The first written evidence of the game appears in a Sanskrit romance called 'Vasavadatta'
by Subhandu, composed in the late sixth or early seventh Century. Subhandu wrote:
"The time of rains played its game with frogs for chessmen which, yellow and green in
colour, as if mottled with lac, leapt up on the garden?bed squares." Early in the
seventh Century another Sanskrit writer Bana wrote in 'Harshacharitra' - the story of the
tranquil reign or King Sriharsha of Kanuaj - that : "Under this monarch only bees
quarrel in collecting dews; the only feet cut off are those in metre, only 'asthapadas'
teach the position of chaturanga." The term 'asthapadas' denotes boards on which
games are played and the position of chaturanga refers to the points where the four arms
of a mock army were placed.
The earliest accepted authority on chess, perhaps, is Masudi, an Arab author, who
flourished around 950 and stated that Shatranj had long been in existence. There has,
however, been a chess boom the world over from the 1970s, which was provoked by the
unprecedented publicity given to the Bobby Fischer?Boris Spassky World title clash at
Iceland in 1972. The maverick Fischer beat Spassky and took the world title. The
international governing body, the Federation Internationale des Eschecs (FIDE), was formed
in Paris in 1924 and the first chess Olympiad held in London in 1927, was won by Hungary.
The earliest reference to women playing chess is mentioned in the 13th Century Alfonso
Manuscript, which mentions a ladies game invented by the Moroccan ladies. In the 20th
Century, however, chess is widely played by women and the first women's world championship
was held in London in 1927 and was won by Vera Menchuk of erstwhile Czechoslovakia.
India today has only three Grand Masters (the highest title given to a player of
international repute based on certain FIDE norms to be fulfilled by the player).
Vishwnathan Anand was the first to achieve the title in 1987 and was followed by Dibyendu
Barua. Certain amendments by the FIDE helped Pravin Thipsay to become the third Indian
Grand Master. The revival of interest in chess in India, especially as an organised sport,
began in 1954?55 with the formation of the All?India Chess Federation and the conduct of
the first national championship at Elluru, Andhra Pradesh in 1955. Venkaiah and R.B. Sapre
were the joint champions. Following an invitational tournament conducted by a Swiss
national, Fontana, a four?member Indian team went to Moscow. The national championship was
then held once in two years and in the second national held in 1955 in Poona, Manuel Aaron
made a mark. Though Aaron finished second to Ramdas Gupta of Uttar Pradesh, he did not
lose a single game. Aaron subsequently became the champion in the third national held in
New Delhi in 1959.
In 1960, India took part in the Chess Olympiad at Leipzig, Germany in which tournament
Manuel Aaron defeated Max Uwe, a former world champion from Holland. In the same year in
the pre-Asian Zonal meet, Aaron defeated Suren Mamoo of Mongolia and qualified for the
Asian Zonal Championship. In the Asian Zonals, Aaron defeated International Master Pardee,
a former world correspondence chess champion, became the first Indian International Master
and qualified for the world zonal championship. Aaron scored victories over many Grand
Masters, like Woolman, Steilberg and Portisch.
In order to improve the standard of the game, the national championship was divided into
two categories in 1967. The preliminary round was the National 'B', and the main draw the
National 'A'. The first National 'A' was conducted in Poona in 1968 with L. Subbarayan of
Karnataka and Mark Nelson as the tournament directors. While 14 players qualified for this
meet from the National 'B', another six (the first six from the previous nationals) were
directly seeded. Rusi Madan of Bombay won the first National 'A', which with the National
'B', has now become an annual feature.
To make the game popular among juniors, the first national students' championship was held
in 1960. However, a national junior championship began to be conducted on a regular basis
only from 1970. This, in fact, threw up a host of talent like Raja Ravishekar, Sai
Prakash, Dibyendu Barua, D.V. Prasad, Pravin M. Thipsay and, of course, Vishwanathan
Anand. Some of the above players have become International Masters by fulfilling the FIDE
norms. Pravin Thipsay subsequently became the third Indian Grand Master after Anand and
Barua.
The first national championship for women, which was introduced in 1973 and conducted in
Bangalore, was won by Vasanthi Khadilkar of Maharashtra. The Khadilkar sisters (Vasanthi,
Rohini and Jayashree) dominated the initial phase of women's chess in India and shared the
national title amongst themselves a number of times.
In 1978, India for the first time hosted the Asian Zonal Championship for women at
Bangalore and Jayashree Khadilkar earned the distinction of becoming the first Indian
International Woman Master. During 1977/78, India also for the first time hosted an
international tournament involving Grand Masters, in Trichy. In 1982 in an International
tournament held in Bangalore for the first time five Grand Masters and many International
Masters participated in a tournament in India. The tournament was won by Khuzwin of the
erstwhile Soviet Union. The year 1987 saw women Grand Masters participating for the first
time in India in a tournament held in Madras. The title in this tournament was shared by
Nana Alexandra and Sophia (both from the erstwhile Soviet Union).
In the meantime, Karnataka's D.V. Prasad made a mark on the international scene by
becoming the Commonwealth champion. The name of Vishwanathan Anand began ringing a bell as
he started making big strides, both at the world junior and senior levels. The first
Indian to be the highest rated internationally, Anand qualified for the Candidates Matches
(a tournament from which one candidate emerges to challenge the world champion) from the
Manila Inter Zonal in 1990, but lost in the semi?finals to Anatoly Karpov. Anand has risen
in Stature and at present is among the top three players in the World. With a view to
making rapid strides and may be crown himself as World Champion, the Indian ace has now
set up base in Spain.
At the national level, a sub?junior tournament was introduced in 1975. But, at present,
national championships are conducted under various age group categories.
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