 "R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh were among the first batch of pupils at the Viswanathan Anand's Westbridge Anand Chess Academy in Bengaluru. Image: PTI/Grand Chess Tour")
The legendary Viswanathan Anand is responsible not just for putting India on the chess map, but for also nurturing an entire generation of stars - either through the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy, or by individually mentoring other players. It is that influence that has given Indian chess its golden generation with D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi at its heart.
But what if ‘Vishy’, a five-time world champion who also happens to be the first chess Grandmaster from India, is asked to pick the best from the aforementioned trio?
Gukesh, Pragg and Arjun fairly level on ‘pure chess strength’
Anand felt that while Praggnanandhaa has the most momentum of the three at the moment, they’re all fairly close to each other and there’s little that separates them as far as “pure chess strength” is concerned.
“The thing is they are so close in strength 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,” Anand said on The Prakhar Gupta Xperience show on YouTube.
“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 continued.
The trio were part of the Indian contingent that had completed a historic golden sweep at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest last year. Gukesh had also become the youngest champion in the history of the Candidates Tournament as well as the FIDE World Championship , becoming only the second Indian after Anand to be crowned world champion.
A little over a month after his historic World Championship triumph, Praggnanandhaa would go on to defeat Gukesh to win the prestigious Tata Steel Chess in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, and had also triumphed in Superbet Chess Classic Romania, which is part of the Grand Chess Tour. The 19-year-old is also the current Indian No 1 as well as world No 4 in live ratings, with Arjun and Gukesh occupying the fifth and sixth slots respectively.
Arjun, who is currently participating in the third edition of the Chennai Grand Masters where he is a strong title favourite, had become only the second Indian after Anand to breach the 2800-rating barrier. He is also fairly stronger than ‘Pragg’ and Gukesh in the rapid and blitz, the faster chess formats, and has also the best-performing Indian in the inaugural Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour.