EVENING THE ODDS OVER 64 SQUARES

THE world of competitive chess is getting younger.

- PRATIK KANJILAL

Javokhir Sindarov, the 20-year-old Uzbek prodigy, won the Men’s Candidates tournament, making him the challenger of reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, 19.When 24-year-old R Vaishali won the women’s tournament, she credited 19-year-old Grandmaster M Pranesh for keeping her in good spirits in Cyprus.

Indians—and Indian-origin people overseas—who have become increasingly invested in chess since the triumphs of Viswanathan Anand, had hoped for even more. They had expected the Candidates to be dominated by more Indian names—Vaishali’s brother Praggnanandhaa, Anish Giri of the Netherlands and Divya Deshmukh. Wouldn't it be grand if an Indian rose above other Indians to challenge yet another Indian for the world title?

The proto-nationalist dream has a reasonable basis. The Candidates offered a chance for older stars like the Americans Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana to assert themselves, but soon it was clear that the young Turks would prevail. The signs were out there even last year, points out Jordan Himelfarb in his book Interregnum: Inside the Gruelling and Glamorous Battle to Become the Next King of Chess, which will be released in a few days. The book, which includes vivid accounts of the top Indian players, focuses on the period after Magnus Carlsen of Norway declined to defend his title in 2022. Bored after a decade as world champion, he was seeking distractions like rebranding Bobby Fischer’s random chess, in which the valuable pieces in the back row are jumbled up, to freestyle chess.