Aravindh Chithambaram is rated by India’s most successful chess coach R.B. Ramesh as the country’s most talented player since Viswanathan Anand. He began well enough, and came up with some incredible performances, but, later on, was overshadowed by a bunch of other Indian prodigies that took world chess by storm. Over the last couple of years, Aravindh has finally shown what he is capable of: last year, he rose to World No. 11. There is time still for the 26-year-old to do even better. Excerpts from an interview:
You finished runner-up at the Prague Chess Festival earlier this year. You had won that event in 2025. That was one of the best performances of your career…
The victory at Prague will remain super special for me. It was such a strong tournament, with players like Anish Giri, Vincent Keymer, Wei Yi and R. Praggnanandhaa. There is this award for the best game in every round, and I wanted to get it even more than the victory. And I finally got the award for the best game of the tournament — for the one against Anish. I was close to winning the title at Prague this year, too. The standard of my chess was actually good this time as well.
You recently became the first Indian to qualify for this year’s Esports World Cup, to be held in Paris in August.
Esports is a huge opportunity for all the professional players like me. Events like these are important for players who make a living out of chess. I am happy that chess is also now part of the Esports community. It is getting bigger and bigger, and it is nice to see that. Over the last two years, I have been trying to focus both on over-the-board tournaments and online events. And I am glad that I have been able to do it.
Aravindh believes Esports could bring new fans to chess.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Do you think chess could become even more mainstream by being part of Esports and could get new fans?
Yes, a lot of people now recognise me because of S8UL Esports [the team he represents].
The first turning point of your career was the Chennai Grandmaster Open tournament, which was held as a sidelight of the World Championship in 2013. You began as the 53rd seed but won the tournament ahead of 21 Grandmasters, at the age of 14.
Yes, and I also secured my first Grandmaster norm, before making even a single IM norm.
And your rating performance was 2728, while your Elo rating was 2335.
Chennai has always been lucky for me, I feel. It was my first big tournament win. And you know, in 2024, I won the Chennai Grand Masters, which changed my life completely. I did not have any expectations. It was such a strong tournament with so many strong players. I only wanted not to finish last; that was the aim basically. But things turned out differently, you know, when I won my game against Arjun [Erigaisi]. Winning the tournament mattered a lot. Because my career had been a bit stagnant till that point.
True. Expectations had been pretty high after you caught the attention of the chess world at a very young age. You had won the National Under-19 Championship when you were 12. Your coach Ramesh has said some big things about you.
At some point, maybe I did not have any goals. And my mindset had changed a bit.
How did you come out of that situation?
I started doing things like putting in more effort than usual. I think that made a difference.
Aravindh stunned the chess world at 14, finishing ahead of 21 GMs at the Chennai Grandmaster Open.
| Photo Credit:
R. Ragu
How much of an influence has Ramesh been in your life? He is the one who took you to Chennai from Madurai.
Yes, I moved to Chennai to get coached by him. He has been a huge support to me, not just in terms of chess. He was the one who got me sponsors that enabled me to play in tournaments abroad, and those events helped me secure my IM title. I remember him posting about me on Twitter and people from various countries contributed. He also got me a scholarship.
And it is not easy for Indian players to improve without support, as there are hardly any elite tournaments in India. The Chennai Grand Masters is an exception. And that tournament was organised as an opportunity for the likes of D. Gukesh and Arjun to fight for the last available slot in the 2024 Candidates. Gukesh went on to win at Chennai, then the Candidates and the World title match against Ding Liren.
Yes, that showed how such strong closed tournaments [instead of open events] could help the Indian players trying to break into the top tier of world chess. We need more tournaments like that, no doubt about it. That will be a big help for several players like me in India. I would also like to have an Indian championship with big prize money and all the top players taking part.
Something like the US Championship?
Yes. I would love to play in such a National Championship in India.
And it would be great from the marketing point of view as well, a Nationals that will have all the best Indian players, including Gukesh, Arjun, Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin. It would be a big opportunity for players like you, S.L. Narayanan, V. Pranav, Leon Mendonca…
Indeed. With so many strong players in India, we should have a National Championship like that.
At the Prague Festival, you defeated Gukesh, who hasn’t been in great form for some time. Most people have now picked Javokhir Sindarov as the favourite in Gukesh’s World title match later this year.
I think we would see an equal fight in that match. Gukesh is going through a tough time. But everyone could go through such a phase, and it is a matter of time before Gukesh gets his form back. But it requires a lot of effort. And there is plenty of time for him to get back into shape. I am not surprised that Sindarov won the Candidates to earn the right to challenge Gukesh. He had a very good run at the World Cup in Goa [where he was the champion]. And he played exceptionally well in the Bundesliga, too.
And R. Vaishali will be playing the Women’s World Championship match against Ju Wenjun of China.
It would be an interesting challenge for Vaishali. She has the potential to win the World title. This is her first World title match. She will need a different kind of mindset to play the World Championship match. I hope she manages to do that. It is great that an Indian is playing in both the World title matches.
Published – May 30, 2026 02:43 am IST
