New Delhi, Nov. 1: For the first time in the history of Indian chess, as many as seven players have made it into the Top 100 of world chess.
K Sasikiran made this feat possible by beating Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia) in the fifth round of the FIDE Grand Swiss Chess 2021 on Sunday. It lifted his rating to 2649 and helped him re-enter the elite list.
V Anand (2751), Vidit Gujrathi (2727), P. Harikrishna (2718), Nihal Sarin (2659), SL Narayanan (2658) and B Adhiban (2653) are the other six players in the Top 100.
“This is a very proud moment for India,” AICF president Dr. Sanjay Kapoor said. “We have steadily been cementing our position as one of the top nations in the world of chess,” he added.
“A big thank you to 2700chess and @fide_chess for maintaining the statistics,” AICF secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan said.
Russia has 23 players in the Top 100, USA 10, China 9, Ukraine and India have 7 each.
The average rating of Top 10 players of Russia is 2731, USA 2712, China 2699 and India 2671.
Ten Indian players are currently in action in the Open category of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2021 while five women are in fray in their class. -- AICF