# Indian Chess Championship

The National Premier Chess Championship is the annual national chess championship of India. It was established in 1955 by the Andhra State Chess Association as a biannual event, but since 1971 it has been played yearly.
The first edition was held in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh from 15 May to 28 May 1955 and was jointly won by Ramchandra Sapre and Dharbha Venkayya with 9/12 points. Earlier, G. S. Dikshit of Pithapuram won the Andhra and Madras State Championships for three consecutive years, 1952–54. Manuel Aaron from the state of Tamilnadu won the Men's National title for a record 9 times. Followed by Praveen Thipsay who won the title for 7 times. Surya Shekhar Ganguly had won a record Six consecutive Nationals titles from 2003 to 2008. Indian Chess legend Viswanathan Anand won the Nationals title for three consecutive times in 1986, 1987 and 1988. Karthik Venkataraman is the reigning Nationals Men Champion in 2024.
The women's championship commenced in 1974. The first ten editions were dominated by the Khadilkar sisters Vasanti, Jayshree and Rohini. Rohini is the youngest and won the championship five times, Jayshree won four titles, and the eldest, Vasanti, won the championship in the inaugural year. Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi won the title for a record 6 times. Followed by Rohini Khadilkar and Padmini Rout who have each won the National Women title for a record 5 times. P. V. Nandhidhaa is the reigning Nationals Women Champion in 2024.
As on 2024, Nationals title winner receives INR 7,00,000 Cash prize followed by INR 5,50,000 and INR 4,50,000 for Second and Third positions respectively. Top Four players from both Men and Women events were selected to participate in the Chess World Cup 2025 and Women's Chess World Cup 2025.

## Winners- Men Champion

    EditionYearCityMen's winner 11955EluruRamchandra Sapre Dharbha Venkayya 21957PuneRamdas Gupta 31959DelhiManuel Aaron 41961HyderabadManuel Aaron 51963BombayFarooq Ali 61966MadrasRusi Madon 71967PuneSyed Nasir Ali 81969BangaloreManuel Aaron 91971BikanerManuel Aaron 101972SimlaManuel Aaron 111973AhmedabadManuel Aaron 121975RourkelaManuel Aaron 131976PatnaRaja Ravi Sekhar 141976CalcuttaManuel Aaron 151978CochinRafiq Khan 161979TiruchiT. N. Parameswaran 171979VijayawadaRaja Ravi Sekhar 181981New DelhiManuel Aaron 191982KanpurPraveen Thipsay 201983AgartalaDibyendu Barua 211984AhmedabadPraveen Thipsay 221985TenaliPraveen Thipsay 231986BombayViswanathan Anand 241987TumkurViswanathan Anand 251988NeyveliViswanathan Anand 261989BikanerPraveen Thipsay 271990KozhikodeD. V. Prasad 281991PondicherryD. V. Prasad 291992PatnaPraveen Thipsay 301993PunePraveen Thipsay 311994HyderabadPraveen Thipsay 321995MadrasPonnuswamy Konguvel 331996KanhangadT. N. Parameswaran 341997BhilaiAbhijit Kunte 351998MuzaffarpurDibyendu Barua 361999NagpurKrishnan Sasikiran 372000MumbaiAbhijit Kunte 382001DelhiDibyendu Barua 392002NagpurKrishnan Sasikiran 402003MumbaiKrishnan Sasikiran 412003KozhikodeSurya Shekhar Ganguly 422004VisakhapatnamSurya Shekhar Ganguly 432006VisakhapatnamSurya Shekhar Ganguly 442007AtulSurya Shekhar Ganguly 452008ChennaiSurya Shekhar Ganguly 462008MangaloreSurya Shekhar Ganguly 472009New DelhiBaskaran Adhiban 482010New DelhiParimarjan Negi 492011AurangabadAbhijeet Gupta 502012KolkataG. Akash 512013JalgaonKrishnan Sasikiran 522014KottayamS. P. Sethuraman 532015TiruvarurKarthikeyan Murali 542016LucknowKarthikeyan Murali 552017PatnaBabu M.R. Lalith 562018JammuAravindh Chithambaram 572019MajitarAravindh Chithambaram 582022KanpurArjun Erigaisi 592022-23New DelhiKarthik Venkataraman 602023PuneS. P. Sethuraman 612024Gurgaon Karthik Venkataraman

## Winners- Women Champions

    EditionYearCityWomen's winner 11974BangaloreVasanti Khadilkar 21975CalcuttaJayshree Khadilkar 31976KottayamRohini Khadilkar 41977HyderabadRohini Khadilkar 51979ChennaiRohini Khadilkar 61979SangliJayshree Khadilkar 71981New DelhiRohini Khadilkar 81982RajnandgaonJayshree Khadilkar 91983BikanerJayshree Khadilkar 101983KottayamRohini Khadilkar 111985NagpurBhagyashree Sathe 121986JalandharBhagyashree Sathe 131987CalcuttaSaritha Reddy 141988KurukshetraBhagyashree Sathe 151989DurgAnupama Abhyankar 161990VijaywadaAnupama Abhyankar 171991KozhikodeBhagyashree Thipsay 181991MumbaiAnupama Gokhale 191993KozhikodeAnupama Gokhale 201994BangaloreBhagyashree Thipsay 211995ChennaiSubbaraman Vijayalakshmi 221996SalemMrunalini Kunte 231997CalcuttaAnupama Gokhale 241998MumbaiSubbaraman Vijayalakshmi 251999KozhikodeSubbaraman Vijayalakshmi 262000MumbaiSubbaraman Vijayalakshmi 272001New DelhiSubbaraman Vijayalakshmi 282002LucknowSubbaraman Vijayalakshmi 292003MumbaiAarthie Ramaswamy 302003KozhikodeHumpy Koneru 312005BangaloreNisha Mohota 322006VizagSwati Ghate 332006ChennaiTania Sachdev 342007PuneTania Sachdev 352008New DelhiKruttika Nadig 362009ChennaiHarika Dronavalli 372010BhubaneswarSoumya Swaminathan 382011ChennaiMary Ann Gomes 392012JalgaonMary Ann Gomes 402013KolkataMary Ann Gomes 412014SangliPadmini Rout 422015KolkataPadmini Rout 432016New DelhiPadmini Rout 442017SuratPadmini Rout 452018JaipurBhakti Kulkarni 462019KaraikudiBhakti Kulkarni 472022BhubaneswarDivya Deshmukh 482022-23KolhapurDivya Deshmukh 492023New DelhiPadmini Rout 502024KaraikudiP. V. Nandhidhaa

## Gallery

* Multiple National Women Chess Championship winners over the years, clicked during the closing ceremony of the 50th National Women Chess Championship- 2024. Left to Right- Nisha Mohota, Swati Ghate, Padmini Rout, P. V. Nandhidhaa, Mary Ann Gomes and Bhakti Kulkarni