Forty years ago, India had one FIDE titled chess player. His name was Manuel Aaron, and people actually remember him since he was the only entrant on the rating list for years. The World Chess Federation or Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) awards several performance-based titles to chess players. Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating points and norms, performance benchmarks in competitions. Once awarded, FIDE titles are held for life.
Forty years after Aaron became a titled player, India is defending its world championship chess title which Viswanathan Anand captured from Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik in 2007. Kramnik had beaten Kasparov to emerge as the new world champion in 2000 in London. You see, Kramnik used to train with Kasparov and became
