Amongst Indian chess players there are 99 Grandmasters (GM); 123 International Masters (IM); 23 Woman Grandmasters (WGM), including some who also hold the higher IM title; and 42 Woman International Masters (WIM) as of June 2025. India has over 30,000 players rated by FIDE, the International Chess Federation.
As of July 2026, the top 10 active Indian chess players have an average rating of 2705, the 2nd highest in the world, behind the United States. The top 10 active women Indian players have an average rating of 2416, the 2nd highest in the world behind China.
As of 2026, 26 different players have been conferred with the highest civilian and sports honours of India, including the Padma awards and the Arjuna Award. Tia Sharma was the first sportsperson to receive the second-highest civilian award, Padma Vibhushan, in 2008 and the inaugural highest sports award, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (now called Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award), in 1991–92.
Top players The list of top 10 active players as of September 2025. The top 100 players of the world include 11 Indian players, amongst them Viswananthan Anand at Rank 14. The top 100 women players of the world include 8 Indian players, amongst them Humpy Koneru at Rank 5.
+ Top Male Players Name Rating Title State Birth 3 Gukesh D 2752 GM Tamil Nadu 4 Viswanathan Anand 2743 GM Tamil Nadu 5 Vidit Gujrathi 2715 GM Maharashtra 24 Oct 1994 6 Aravindh Chithambaram 2711 GM Tamil Nadu 11 Sep 1999 7 Pentala Harikrishna 2700 GM Andhra Pradesh 8 Nihal Sarin 2700 GM Kerala 9 Karthikeyan Murali 2647 GM Tamil Nadu 10 Raunak Sadhwani 2658 GM Maharashtra 2721 + Top Female Players Name Rating Title State Birth 1 Divya Deshmukh 2478 GM Maharashtra 2 Harika Dronavalli 2467 GM Andhra Pradesh 3 Vaishali Rameshbabu 2452 GM Tamil Nadu 4 Tania Sachdev 2396 IM Delhi 5 Vantika Agrawal 2381 IM Uttar Pradesh 6 Padmini Rout 2362 IM Odisha 7 Prishita Gupta 2353 WFM Delhi 8 Rakshitta Ravi 2326 WGM Tamil Nadu 9 Savitha Shri B 2321 IM Tamil Nadu 2407
Top junior players The list of top 10 active junior (under the age of 20 as of 1 January of that year) players as of September 2025. The top 100 junior players of the world include 22 Indian players, among them Praggnanandhaa R at rank 1, Gukesh D at rank 2. The top 100 junior girl players of the world include 13 Indian players, among them Divya Deshmukh at rank 1.
+ Top Male Juniors Name Rating Title State Birth 1 Praggnanandhaa R 2785 GM Tamil Nadu 2 Gukesh D 2767 GM Tamil Nadu 3 Raunak Sadhwani 2658 GM Maharashtra 4 Leon Luke Mendonca 2615 GM Goa 5 Pranesh M 2611 GM Tamil Nadu 6 Pranav Anand 2603 GM Tamil Nadu 7 Pranav V 2596 GM Karnataka 8 Aditya Mittal 2589 GM Maharashtra 9 Bharath Subramaniyam 2565 GM Tamil Nadu 10 Aditya Samant 2517 IM Maharashtra + Top Female Juniors Name Rating Title State Birth 1 Divya Deshmukh 2478 GM Maharashtra 2 Prishita Gupta 2353 WFM Delhi 3 Rakshitta Ravi 2326 WGM Tamil Nadu 4 Savitha Shri B 2321 IM Tamil Nadu 5 Velpula Sarayu 2284 WIM Telangana 6 Tejaswini G 2277 WIM Tamil Nadu 7 Shubhi Gupta 2271 WFM Uttar Pradesh 1 Jan 2010 8 Sherali Pattnaik 2270 FM Uttarakhand 9 Sahithi Varshini M 2266 FM Andhra Pradesh 10 Kolagatla Alana Meenakshi 2260 WFM Andhra Pradesh
Decorated players As of 2026, 26 different individuals have been conferred India's top civilian and sports awards. Five different individuals have been conferred the Padma awards. Anupama Gokhale was the first Indian chess player to be awarded the Padma Shri at the age of 16 in 1986. Viswanathan Anand became the first sportsperson to receive the second highest civilian award, Padma Vibhushan, in 2008 after becoming the undisputed World Chess Champion in 2007.
Nineteen different individuals have received top sports honours of India as of 2023. Anand was the recipient of the inaugural highest sports award Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 1991–92. Twenty individuals have been awarded the Arjuna Award for exceptional performance in chess at the international level. Manuel Aaron was the first chess player to receive this award in its inception year of 1961. Rohini Khadilkar was the second chess player and first female chess player to receive this award in 1980–81. In total, seven women chess players have received this award. Three chess coaches—Raghunandan Gokhle (spouse of Anupama Gokhale), Koneru Ashok (father and coach of Koneru Humpy), and Ramachandran Ramesh (a.k.a RB Ramesh, coach of siblings Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali Rameshbabu)—have received the Dronacharya Award, the highest sports coaching honour of India.
Name State Year Title M/F Padma Vibhushan 1 Viswanathan Anand Tamil Nadu 2008 GM M Padma Bhushan - Viswanathan Anand Tamil Nadu 2001 GM M Padma Shri 2 Anupama Gokhale Maharashtra 1986 WIM F 3 Bhagyashree Thipsay Maharashtra 1987 WIM F - Viswanathan Anand Tamil Nadu 1988 GM M 4 Koneru Humpy Andhra Pradesh 2007 GM F 5 Harika Dronavalli Andhra Pradesh 2019 GM F Khel Ratna - Viswanathan Anand Tamil Nadu 1991-92 GM M 6Gukesh DTamil Nadu 2024GM M Arjuna Award 7 Manuel Aaron Tamil Nadu 1961 IM M 8 Rohini Khadilkar Maharashtra 1980–81 WIM F 9 Dibyendu Barua West Bengal 1983 GM M 10 Pravin Thipsay Maharashtra 1984 GM M - Viswanathan Anand Tamil Nadu 1985 GM M - Bhagyashree Thipsay Maharashtra 1987 WIM F 11 Devaki Prasad Karnataka 1987 IM M - Anupama Gokhale Maharashtra 1990 WIM F 12 Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi Tamil Nadu 2000 IM F 13 Krishnan Sasikiran Tamil Nadu 2002 GM M - Koneru Humpy Andhra Pradesh 2003 GM F 14 Surya Shekhar Ganguly West Bengal 2005 GM M 15 Pentala Harikrishna Andhra Pradesh 2006 GM M - Harika Dronavalli Andhra Pradesh 2007 GM F 16 Tania Sachdev Delhi 2009 IM F 17 Parimarjan Negi Delhi 2010 GM M 18 Abhijeet Gupta Delhi 2013 GM M 19R PraggnanandhaaTamil Nadu 2022GM M20Bhakti KulkarniGoa 2022IM F21R VaishaliTamil Nadu 2023IM F22Vantika AgrawalUttar Pradesh2024IMF Dronacharya Award 23 Raghunandan Gokhle Maharashtra 1986 CM M 24 Koneru Ashok Andhra Pradesh 2006 M 25RB RameshTamil Nadu 2023GM M Dhyan Chand Award26Abhijit KunteMaharashtra2021GMM
Titled players As of August 2026, India has 99 Grandmasters (GM) including 4 female players holding the title, 156 International Masters (IM) including 10 female players holding the title, 12 Woman Grandmasters (WGM), and 46 Woman International Masters (WIM). The first titled player of India was Manuel Aaron, when he became the first IM of India in 1961. Viswanathan Anand became India's first GM in 1988.
The first Indian to obtain WIM title was Jayshree Khadilkar in 1979 and WGM title was Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi in 2001. The first Indian woman to become GM was Koneru Humpy in 2002 and IM was Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi in 2002.
Grandmasters
{| class="wikitable nowrap sortable static-row-numbers" ! Name ! FIDE ID ! State ! Birth ! Year ! M/F ! Highest Rating ! Achieved ! class="unsortable"|Reference |- | || 5000017 || Tamil Nadu | || 1988 || align=center | M || align=center | 2817
| || 5000025 || West Bengal | || 1991 || align=center | M || align=center | 2561
| || 5000033 || Maharashtra | || 1997 || align=center | M || align=center | 2515
| || 5002265 || Maharashtra | || 2000 || align=center | M || align=center | 2568
| || 5004985 || Tamil Nadu | || 2000 || align=center | M || align=center | 2720
| || 5007003 || Andhra Pradesh | || 2001 || align=center | M || align=center | 2770
| || 5008123 || Andhra Pradesh | || 2002 || align=center | F || align=center | 2623
| || 5002150 || West Bengal | || 2003 || align=center | M || align=center | 2676 | || title application |- | || 5004225 || West Bengal | || 2003 || align=center | M || align=center | 2656
| || 5002109 || Tamil Nadu | || 2003 || align=center | M || align=center | 2507
| || 5004195 || Gujarat | || 2004 || align=center | M || align=center | 2530
| || 5007429 || Tamil Nadu | || 2006 || align=center | M || align=center | 2586
| || 5011132 || Tamil Nadu | || 2006 || align=center | M || align=center | 2557
| || 5003512 || West Bengal | || 2006 || align=center | M || align=center | 2514
| || 5016690 || Delhi | || 2006 || align=center | M || align=center | 2671
| || 5015693 || Kerala | || 2007 || align=center | M || align=center | 2611 | || title application |- | || 5010608 || Delhi | || 2008 || align=center | M || align=center | 2667 | || title application |- | || 5011167 || Tamil Nadu | || 2008 || align=center | M || align=center | 2570 | || title application |- | || 5005370 || Tamil Nadu | || 2009 || align=center | M || align=center | 2526 | || title application |- | || 5005361 || Tamil Nadu | || 2009 || align=center | M || align=center | 2521 | || title application |- | || 5001668 || Delhi | || 2010 || align=center | M || align=center | 2511 | || title application |- | || 5008352 || West Bengal | || 2010 || align=center | M || align=center | 2596 | || title application |- | || 5018471 || Tamil Nadu | || 2010 || align=center | M || align=center | 2701 | || title application |- | || 5021596 || Tamil Nadu | || 2011 || align=center | M || align=center | 2673 | || title application |- | || 5015197 || Andhra Pradesh | || 2011 || align=center | F || align=center | 2543 | || title application |- | || 5024595 || Andhra Pradesh | || 2012 || align=center | M || align=center | 2594 | || title application |- | || 5045185 || Delhi | || 2012 || align=center | M || align=center | 2600 | || title application |- | || 5005779 || Tamil Nadu | || 2012 || align=center | M || align=center | 2528 | || title application |- | || 5021103 || Delhi | || 2012 || align=center | M || align=center | 2532 | || title application |- | || 5029465 || Maharashtra | || 2013 || align=center | M || align=center | 2747 | || title application |- | || 5019141 || Tamil Nadu | || 2013 || align=center | M || align=center | 2554 | || title application |- | || 5012414 || Maharashtra | || 2013 || align=center | M || align=center | 2512 | || title application |- | || 5030692 || Tamil Nadu | || 2013 || align=center | M || align=center | 2543 | || title application |- | || 5024854 || Odisha | || 2013 || align=center | M || align=center | 2548 | || title application |- | || 5008980 || West Bengal | || 2013 || align=center | M || align=center | 2500 | || title application |- | || 5023335 || Gujarat | || 2014 || align=center | M || align=center | 2511 | || title application |- | || 5072786 || Tamil Nadu | || 2015 || align=center | M || align=center | 2749 | || title application |- | || 5074452 || Tamil Nadu | || 2015 || align=center | M || align=center | 2651 | || title application |- | || 5018137 || Tamil Nadu | || 2015 || align=center | M || align=center | 2515 | || title application |- | || 5019184 || Maharashtra | || 2016 || align=center | M || align=center | 2545 | || title application |- | || 5058422 || Kerala | || 2016 || align=center | M || align=center | 2695 | || title application |- | || 5037883 || Maharashtra | || 2016 || align=center | M || align=center | 2521 | || title application |- | || 5045207 || West Bengal | || 2016 || align=center | M || align=center | 2581 | || title application |- | || 5018293 || Tamil Nadu | || 2016 || align=center | M || align=center | 2554 | || title application |- | || 5084423 || Delhi | || 2017 || align=center | M || align=center | 2627 | || title application |- | || 5018420 || Tamil Nadu | || 2017 || align=center | M || align=center | 2572 | || title application |- | || 5007836 || Haryana | || 2017 || align=center | M || align=center | 2514 | || title application |- | || 5024366 || Goa | || 2017 || align=center | M || align=center | 2504 | || title application |- | || 5061245 || Maharashtra | || 2017 || align=center | M || align=center | 2652 | || title application |- | || 5009154 || Karnataka | || 2017 || align=center | M || align=center | 2500 | || title application |- | || 5002974 || West Bengal | || 2018 || align=center | M || align=center | 2500 | || title application |- | || 25059530 || Tamil Nadu | || 2018 || align=center | M || align=center | 2779 | || title application |- | || 25092340 || Kerala