In the FIDE World Cup Chess 2023, Indian chess grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa competed against Norwegian chess player Magnus Carlsen, with Carlsen ultimately winning after three days of play.
Despite losing out on the win, the Indian chess prodigy has qualified for the Candidates 2024 tournament, which will be held in Canada. With this, he also became the third-youngest player after the legendary Bobby Fischer and Carlsen to qualify for the Candidates tournament.
What is Candidates Tournament in Chess
The Candidates Tournament is the final event in the World Chess Championship cycle before the World Chess Championship match itself. It is the second most important tournament in the World Championship cycle, as the winner of the Candidates Tournament plays the reigning world champion in the championship match. It is a chess tournament organized by FIDE as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship.
The winner of the Candidates tournament earns the right to a match for the World Chess Championship against the incumbent World Champion Ding Liren, who won the recent World Chess Championship 2023 title.
So as Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa waits for the Candidates Tournament lets find out how much success India has had in the World Chess Championship.
Here are all the winners from the year 2000 to 2023.
1. Vishwanath Anand - India
Viswanathan Anand, the first grandmaster from India, started his journey for the chess crown in 1990-1993 but lost in the semifinals. Ten years later, he won the FIDE World Championship 2000 by winning seven matches, including the final with Alexei Shirov (3½-½).
2. Vladimir Kramnik - Russia
Vladimir Kramnik made his debut in the Russian team at the Olympiad in Manila in 1992 at the age of 17. Kramnik became world no. 1 in the FIDE rating list in January 1996. In 2000, Kasparov organized a title match against Kramnik in London which saw Kramnik dethroned Kasparov in a memorable battle, winning 8½–6½ without losing a single game.
Four years later, he defended his title, drawing the match against Peter Leko in Brissago in 2004.
3. Ruslan Ponomariov - Ukraine
Ruslan Ponomariov, a Ukrainian chess player born in 1983, became the youngest FIDE World Championship winner in chess history, he was 18 years old.
He reached the final of FIDE World Championship 2002 and defeated Vasyl Ivanchuk with a score of 4½-2½.
4. Rustam Kasimdzhanov - Uzbekistan
The FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 which took place in Tripoli, Libya saw Rustam Kasimdzhanov emerg as the unexpected winner, defeating top players like Vasyl Ivanchuk and Veselin Topalov. He then faced Michael Adams in the final and ultimately secured the title after a tiebreak, after sic drawn games.
5. Veselin Topalov - Bulgaria
Veselin Topalov, a native of Ruse, Bulgaria, won the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 in San Luis, Argentina. Regarded as one of the top-rated grandmasters, he scored 6½ out of 7 in the first part of the event, Topalov smoothly sailed to the victory securing the 2005 title with a round to spare.
6. Vladimir Kramnik - Russia
In April 2006, FIDE announced a reunification match between Kramnik and Topalov, winner of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2006.
The competition which took place in Elista, Kalmykia saw Vladimir Kramnik beat Veselin Topalov on a tiebreaker and became an undisputed World Champion.
7. Vishwanath Anand - India
The Indian grandmaster, Viswanathan Anand went on a winning spree starting from the the World Chess Championship held in 2007. He emerged as the winner, remaining undefeated throughout the 2007 competition.
In the following years, he successfully defended his crown by defeating Kramnik 6½-4½ in the 2008 championship, Topalov 6½-5½ in the 2010 championship, and Gelfand in a tiebreaker in 2012 championship.
7. Magnus Carlsen - Norway
Magnus Carlsen who was born in 1990 became the youngest player to surpass a 2800 rating mark. Carlsen entered the chess elite as a teenager. In 2013, Carlsen convincingly defeated Viswanathan Anand in the title match and became the World Champion. During his reign, Magnus defended the title by beating Anand again 6½–4½ in 2014 championship and prevailing in tiebreaks over Sergey Karjakin in the 2016 championship and beating Fabiano Caruana in 2018 championship.
In 2021 Carlsen defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi by7½–3½ and, shortly after the match, announced that he would not defend his title, later confirming it with the official withdrawal. The almost 10-year reign of Magnus Carlsen has ended.
Ding Liren - China
The World Chess Championship 2023 saw Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren play against each other to determine the new World Chess Champion. The match which took place in Astana, Kazakhstan, from 9 April to 30 April 2023 saw Ding Liren become the 17th World Chess Champion.
After a 7–7 score tie in the classical time format, the match proceeded to tiebreaks with rapid time format. After draws in the first three games, Ding Liren played boldly and won with black in the final game.
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