For nearly three decades, the King of 64 squares, Viswanathan Anand has been at the helm of Indian Chess. He has never faced any stiff competition from anyone in India during these years. And in the last decade he has not just been at the helm of Indian Chess, but of World Chess too. He has enjoyed a lot of success and was untouchable in the world of Chess, standing at the peak during 2007-2013. Given it all, one can even go to the extent of saying Chess is synonymous to Viswanathan Anand in India.

That filled the hearts of Indians world over with immense pride and even led to a vast number of children taking up the cognitive sport as a career. Today, as a result India houses one of the largest numbers of Grandmasters in the sport. And produces junior champions by the dozen, however, that is not sufficient to rule the world. These junior champions eventually fail to make the right transition into the senior level. This results in one of the strongest youth set-ups to remain barren at the higher level.

However, the last three years have been a little different. The King of 64 squares has been dethroned from the summit in world chess. But, he has continued to lead the ranks among the Indian lot of GMs, and now even that has been a little shaky. For the first time, since Anand emerged at the top, a challenger from India has been ranked above the former world champion. P Harikrishna was the man who went above in ratings, but, that only lasted a short while and Anand is back to the top, once again.

Well, that is most definitely good news for the Indian Chess faithful. The fans will have a new champion to worship and be inspired from, when the day comes.

Who will be the worthy heir to Viswanathan Anand?

There are various names that emerge to the minds of the Chess enthusiasts in the country when talking about the rightful successor to Viswanathan Anand’s reign.

Koneru Humpy

For long, it has been believed that Koneru Humpy could be the one, especially when she achieved her peak during the final years of the first decade of the new millennium. The former women’s No.2 has fallen behind and hit by the “Great Wall of China” Hou Yifan. And since then, Humpy has failed to recover. Especially during crucial match-ups, she ends up choking herself to the claws of defeat more often than not. But, she has fallen much short of the expectations and can very well be counted off the race at this point.

P Harikrishna

P Harikrishna is the closest and the most realistic possibility to take up responsibility as the pillar of Indian Chess. After all, he has been in brilliant form in recent years and is evenly matched against the greatest Chess players in today’s time.  Harikrishna completely demolishes his opponents rated below him, but he tends to face slight difficulties against an opponent of equal or higher rating.

That is how the game is. One simple mistake can result in a loss for a player while the inability to take advantage of it, could result in the loss of the other.

The man from Andhra, however, has been quite consistent at the mid-2700 mark. But, whether he succeeds in making the final transition into the higher-2700 and maintains position will be key to becoming the heir.

India’s past in the Chess world has merely been a one-man show, dominated by the man from India’s undisputed citadel of Chess, Chennai. The present features many strong players in the world. Players like Harika Dronavalli, SP Sethuraman, B Adhiban, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi are definitely up for the task but need to find their consistency in major tournaments. But, whether they can dominate the world of Chess and take the Indian flag to a new high remains to be seen.

However, it is the future that looks far brighter. The children in the u-15 category or below have the highest possibility of changing India’s one man show history in the world of Chess.