Who is Aravindh Chithambaram, Prague Chess Masters winner hailed as next Vishy Anand?

At 25 years of age, Grandmaster VR Arvindh Chithambaram, born in Chennai in September 1999, has taken the world aback for his meteoric rise in the world of chess.

On March 7, he won the Prague International Chess Festival 2025, leaving behind the likes of Praggnanandhaa.

According to a sports-based media house, Arvindh Chithambaram is the most talented chess player after India’s legendary Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand, claimed Aravindh’s coach Ramchandran Ramesh, putting him ahead of the current 3rd ranked Gukesh and 8th ranked Praggnanandhaa in FIDE classical rankings.

Ramesh added that self-doubt was the only hurdle faced by Arvindh, which he seems to have taken care of, as per the report.

According to Chess.com, Aravindh won the national championship in consecutive years, 2018 and 2019. In August 2023, he entered the top 100 in the world by classical FIDE rating.

In November 2024, with a late surge that involved winning the last two classical rounds, was crowned champion of the Chennai Grand Masters 2024. 

With the Masters category witnessing a three-way tie for the top spot, Chithambaram defeated GM Levon Aronian in the first blitz play-off and then held his nerve to draw the second with black pieces to clinch the second edition of the competition.

Earlier, Chithambaram had catapulted himself into title contention by registering his second successive win in the competition while overnight joint leaders GM Arjun Erigaisi and Levon Aronian were held to a draw.

Aravindh Chithambaram, who had ended Arjun’s unbeaten run in the earlier round, dominated the final round game against GM Parham Maghsoodloo.