being Indians in a major event of a truly global sport.
The World Cup is one of the biggest events in chess. When it comes to individual competition, it is second only in stature to the World Championship. Reigning champion Magnus Carlsen is not defending his crown this time. In the last edition of the event, held in Baku, Azerbaijan, he defeated Praggnanandhaa in the final.
His absence may take some sheen off the World Cup, but that doesn’t make the tournament any less interesting. The Norwegian, who recently became a father for the first time, isn’t particularly keen to play classical chess these days, preferring rapid, blitz or freestyle formats.
Heavy duty: R Praggnanandhaa (left) and Arjun Erigaisi (right), are seeded second and third, respectively, in the tournament.
| Photo Credit:
Maria Emelianova /FIDE
Heavy duty: R Praggnanandhaa (left) and Arjun Erigaisi (right), are seeded second and third, respectively, in the tournament.
| Photo Credit:
Maria Emelianova /FIDE
With Carlsen staying away from Goa, along with World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura and No. 3 Fabiano Caruana, the World Cup takes on an even more open look. Not that a knockout event is expected to progress according to the seeding — all it takes is one bad move for a top player to crash out of the tournament. In chess tournaments played in the Swiss or round-robin format — as is often the case — one gets multiple chances to bounce back into contention after a setback or two.
Praggnanandhaa starts as one of the favourites, not just because he was the finalist in the last World Cup. The 20-year-old has played some sparkling chess this year and won a few significant tournaments, including the prestigious Wijk aan Zee. Though he had some poor results after finishing as runner-up at the 2023 World Cup, he told this writer in an interview how he had worked hard on his game and how it paid dividends. Little wonder he is ranked World No. 5 right now.
Arjun meanwhile is a step above at No. 4. He will also be motivated by the slots available for the Candidates Tournament — the qualifier for the World Championship — from the World Cup. He is well down the ladder in the FIDE Circuit (another route to the Candidates), and a good show at the World Cup is his best shot (the top three from Goa will qualify). Praggnanandhaa is leading the Circuit table, that too by a comfortable margin.
It is not just the terrific trio of Indian chess that the host nation is pinning its hopes on. Players such as Aravindh Chithambaram, Nihal Sarin and Vidit Gujrathi are also expected to advance to the latter stages of the tournament. The other Indians in the fray include Pentala Harikrishna, S.L. Narayanan, Karthikeyan Murali, V. Pranav and Goa’s own Leon Mendonca.
And there is another Indian who will very much be in the limelight: Divya. She was given a wild card by FIDE, and this will be her first event in India after her stunning triumph at the Women’s World Cup in Georgia in July.
This is her second major event in the open section, after she skipped the women’s section of the Grand Swiss tournament and chose to play in the open event at Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
She did well too, with a Grandmaster-norm-level performance. But she didn’t need that norm, as the World Cup had already given her the Grandmaster title directly.
The teenager from Nagpur — easily one of the most exciting young talents in women’s chess — should gain from her experience in Goa, though nobody expects her to set the tournament on fire. With an Elo rating of 2498, she is seeded 150th in a field of 206.
In the limelight: Divya Deshmukh was given a wild card for this tournament.
| Photo Credit:
Michał Walusza/FIDE
In the limelight: Divya Deshmukh was given a wild card for this tournament.
| Photo Credit:
Michał Walusza/FIDE
Anish Giri, fresh from his victory at the Grand Swiss, is the highest-seeded non-Indian. Despite his Indian-sounding name, he is Dutch with partial Nepalese lineage. He is seeded fourth and will be hoping to reproduce his form from Uzbekistan.
German Vincent Keymer and American Wesley So, seeded fifth and sixth respectively, are also among the contenders for the top prizes. There is a long list of other big stars, including Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Wei Yi (China), Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) and Levon Aronian (USA).
With the World Cup, big-time chess returns to India after three years. The last major event the country hosted was the Chess Olympiad at Mamallapuram, near Chennai, in 2022. It was a roaring success — very well organised, with thousands queueing up to watch the players in action after buying tickets. And the Indian fans had plenty to cheer about too, as the host nation won the bronze medal in both the open and women’s sections.
Chennai had also hosted the 2013 World Championship between Viswanathan Anand and Carlsen. That ended in disappointment for Anand’s hometown as he lost his crown to his young challenger.
Back in 2000 in New Delhi, Anand had qualified for the World Championship final, which he went on to win in Tehran, the first of his five World titles.
As a mentor, he has played his part in shaping the golden generation of Indian chess.
This World Cup is not just an opportunity to underline India’s dominance in world chess — the country holds the Olympiad title in both men’s and women’s categories — but also to once again play an excellent host, as FIDE now sees the country as an important destination for global events.
Chess World Cup scheduled from November 1-27.
Published on Oct 31, 2025