For over three decades, the title of India's No.1 chess player belonged to Viswanathan Anand, the country's first Grandmaster. But come September, that tag will pass to the 17-year-old D Gukesh. Although remarkable, Anand making way for his protege does not signify a change merely at the top of Indian chess. It marks a transformation that runs deep and is taking the chess world by storm.
Consider this: There are four Indian juniors in the World Open top 50. Gukesh is at No.8 (live rating of 2758.4), No.23 is R Praggnanandhaa (2720.8), Arjun Erigaisi (2712) is at No.30 and Nihal Sarin at No.42 (2694.2). Along with Raunak Sadhwani, Leon Luke Mendonca and Aaditya Dhingra, there are seven Indians among the world's top 20 juniors.
