One grandmaster in 1988, ninety-nine by 2026

One grandmaster in 1988. Ninety-nine by 2026.

Written on 19 September 2026, based on public reports at that time.

This week in Samarkand, India is defending both its gold medals at the Chess Olympiad.

Rewind seventy years. India played its first Olympiad in 1956 and finished third in the third tier, nowhere near the podium. For decades after, Indian chess was not a serious global presence.

Then in 1988, a teenager from Madras became India’s first grandmaster. Viswanathan Anand.

Here is the part most people forget. Nothing happened immediately. India’s second grandmaster came only in 1991. The third in 1997. By 1993, a country of 900 million had two grandmasters.

Then it compounded. Thirty-six by 2014. Eighty-five by 2024. Ninety-nine by 2026. In 2024 India won both the open and women’s team gold at the Olympiad. That December, an eighteen year old became the youngest undisputed World Chess Champion in history.

What interests me is the mechanism.

Anand did not build this. He ran no federation programme, opened no academies in 1988. He simply proved it could be done by someone from here, with an Indian childhood and an Indian coach.

Before 1988, a child in India who was brilliant at chess had no evidence that someone like him could reach the top of the world. After 1988, that evidence existed, and it had an Indian face.

He did not teach a generation. He removed a doubt. The generation did the rest.

Now bring this closer to home.

In every family, every firm, every small town, somebody is the first. First to clear the exam. First to leave a safe job and start something. First to take the family business outside the district. They almost never think of themselves as doing anything for anyone else.

But the people behind them are rarely short of ability. They are short of evidence that a person like them can.

So if you have managed something, be visible about the road, not the result. Tell the juniors what it cost, what you got wrong, how long it took. A polished outcome inspires nobody. A visible path does.

The first person does not teach the others. He only proves it is possible. That has always been enough.