Bengaluru:Indian chess is blazing a trail – with a double Olympiad sweep and now an 18-year-old world champion in the same year. “This is Chess 2.0 for India,” All India Chess Federation (AICF) president Nitin Narang told HT. “It was Viswanathan Anand who started this whole revolution. I remember even as a kid, we realised what a big deal his World Championship win was. As a president, I’ll be very honest, I have seen in other sports too – where there’s this sudden surge, followed by a dip. Now, with Gukesh’s win, we have momentum. It is going to lay the foundation for the next generation of chess players to come into the sport.”

“It was the reason that our action plan was very focused – that we give money to younger talent, for one. We have an 18-year-old world champion so that will bridge any gap, and secondly it will inspire a lot of younger talent to pursue chess professionally. So, we are expecting quite a surge in the numbers who would be opting for chess as a professional career. As for sponsorships, when it comes to the federation, people want to give money only if there’s extreme transparency. When the Olympiad teams won, we were able to raise quite a good amount of sponsorship, similarly when Gukesh won the Candidates, we were able to raise some money again. I’m sure we’ll keep that trend going, and chess as a sport is going to get a lot of eyeballs and traction.”

Of course, chess is an individual sport and India, as a nation, is more star-driven than sport-driven.

“Right now, I’m sure there isn’t any Indian brand that can afford it that isn’t dying to get into a collaboration with Gukesh. I received calls from three brands, expressing their interest in Gukesh,” said Narang. “More than anything else, I think what needs to be really done right now is to capitalise on this momentum for which we will be sitting down and connecting with our state units to see how we can improve chess’ penetration on the ground and make sure that the Gukesh story is told nationally.”

The federation is planning a gala felicitation for Gukesh in Delhi on his return, Narang said.

Asked about the status of the proposed National Rating System, an internal rating system with an eye on the emergence of a number of strong domestic tournaments and more players playing them, Narang said it’s a work in progress.

“The rating system is not one of those things that’s going to happen instantly. It will take time. We are still working on it,” said Narang.

There’s still the job of demystifying chess as a sport in the country.

“I was in Singapore for the first two rounds and the last two rounds. Having seen history unfold right before me, it makes me confident that our job is somewhat easier now perhaps. Every state is focusing on making sure that chess in schools as a programme is implemented and we have been advocating going the e-learning way in terms of having vernacular as one of the key languages. Things are being done. It has to be done in a more aggressive manner now.”