Dommaraju Gukesh who officially overtook Viswanathan Anand as the highest rated Indian for a short while in 2023, picked up the third qualification spot on the last day of the year via the FIDE circuit (a series of elite FIDE events) which concluded with the World Blitz. His closest contenders were Anish Giri of the Netherlands and fellow Indian Arjun Erigaisi.

Vidit Gujrathi is in for more accolades this year. Pic/Mid-day archives

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Quite clearly, 20-year-old Arjun, 18-year-old Pragg and 17-year-old Gukesh are the future faces of not just Indian chess while 29-year-old Vidit dazzled in the last half of the year to eke out career-best performances, shrugging off a few indifferent performances in the last couple of years.

The most amazing part is the fact that all these players have taken a different route for the same destination, an indication of the rising Indian chess strength at what one hopes to be formidable levels. An obvious indicator that there is still more untapped potential is the fact that all of them have been punching heavily above their rating strength.

All these players along with Anand are rated in the Top 30 and will further improve their placing after the new rating list is released. The Women’s Candidates will also have an Indian flavour as Vaishali Rameshbabu (Pragg’s sibling) also won the Women’s FIDE Grand Swiss and in all probability old warhorse Koneru Humpy may clinch a spot as the highest rated player.

Also Read: World Rapid Chess C’ship: This ‘time’ Humpy settles for silver

Five-time world champion Anand, the sole Indian so far at the Candidates is delighted to see Indians crowding and converging so close to the title and flatly refused to single out anyone as a favourite “Quite clearly, the Candidates will be the tournament to watch out for rather than saying which player I want to watch for. It will define the player of 2024,” he said.