Viswanathan Anand Analyzes Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Arjun: ‘Not Dominant Like Soviet Union, But…’

Viswanathan Anand Analyzes Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Arjun: Chess has become one of the sports to grow for India, being fully summed with D Gukesh's World Championship win last year in Singapore, which had him defeat Ding Liren for the cake. Also, Humpy Koneru became the Women's World Rapid Champion.

The live chess rankings currently feature three Indian GMs among the top ten, Gukesh holding the third spot, behind Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura placing second, while on fifth is Arjun Erigaisi, and eighth is R Praggnanandhaa.

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The rise following the Prague Masters was phenomenal for Aravindh Chithambaram as he climbed to World No. 14, a jump of eight places. Meanwhile, Viswanathan Anand Legends of India has sunk to 15th.

Viswanathan Anand on India's young GMs

Anand had a conversation recently with TV9 Telugu and was asked regarding some of the new GMs from India and gave his thoughts about Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, and Arjun.

“In some ways we already are the superpower in chess. There are many metrics by which we are. There are many measures by which some of the country is. We are not dominant like the Soviet Union used to be, but if you take for instance the age of our top players with me as an exception, well I think the oldest one is 21,” he said.

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“They're all incredibly young which means they have a long time ahead. Second. they are all in the top 10 together or in the top 20 top 50, then the number keeps increasing. They're all there together and can you imagine how fantastic that is for us because they will not only try to have the best results, but the moment one of them has a good result, all the others will be motivated to catch up. So they have this beautiful combination of friendship and rivalry,” he added.

Rankings have seen Nihal Sarin gaining a higher position, two more ranks upward to 41st in the world. Meanwhile, Vidit Gujrathi is 24th; Harikrishna Pentala, 30th.

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