Beyond the title: The uncertain life of an Indian Chess Grandmaster

Not over yet: “I’m an eternal optimist. I will get back to chess in the future and try to reach that rating to become a GM,” says S. Vijayalakshmi, India’s first Woman Grandmaster. | Photo Credit: Siva Sankar. A

Long before S. Vijayalakshmi began teaching students through a laptop, she learnt the trade by cutting out the chess game published each day in The Hindu and pasting it into a notebook. Chess books were scarce and expensive, while computers belonged to a distant future. In 1997, Sportstar sponsored her first laptop. Nearly three decades later, technology lies at the heart of her second innings in the sport.

Her transition from player to coach carries particular poignancy because of how close she came to the open Grandmaster (GM) title. The first Indian woman to become a Woman Grandmaster (WGM) and an International Master (IM), Vijayalakshmi won six National championships and two individual silver medals on the top board at the Chess Olympiad.

Winning the title of GM requires a player to complete three GM norms and achieve a 2500 rating. Earning these norms requires a 2600+ tournament rating over a FIDE-approved event of at least nine rounds. The player must face opponents from at least three different federations, where at least 50% hold international titles, and at least one-third are already GMs.

S. Vijayalakshmi graces the Sportstar poster, a throwback to her playing days. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

Vijayalakshmi secured four GM norms. By her own admission, her live rating peaked to 2498 once, but the sacred mark remained painstakingly out of reach. The narrow miss cannot be separated from the circumstances on which her career was built. Her father, A. S. Subbaraman, introduced her to chess and remained her only coach. With three daughters to support and no chess background in the family, her parents made sacrifices she understands better now that she is a parent herself. At the height of their financial difficulties, her father would pawn jewellery to fund tournaments. All this for a sport still in its infancy in the country and with no ready-made pathway to success.

Travelling abroad was another challenge. Subbaraman could accompany her to domestic competitions but never travelled overseas with her. Going abroad for a single tournament cost around Rs. 4-7 lakh back in the late 1990s, Vijayalakshmi said. So, her only option to undertake these trips was as part of the Indian team sponsored by the federation. “We used to have our own utensils and a cooker and carry these big suitcases alone, because it was only the accommodation the organisers used to give,” she explains.

Job security: “Earlier, in my time, even if you were an IM, you could get job opportunities. Railways, banks and oil companies like IOCL, Bharat Petroleum and ONGC recruited chess players. But subsequent generations did not have the same opportunity and had to explore other avenues,” says coach R. B. Ramesh, a Dronacharya award winner. | Photo Credit: Siva Sankar. A

“The process to earn these norms is quite long, and the main [issue] is the financial aspect. If you can contribute more, you can achieve things quicker,” says A. Harshini, a Woman FIDE Master and a silver medallist in Asian Youth Under-18 girls. “I would go to tournaments in Europe for 1-2 months and then be forced to take a break. We didn’t have the opportunity to score IM and GM norms here. Many talented players have missed their milestones because of the lack of financial support,” Harshini adds.

The volume of red tape in executing these trips didn’t help either. “Tournaments in India were few and far between. Exploring options in Europe was very bureaucratic. You needed government approval for everything. To get foreign exchange, we needed to write to the sports ministry and then to the RBI in Delhi,” explains R. B. Ramesh, India’s 10th GM.

Decades later, despite the GM count now surging to 99 and chess players continuously emerging across many pockets in the country, India still rarely hosts tournaments where these norms can be earned. GM M. Shyam Sundar, who has coached the last five GMs to come out of India, explains why.

“Predominantly, 2200-rated players are based overseas. Beating a higher-rated player earns you more rating points and helps in your progression towards achieving a GM norm,” he says. “The tournaments are held in and around Europe so that players can stay for two or three months and compete in multiple tournaments during the same trip. India is the lone country in Asia where you can find enough players, making it logistically difficult for others,” he adds.

Apart from financial constraints and the dearth of opportunities, the lack of means to undergo coaching from top trainers also posed a problem. “It was mostly trial and error. We assumed we were doing the right things. Later, we realised it was not the right approach. It was very slow progress. Two steps forward, two steps back,” says Ramesh, who concedes he was lucky to source chess books from abroad thanks to his father’s involvement with the customs department. That option was too far-fetched for many others.

M. S. Thejkumar, India’s 50th GM and the first from Karnataka, had to wait nine years after completing his norms to breach the required rating. “I completed my IM title and GM norms within a span of six months. I required around 50 to 60 rating points at that time. Till 2015, I was working on my own. Then I decided to have a few sessions with Ukrainian GM Alexander Goloshchapov. Slowly, over two years, I was able to get the title,” he says.

Vijayalakshmi also attested that acquiring the services of an international coach was never an option. Till his death in 2007, her father remained her only coach. His passing deeply affected her, but she is careful not to use that as an excuse. “I’m a very emotional person when it comes to my dad. So, for me, it affected my chess,” she says. Motherhood, the demands of a full-time job and, later, the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic further reduced the time she could devote to tournament chess.

Vijayalakshmi realised that another serious attempt at the GM title would demand complete immersion. “When I’m playing chess, I should only play chess,” she says. With a young son and other responsibilities, that level of concentration was no longer immediately possible. “I’m an eternal optimist. I will get back to chess in the future and try to reach that rating,” she says.

The double Olympiad medallist now runs an online academy, training around 30 students from India and abroad. It was not, however, a career she had imagined during her playing days. “To be very honest, no. I was never inclined towards coaching,” she says. “But I just couldn’t get out of chess. So, I said, ‘At least let me make myself useful to others.’”

Vijayalakshmi’s story compels us to ask an important question. Earning a GM title is a stellar accomplishment, but does it guarantee a sustained run among the world’s elite chess players, all rated over 2700? What happens to players who fail to take a further step? Are there enough avenues to sustain a career within the framework?

“Earlier, in my time, even if you were an IM, you could get job opportunities. Public sector entities like the Railways, public sector banks and subsequently oil companies like Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum, ONGC and so on, recruited chess players,” Ramesh says.

“But the problem is every company can have only so many players in their fold. Chess players typically don’t retire, unlike physical sports. Subsequent generations did not have the same opportunity and had to explore other avenues,” he adds. The most straightforward option for the GMs was to become trainers. Ramesh was one of the first to try his luck in this direction. He was 22 when he was chosen to coach the Indian team in the U-20 Asian Championship. In 2008, Ramesh quit his job with IOCL and moved into full-time coaching. He is now one of India’s most renowned chess coaches and a Dronacharya awardee.

“Nowadays IMs aren’t willing to join organisations like the Railways and work on the side. They are earning more by just four hours of classes in a day,” Thejkumar says. “A one-on-one session with a GM costs anywhere from 50 USD an hour (around Rs. 5000),” Vijayalakshmi says.

For many top chess talents in India, the Covid-19 pandemic was a turning point in their careers. The dearth of tournaments owing to lockdowns meant many had to find alternate sources of income. One such player was Debashis Das, Odisha’s first GM.

“After January 2020, the next tournament I played was in October 2021. It didn’t go to plan. I wanted to remain in chess rather than look for a job elsewhere. I started with 2-3 hours of training a day, but destiny wanted me to become a coach,” Debashis, who had just completed a camp at the Chola Chess facility in Chennai, says.

Missing support: For Shyam Sundar, coaching grew out of what he had lacked as a player. Financial insecurity meant he could not retain a strong coach for long. | Photo Credit: Siva Sankar. A

For Shyam Sundar, coaching grew out of what he had lacked as a player. Financial insecurity meant he could not retain a strong coach for long. “There were days when I used to cry, literally, just because I’d be having so many doubts... But no one to explain it,” he says. “That day, I felt that, in future, no one should feel that.” That conviction led to Chess Thulir, an academy where he has trained players for more than a decade.

Shyam Sundar has also worked as a Second with Indian teams, including the women’s side that won silver at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games. The position, however, was vastly different from his experience as a trainer. A Second requires a deep personal connection with the player, and the inputs provided must cater to each individual’s style. It should also be delivered with the right measure at the right time. Too many variations end in a panic situation rather than providing clarity.

Shyam Sundar says he earned around Rs. 10,000 during his stint in the continental competition, making it another viable avenue for pedigreed chess stars. GMs like Pentala Harikrishna, V. Vishnu Prasanna, B. Adhiban, S. P. Sethuraman, among others, have played a crucial role as Seconds in many international competitions over the years.

Ramesh was also an early participant in another potential career option — live commentary. His inputs behind the mic alongside former women’s world champion Susan Polgar during the 2013 World Chess Championship received rave reviews from the public. This path is no longer restricted to just television channels. IM Tania Sachdev, who was part of the Indian women’s team that won the Chess Olympiad in Budapest in 2024, is among the most well-recognised faces in online chess commentary. Some GMs have also fallen off the radar. Parimarjan Negi was the second-youngest in history to receive the title in 2006. He quit chess to focus on academics. After graduating from Stanford University and then Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he now works as a software engineer in the United States. But Negi’s decision is more a personal decision than a byproduct of circumstance.

Gameplan: “After January 2020, the next tournament I played was in October 2021. It didn’t go to plan. I wanted to remain in chess rather than look for a job elsewhere. I started with 2-3 hours of training a day, but destiny wanted me to become a coach,” says Debashis, the first GM from Odisha, who had just completed a camp at the Chola Chess facility in Chennai. | Photo Credit: Siva Sankar. A

“If you are not in the top 100 in the world, it’s better to look for alternative careers within chess. The market for non-GM trainers is shrinking. Parents want children to learn from GMs even at a beginner level,” Ramesh says. Thejkumar adds another suggestion. “Another way to make money is to create courses which can be sold. For sustainability, this is fine. I think it will grow more in the coming days,” he says.

Alternate source: “One way to make money is to create courses which can be sold. For sustainability, this is fine. I think it will grow more in the coming days,” says Thejkumar, India’s 50th Grandmaster and the first from Karnataka. | Photo Credit: Siva Sankar. A

“I see many youngsters becoming social media influencers; some are writing books. That is also becoming an alternative career,” Ramesh opines. “In India, we have a huge population, so if you are an influencer, you can still make good money. People are creating their own opportunities.”

Chess’ popularity in India is still on an upward curve. Vijayalakshmi, Debashis, and Thejkumar — all believe there is still space for chess to grow in the hinterlands. There are still adequate opportunities, at least for GMs, to make a steady living from the game. But the rate at which we are producing GMs might soon eclipse the demand. Coaches, influencers and others will soon have to offer something extra to remain in vogue. Otherwise, the uncertainty surrounding their future in the sphere might swallow them up and leave them in limbo.

Published on Sep 28, 2026

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