Chandigarh’s Himal qualifies for Chess World Cup

A young Himal Gusain used to accompany his chess fanatic father on weekends to a local community centre just to see the pieces move smoothly on the board, and the winner calmly shaking hands in the end. It was a unique sport for Gusain, where opponents didn’t even talk during the match proceedings, but would sit for hours afterwards.

Now 31, Gusain, who is the first and only International Master from Chandigarh and represents the Railways on the national circuit, will be playing in the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) World Cup 2025 on the basis of his performance in the National Chess Championship 2024. He had claimed the sixth position and the first seven position holders were chosen to represent India, besides seeded players in this event.

Interestingly, the FIDE World Cup 2025 will be held in India from October 30 to November 27, as the venue is yet to be decided. The tournament will feature the world’s best 206 players battling for the coveted title and qualification spots in the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament. The top three qualify for the Candidates Tournament.

“It’s a great feat that the Chess World Cup 2025 is being hosted by India after a gap of 23 years. In 2002, it was organised in Hyderabad and Vishwanthan Anand, Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Alexey Sergeyevich Dreev had secured first, second and third position, respectively. The last World Cup took place at Baku, Azerbaijan, where Magnus Carlsen, R Praggnanandhaa and Fabiano Caruana qualified for the Candidates Tournament in that order,” said an excited Gusain.

The World Cup 2025 will have a knockout format, where the losing player in each round will be eliminated. Each round spans three days, which includes two classical games, followed by tie-breaks on the third day, if necessary. In the first round, the top 50 players will be given direct entry, while players seeded from 51 to 206 will compete, with pairings based on the principle of the top half versus the reversed lower half. The top three finishers of the World Cup will earn direct qualification for the 2026 Candidates Tournament, which determines the challenger for the World Chess Championship.

“I am carrying a huge responsibility that someone from Chandigarh will be participating in the Chess World Cup for the first time ever. It will be a great learning platform, a place to deliver my best and also to assess my capability,” said Gusain.

He achieved the International Masters title in August 2017 and that paved the way for other chess players from the region to follow suit. He has one Grand Master norm to his credit and needs two more to achieve the GM title. He earlier represented India in the Asian Youth Chess Championship (2011) in the Philippines and in the World Youth Chess Championship (2011) in Brazil.

“Chess in India has seen a vast change. The achievements by the young Indian chess players have put forth the unmatched talent in the world,” added Gusain, who scored a perfect 9/9 to win 14th Salento Open Master (=1900) 2025. He won the tournament with a round to spare and finished a whopping two points ahead of the rest. The eight-day nine-round rating tournament was organised by the Chess Projects ASD in Gallipoli, Italy, recently.