The National Premier Chess Championship is the annual national chess championship of India. It was established in 1955 by the Andhra State Chess Association as a biannual event, but since 1971 it has been played yearly.
The first edition was held in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh from 15 May to 28 May 1955 and was jointly won by Ramchandra Sapre and Dharbha Venkayya with 9/12 points. [1] Earlier, G. S. Dikshit of Pithapuram won the Andhra and Madras State Championships for three consecutive years, 1952–54. [2] Manuel Aaron from the state of Tamilnadu won the Men's National title for a record 9 times. Followed by Praveen Thipsay who won the title for 7 times. Surya Shekhar Ganguly had won a record Six consecutive Nationals titles from 2003 to 2008. Indian Chess legend Viswanathan Anand won the Nationals title for three consecutive times in 1986, 1987 and 1988. Karthik Venkataraman is the reigning Nationals Men Champion in 2024.
The women's championship commenced in 1974. The first ten editions were dominated by the Khadilkar sisters Vasanti, Jayshree and Rohini. Rohini is the youngest and won the championship five times, Jayshree won four titles, and the eldest, Vasanti, won the championship in the inaugural year. Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi won the title for a record 6 times. Followed by Rohini Khadilkar and Padmini Rout who have each won the National Women title for a record 5 times. P. V. Nandhidhaa is the reigning Nationals Women Champion in 2024.
As on 2024, Nationals title winner receives INR 7,00,000 Cash prize followed by INR 5,50,000 and INR 4,50,000 for Second and Third positions respectively. Top Four players from both Men and Women events were selected to participate in the Chess World Cup 2025 and Women's Chess World Cup 2025.
Koneru Humpy is an Indian chess grandmaster. She's a runner-up of the World Championship and the winner of the World Rapid Championship 2019. In 2002, she became the youngest woman ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster aged 15 years, 1 month, 27 days. Humpy is a gold medalist at the Olympiad, Asian Games, and Asian Championship. She is also the first Indian female grandmaster.
The Commonwealth Chess Championship is a gathering of chess players from Commonwealth countries. The event offers direct titles: IM titles to the winners, and FM titles to the Silver and Bronze medalists.
Tania Sachdev is an Indian chess player, who holds the FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is a two-time Indian women's chess champion in 2006 and 2007, one-time Asian women's chess champion in 2007 and three-time and current Commonwealth Women's Chess Champion in 2016, 2018, and 2019. She is also a chess presenter and commentator.
Rohini Khadilkar is a chess player holding the title of Woman International Master (WIM). She has won the Indian women's championship five times and the Asian women's championship twice. She was the first female chess player to receive the Arjuna Award in 1980.
Gong Qianyun is a Singaporean chess player and holds the title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM).
Surya Shekhar Ganguly is an Indian chess grandmaster. His peak ELO rating was 2676. Ganguly became an International Master at the age of 16 and a grandmaster at the age of 19.
Padmini Rout is an Indian chess player. She holds the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She has won the National Women's Premier Championship five times, consecutively from 2014 to 2017 and again in 2023, and was the Asian women's champion in 2018.
Bhagyashree Thipsay is an Indian chess player holding the title of Woman International Master (WIM). She won five times the Indian Women's Championship and the Asian Women's Championship in 1991. In 1984 she was joint winner with Vasanti Unni of the British Ladies' Championship. She competed in the Women's World Chess Championship 2000, losing in the first round to Peng Zhaoqin.
Sports in Andhra Pradesh has its own importance, where many sporting personalities were into limelight. The Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) undertakes the sports development activities such as construction of stadiums, establishment of sports academies and other sporting related activities. The sports infrastructure have increased tremendously by improving infrastructure in outdoor and Indoor stadiums, play fields, sports academies, sports equipments etc. Traditional sports such as kho kho, kabaddi are played mostly in Andhra Pradesh.Most sports players from Andhra pradesh represent national level competitions and very few international competitions.
Rucha Pujari is an Indian chess player. She is currently a Woman International Master and was previously awarded the title of Woman FIDE Master in 2006.
Nihal Sarin is an Indian chess grandmaster and chess prodigy. In 2018, he passed the Elo rating of 2600 at 14 years old, which at the time made him the third youngest player in history to do so.
Vasanti Khadilkar Unni is an Indian chess player holding the title of Woman International Master (WIM). She won in 1974 the inaugural Indian Women's Championship.
Jayshree Khadilkar Pande is an Indian chess player who was awarded the FIDE title of Woman International Master (WIM) in 1979. She was the first Indian woman to achieve this title. She is the first player from India to achieve this title and won the Indian women's championship four times.
Musunuri Rohit Lalit Babu is an Indian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2012. He is the 4th GrandMaster from Andhra Pradesh, part of the team that won India's first bronze medal in the 41st Chess Olympiad in 2014, Commonwealth gold medalist, Asian silver medalist, won the Indian Chess Championship in 2017, and Limca Book record holder. He has won 20 individual gold, 15 individual silver and 14 individual bronze medals in National as well as international tournaments.
Prathamesh Mokal is an Indian chess player. He is an International Master as well as FIDE Trainer, and won the Shiv Chhatrapati Award (2005). He is also a black belt in karate and koryū. He received the Shiv-Chhatrapati Award from Maharashtra government in 2004 for his achievements in Chess.
Stany George Anthony is an Indian chess player and a chess grandmaster. In 2012, he became Karnataka's youngest international master at the time after completing his final norm in Rethymno International Open, Greece. In December 2018 he completed his final grand master norm in National Senior Chess Championship, Jammu and became India's fifty-eighth and Karnataka's second grandmaster. He was given the Ekalavya Award by the Govt of Karnataka in 2012. Stany is a B.Com. graduate and has done masters in business administration.
Pallathur Venkatachalam Nandhidhaa is an Indian chess player from the state of Tamilnadu, who holds the FIDE titles of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) and Woman International Master (WIM). She is the 17th Woman Grandmaster of India. Her peak FIDE ELO rating is 2380 and she is holding 8 International Master norms as of April 2024. She is the reigning Nationals Women Chess Champion in 2024.
Women represent a small minority of chess players at all ages and levels. Female chess players today generally compete in a mix of open tournaments and women's tournaments, the latter of which are most prominent at or near the top level of women's chess and at youth levels. Modern top-level women's tournaments help provide a means for some participants to be full-time professional chess players. The majority of these tournaments are organized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and revolve around the World Championship cycle, which culminates in a match to decide the Women's World Chess Champion. Beyond those events, among the most prominent women's tournaments are women's and girls' national and continental championships.
Vantika Agrawal is an Indian chess player who holds the FIDE titles of Woman Grandmaster and International Master. She is a three-time gold medalist at the Chess Olympiad including two gold medals at the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024 at Budapest. She won a silver medal with the Indian Team at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games. Agrawal's accolades also include medals in Commonwealth, World Youth, Asian Youth and National Championships.