Indian chess has witnessed a sudden boost since Covid-19, and most of our best players are constantly competing for the grand prizes in global tournaments as well. It was beautifully exemplified in D Gukesh's World Championship win last year, and then Divya Deshmukh this year won the FIDE Women's World Cup title, beating Koneru Humpy in an all-Indian final.
The field of men has been completely action-packed, also with the emergence of Aravindh Chithambaram. Meanwhile, R Praggnanandhaa is India No. 1 and also world No. 4 in the live chess rankings. Meanwhile, Arjun Erigaisi is fifth in the live chess rankings and D Gukesh is sixth.
So when chess great Viswanathan Anand was requested to choose between Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun, he had an extremely impartial view. But Anand's response also puts Praggnanandhaa in the advantageous position.
Speaking on a YouTube show, he said, “The thing is they are so close in strenght that you have to see recent momentum. I think right now Pragg. But Arjun has his moments as well. He had a lot of them last year. Now, this year he has been slower.”
“Gukesh, of course, he won the big thing, the World Championship. So that kind of keeps him there, but I think in pure chess strength, they are all very close to each other. It is not an accident that most games between them end in draws,” he further added.
Praggnanandhaa started the year strong by winning at Tata Steel Masters over D Gukesh in the playoffs. He also emerged victorious at the Grand Chess Tour Superbet Chess Classic Romania. In June, he took the 2nd UzChess Cup 2025 through blitz tiebreaks. His results also saw him rise through the rankings, and he ranks above Gukesh and Arjun. The three of them have also been competing at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slams.
