May 2025 | 946 words | 4-minute read
In February, as the rising winter sun began melting the snow at Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands, the Tata Steel Chess Tournament applauded its new Champion. R Praggnanandhaa won the title after three tiebreaker rounds with Gukesh Dommaraju, the current and youngest World Chess Champion.
The 87-year-old tournament is one of the most prestigious events in the international chess calendar. Tata Steel became its official sponsor in 2011, and went on to launch the Tata Steel Chess India (TSCI) tournament in Kolkata in 2018.
With both national and international tournaments that allow players to rise in rank (rankings can change with games played in FIDE-approved tournaments and Olympiads), Tata Steel has cemented its presence in chess. These tournaments, however, are just some of the support the company has extended to the sport.
En passant
Tata Steel has an active presence in building the chess culture in India, from hosting inter-school chess programmes to running an academy at the Tata Chess Centre in Jamshedpur, formed in 1986. The centre also helps players to improve their ranking by organising tournaments, from the Invitational Grand Masters Chess Tournament first held in Kolkata in 1986 to TSCI, India’s largest chess tournament, which had its seventh edition in 2024. These tournaments have given Indian players the opportunity to test their mettle against International Grandmasters (GMs). The 2023 Tata Steel Asian Junior Open and Girls Tournament, held for the first time in Jamshedpur, saw 100+ participants from seven countries while the All-India FIDE approved Specially Abled Chess Tournament in 2024 had 50+ participants from 14 states.
Tata Steel’s efforts have helped India become a rising force within the professional chess world. Jeroen van den Berg, Director of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament since 1999 and of Tata Steel Chess India since its inception, says, “Chess is a game in which rating plays a role; so I do not expect amateur players to take over from professionals, but I am more than certain that new talents will come.”
Indian defence
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament, considered the Wimbledon of chess, has seen the best International Masters and GMs compete on its stage. Mr Van den Berg notes that India has a “fantastic generation of chess players with several new superstars.” “Winning the Olympiad in 2024 was a clear example,” he says. “And with the World Champion in India, plus several other top 10 players, the country is set to continue rising as a chess superpower.”
With Tata Steel’s sponsorship of the international tournament and the rising interest in chess among the youth, it is unsurprising that the company started an international-level tournament in India. TSCI, held in Kolkata since 2018, is Asia’s largest chess tournament and an official part of the international chess circuit. TSCI consists of a festival for amateur players in the traditional format, and a tournament, where professionals compete in Rapid and Blitz — short games played with time limits.
Viswanathan Anand, brand ambassador for TSCI, and India’s first ever GM, is excited because the tournament provides an opportunity for India’s most promising players, both men and women. In an interview with Tata Review in 2023, the five-time World Chess Champion said, “We now have more than 83 [85 as of 2025] grandmasters, and excellent coaches. Basically, there is an ecosystem now. In fact, there are several generations waiting in the wings, promising players who might be top players in the next four to five years. We should keep making the game accessible to the broad public, and … TSCI is one such event which can do that. It presents chess in a very attractive format, and there’s a lot of excitement around it.”
In a span of 10 years (2014-2024), India gained 50 new GMs. A rising number of Indian women have also attained the title, with Koneru Humpy breaching the barrier in 2002 at the age of 15. R Vaishali, Praggnanandhaa’s older sister, was the third Indian woman to become a GM, and played along with GM Divya Deshmukh in the 2025 Tata Steel Challengers in Norway.
Mr Van den Berg notes that there has been an increased interest among young women following the landmark decision in 2022 to include a women’s category in the TSCI tournament, with prize money equal to that in the Open category. “It was excellent promotion for women’s chess,” he says. “The famous Norway Chess tournament got inspired, because they did the same in 2024 and will repeat it in 2025.”
King’s gambit
Technology has also changed the future of the game. Mr Van den Berg points out that while young players still need a coach for a deeper understanding of the game, they also have the option of working alone with string engines and playing online on the Internet. “When I started, it was still ‘normal’ that players of 50+ years were playing in the Masters,” he says. “Now ... with the development of engines and artificial intelligence, players get quite strong at a young age. Both in India and the Netherlands, we see that most of the participants are teenagers or in their 20s. Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh are clear examples.” Mr Van den Berg adds that technological evolution is just as important for amateur players, who see chess as a hobby.
Tata Steel’s impact on chess, whether it is through sponsorships or training of young talent, is going a long way towards ensuring that India remains the leading chess country in the coming years.
—Archana Warrier
