India’s National Chess Championship has been crowning champions since 1955, and the list of winners is basically a roll-call of everyone who ever mattered in Indian chess — from Manuel Aaron to Viswanathan Anand to today’s teenage grandmasters. Below is the list of national champions by year, plus the records and notable results worth knowing. Reigning champion as of July 2026: P. Iniyan (62nd edition, 2025).
National champions by year (2000–2025)
| Year | Champion | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | P. Iniyan | 62nd ed. · 9/11 · tiebreak over Goutham Krishna (maiden title) |
| 2024 | Karthik Venkataraman | 61st ed. · 9/11, undefeated (Gurugram) |
| 2023 | S. P. Sethuraman | 60th ed. · 9½/11 (Pune) · reclaimed after 8 years |
| 2022–23 | Karthik Venkataraman | 59th ed. · 10/13, undefeated (Kolkata) |
| 2022 | Arjun Erigaisi | 58th ed. · 8½/11 · tiebreak over Gukesh & Iniyan |
| 2020–21 | — not held — | championship paused during the pandemic |
| 2019 | Aravindh Chithambaram | back-to-back champion |
| 2018 | Aravindh Chithambaram | |
| 2017 | M. R. Lalith Babu | |
| 2016 | Karthikeyan Murali | back-to-back champion |
| 2015 | Karthikeyan Murali | |
| 2014 | S. P. Sethuraman | first national title |
| 2013 | Krishnan Sasikiran | |
| 2012 | G. Akash | |
| 2011 | Abhijeet Gupta | |
| 2010 | Parimarjan Negi | |
| 2009 | Baskaran Adhiban | |
| 2008 | Surya Shekhar Ganguly | end of his six-title streak |
| 2007 | Surya Shekhar Ganguly | |
| 2006 | Surya Shekhar Ganguly | |
| 2005 | Surya Shekhar Ganguly | |
| 2004 | Surya Shekhar Ganguly | |
| 2003 | Krishnan Sasikiran & Surya Shekhar Ganguly | shared title |
| 2002 | Krishnan Sasikiran | |
| 2001 | Dibyendu Barua | |
| 2000 | Abhijit Kunte |
Historic champions (1955–1999)
We don’t reproduce every single early edition here (records from the biannual decades are patchier), but these are the champions who defined the title’s first half-century:
| Champion | Titles | Era |
|---|---|---|
| Ramchandra Sapre & D. Venkayya | 1 (shared) | 1955 — the first champions |
| Manuel Aaron | 9 | 1959–1981 — the all-time record |
| Praveen Thipsay | 7 | 1982–1994 |
| Viswanathan Anand | 3 | 1986, 1987, 1988 |
| Dibyendu Barua | multiple | 1983, 1998 (and again in 2001) |
Anand’s three straight titles as a teenager are the ones history remembers: he won them right as he became India’s first grandmaster, then went on to be World Champion. Every Indian prodigy since has followed the trail he blazed.
One thing the list quietly shows is how the whole event changed shape. In the early decades the title was decided by a small, hand-picked National Premier round-robin, and a handful of names — Aaron, Thipsay — could dominate for years. The modern Senior National is a giant open Swiss with hundreds of entrants, so the crown now tends to rotate among a deep pack of grandmasters. That’s why the recent years read like a relay of different winners rather than one long dynasty: the field simply got that much stronger.
Records & milestones
- Most titles: Manuel Aaron, with 9 national championships (1959–1981) — India’s first International Master and the event’s defining figure for decades.
- Second-most titles: Praveen Thipsay, with 7.
- Most consecutive titles: Surya Shekhar Ganguly, who won six in a row from 2003 to 2008 — a domestic streak nobody has matched.
- First champions: Ramchandra Sapre & D. Venkayya, who shared the inaugural 1955 title in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh.
- A future World Champion’s warm-up: Viswanathan Anand won three straight (1986–88) before conquering the world.
Notable results
- 2022 — three future stars, one tiebreak. Arjun Erigaisi won the 58th National at 18, all square on 8½/11 with Gukesh Dommaraju and P. Iniyan — the title split hairs between three players who’d soon be global names. (Gukesh would become World Champion two years later; see the World Championship hub.)
- 2023–24 — Karthik’s undefeated double. Karthik Venkataraman won the 59th (2022–23) and 61st (2024) editions without losing a game in either.
- 2025 — Iniyan’s double crown. P. Iniyan added the 62nd classical title to the national rapid title he’d won earlier the same year.
Meanwhile, the same generation filling this winners list powered India to team gold at the 2024 Chess Olympiad — proof that the national championship is feeding straight into world-beating results.
Frequently asked questions
Who has won the most Indian National Championships? Manuel Aaron, with 9 titles between 1959 and 1981. Praveen Thipsay is next with 7.
Who won the most in a row? Surya Shekhar Ganguly — six consecutive titles from 2003 to 2008.
Who is the current Indian national champion? P. Iniyan, who won the 62nd National Championship in 2025 (as of July 2026).
Did Anand ever win the national title? Yes — Viswanathan Anand won three straight national championships in 1986, 1987 and 1988.
Why is there a gap around 2020–2021? The championship paused during the pandemic and resumed with the 58th edition in early 2022.
Explore more
Back to the Indian National Championship hub for the format, history, and latest edition · See India’s gold at the Chess Olympiad · Browse more tournaments on the events hub.
Researched and fact-checked by the Chess Lab Academy Editorial Team · Verified against the AICF, FIDE, and Wikipedia · Champions and records current as of July 2026 · Last verified 2026-07-11 · How we verify content.