The All India Chess Federation is the administrative body for the game of chess in India. Founded in 1951, the association is affiliated to the Asian Chess Federationand the International Chess Federation. Nitin Narang is the president of the federation. AICF's headquarters are in New Delhi. Indian chess has players like Viswanathan Anand, Koneru Humpy, Gukesh Dommaraju, Arjun Erigaisi, Divya Deshmukh, Vidit Gujrathi, Harika Dronavalli, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, and Vaishali Rameshbabu, among others. The organisation manages and women's chess.

History

The All India Chess Federation was registered on 12 December 1958 and was registered as a Society under the Societies Registration act of 1860. A new administration was formed, via an election of office bearers, on 10 March 2024 where Mr. Nitin Narang was elected as the president of the AICF. In August 2022, AICF hosted the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India, which was the first Chess Olympiad ever to take place in the country. The event was organised by AICF in association with the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and the Tamil Nadu Government. Sanjay Kapoor, ex-AICF president, was the President of the Organising Committee for the 44th Chess Olympiad, and ex-AICF Secretary, Bharat Singh Chauhan was the Tournament Director.

Charges of bureaucratic interference

AICF has been repeatedly accused of bureaucratic interference. In October 2009, chess Grandmaster Humpy Koneru (then female world No. 2) accused the AICF secretary DV Sundar of preventing her from participating in the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin. The same year the AICF was accused of arbitrarily banning grandmaster G N Gopal for not playing in a match (the ban was subsequently revoked). In 2012 the AICF president N Srinivasan was criticised for not supporting Viswanathan Anand in World Chess Championship 2010, by not trying to host the match in India. However, things appear to be changing for better since the present management took over on January 4, 2021. The new AICF President, Sanjay Kapoor, and Secretary, Bharat Singh Chauhan have taken a slew of measures to ensure that the Federation actively focuses on promoting Chess sport in the country and works towards empowering the players.

Affiliates

Till date the federation has more than 30 affiliated state associations and 10 special members Here is a list of them:

Affiliated state bodies

Special units

Events

AICF has also played host to a number of major world events in India. Some of them are: