List of Indian chess 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 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. ==Decorated players==

As of 2022, 24 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. ==Titled players==

As of July 2025, India has 88 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 } || 5089000 || Maharashtra International Masters } || 35028600 || Tamil Nadu Woman Grandmasters {| class="wikitable nowrap sortable static-row-numbers" Woman International Masters {| class="wikitable nowrap sortable static-row-numbers" ==See also==