Candidates chess: All eyes on India’s young stalwarts

"All Gukesh, Pragg and Vaishali should think of is settling in and playing a good tournament,” says five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand

Business suits, hands crossed across the chest or tucked in pockets – India’s Vidit Gujrathi, R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh have been striking the perfunctory pre-tournament poses against green screens in Toronto. All three are first-timers at the Candidates. Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand is the only Indian who has played in the Candidates. They go up against a fairly strong field – one that carries two of the world’s top three players. All three Indians have had varied journeys

Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa during Tata Steel Chess India Rapid & Blitz Tournament 2023, in Kolkata. (PTI) (HT_PRINT)

Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa aren’t quite known for similar frenzied episodes during tournaments. Praggnanandhaa has an excellent second in former world No.4 Peter Svidler. The Russian GM brings tonnes of experience and the Indian teen has since last year shown that he can hold his own against some of the best names. His openings seem to have improved; his calculation skills are robust and it’ll be interesting to see how he fares in such a high-stakes tournament.

Gukesh is the second youngest player ever -- after Bobby Fischer -- to feature in a Candidates. He is known to play daring, high-risk chess and the nature of such a style doesn’t lend itself to a whole lot of stability. But the payoffs can be great too. It’s hard to overlook the kind of momentum and play he had at the Olympiad two years ago, the World Cup last year, or his joint-second finish at Wijk Aan Zee in January.

“I think all Gukesh, Pragg and Vaishali should think of is settling in and playing a good tournament. All this ‘will they win, won’t they win’ talk around them is kind of funny from their point of view,” said Anand. “Good things can happen, but not if you overthink it.”

The promise of Vaishali

Soon after she won the Women’s Grand Swiss last November and qualified for the Women's Candidates, India’s Vaishali Rameshbabu did some search on the net. “I looked up the rest of the field and realised that six (out of eight) players played the last Candidates and there’s a former world champion too,” she laughed. “It’s quite a tough field.”

At 22, Vaishali is a first-timer in the Women's Candidates but she’s also perhaps its most interesting name. Winners of the last two editions – Lei Tingjie from China and Aleksandra Goryachkina from Russia are the favourites this time but if there’s a player who is both dangerous and promising it’s probably Vaishali. Attacking, adventurous, creative – there’s rarely a dull moment in Vaishali’s play and she’s shown in past tournaments that she can beat former women’s world champions and 2600 GMs. The training ecosystem of WACA and having a sibling, who’s rated 300 Elo above her, for handy counsel have contributed to her rise and strength as a player.

The second Indian Koneru Humpy is the oldest in the women's field at 37. She hasn’t played a whole lot of tournaments lately and it's hard to see her among the favourites.

“Humpy is in a different stage of her career,” said Anand. “She plays less for obvious reasons. But she retains this memory of tough competitions and dramatic moments.

“Recently she showed that she can lift her game when necessary. It’s a healthy sign to do consistently well in the World Rapid. A lot will depend on her motivation. The Candidates is particularly long and classical so whatever she was doing before she’ll have to do it for a much longer stretch.”