A chess prodigy is a young child who possesses an aptitude for the game of chess that far exceeds what might be expected at their age. Their prodigious talent will often enable them to defeat experienced adult players and even titled chess masters. Some chess prodigies have progressed to become grandmasters or even World Chess Champions.
Christopher Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess grandmaster, streamer, YouTuber, five-time U.S. Chess Champion, and the reigning World Fischer Random Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 15, the youngest American at the time to do so. With a peak rating of 2816, Nakamura is the tenth-highest-rated player in history.
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, a record only since surpassed by Hou Yifan. Humpy is a gold medalist at the Olympiad, Asian Games, and Asian Championship. She is also the first Indian female grandmaster.
Abhijeet Gupta is an Indian chess player with the title of Grandmaster (GM). Gupta is the first player to win the Commonwealth Chess Championship five times. He completed his early education from A's Steward Senior Secondary School, Bhilwara before embarking upon his career as a chess player.
Srinath Narayanan is an Indian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in August 2017.
Harika Dronavalli is an Indian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). She was part of the gold winning women's team at the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024. She has won three bronze medals in the Women's World Chess Championship, in 2012, 2015 and 2017. Harika was honored with the Arjuna Award for the year 2007–08 by the government of India. In 2016, she won the FIDE Women's Grand Prix event at Chengdu, China and rose up from world no. 11 to world no. 5 in FIDE women's ranking. In 2019, she was awarded the Padma Shri for her contributions towards the field of sports.
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and norms. Once awarded, titles are held for life except in cases of fraud or cheating. Open titles may be earned by all players, while women's titles are restricted to female players. Many strong female players hold both open and women's titles. FIDE also awards titles for arbiters, organizers and trainers. Titles for correspondence chess, chess problem composition and chess problem solving are no longer administered by FIDE.
Pravin Mahadeo Thipsay is an Indian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster. He is the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster Norm and the first Indian to win the Commonwealth Chess Championship.
Deep Sengupta is an Indian chess player. He is India's 22nd player to be awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE. Sengupta competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2017.
Chess has risen in popularity in India in the last few decades primarily due to the popularity and efforts of chess Grandmaster and former 5-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand.
Akshayraj Kore, is an Indian chess player and a Grandmaster. In 2006, he became Maharashtra's youngest International Master at the time after he won the Invitational IM Norm Round Robin Chess Tournament in Luhansk, Ukraine. In February 2013, he became India's 32nd Grandmaster.
Vidit Gujrathi is an Indian chess grandmaster. Gujrathi attained the title of grandmaster in January 2013, becoming the 30th player from India to do so. He is the fourth Indian player to have crossed the Elo rating of 2700. He is a double gold medalist at the Chess Olympiad. He is also a silver medalist at the Asian Games. He became the third Indian to qualify for the Candidates tournament by winning Grand Swiss 2023.
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.
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.
Akshat Chandra is an American chess player. He started playing Chess during a visit to India in 2009 when he was nine years old. In 2015, he won the US National K-12 Championship and was also the US Junior Champion, the first time both titles were held by the same person in a single year. He earned the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in March 2017.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa into a Tamil family, also known professionally as Pragg, is an Indian chess grandmaster. As of 2 September 2024, Praggnanandhaa is ranked 12th in the world by the International Chess Federation. Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali are the first brother and sister to earn GM titles. They are also the first brother and sister to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.
Akash Ganesan is an Indian chess grandmaster and former national champion. He currently holds national record in chess for being Youngest National Chess Champion at the age of 16 years and 14 days.
Gukesh Dommaraju Reddy, also known as Gukesh D, is an Indian chess grandmaster and the reigning World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, Gukesh is the youngest undisputed world champion, the youngest player to have surpassed a FIDE rating of 2750, doing so at the age of 17, and the third-youngest to have surpassed 2700 Elo at the age of 16. He earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 12 and is the third-youngest grandmaster in chess history.
Abhimanyu Mishra is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he holds the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, having qualified for the title at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days.
