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    LWSed research · 1,138 FIDE-rated tournaments

    Where India plays rated chess

    A child needs rated tournaments to earn a FIDE rating, and where those tournaments happen decides how often they can play one. We took every tournament FIDE rated in India from November 2024 to October 2026, 1,138 of them, and counted them by state and city.

    By Bhaskar Gupta, FIDE-rated coach and founder of LWSed, Ludhiana · Published 13 October 2026

    Four findings

    Tamil Nadu held 20% of India's rated tournaments

    FIDE rated 1,138 tournaments in India from November 2024 to October 2026. Tamil Nadu held 233 of them, in 35 different places. The five busiest states (Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Odisha) held 59% between them.

    North India held 10%, and 34% of that was Delhi

    The nine north Indian states and union territories held 115 rated tournaments in two years. Delhi alone held 39; the other eight held 76.

    Chennai held 84; six northern states and UTs held 30

    Chennai alone averaged 3.5 rated tournaments a month. Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh held 30 between them in two years.

    Punjab held 8, every one a state championship

    Punjab's rated tournaments were all Punjab State championships, in Mohali, Hoshiarpur, Bathinda, Jalandhar and Sangrur. Ludhiana, the state's largest city, held none. Outside its state championships, a child in Punjab had no rated event in the state to play.

    Rated tournaments by state

    31 states and union territories held at least one; north India is in orange. States with no FIDE-rated tournament in the period aren't listed.

    State or UTTournamentsBarHost cities
    Tamil Nadu23335
    Maharashtra18227
    Karnataka12419
    West Bengal7713
    Odisha5313
    Assam4713
    Madhya Pradesh4318
    Delhi391
    Andhra Pradesh3411
    Gujarat335
    Goa329
    Kerala3110
    Uttar Pradesh2810
    Bihar269
    Jharkhand246
    Telangana201
    Tripura202
    Chhattisgarh187
    Rajasthan187
    Punjab85
    Arunachal Pradesh73
    Mizoram71
    Himachal Pradesh65
    Puducherry51
    Uttarakhand52
    Haryana43
    Jammu and Kashmir42
    Chandigarh31
    Nagaland33
    Andaman and Nicobar Islands21
    Meghalaya22

    The busiest cities

    The top 15 of 245 places that held a FIDE-rated tournament. Spellings are merged (Bangalore and Bengaluru count as one) and neighbourhoods count under their city.

    1. 1ChennaiTamil Nadu84
    2. 2BengaluruKarnataka50
    3. 3MumbaiMaharashtra50
    4. 4KolkataWest Bengal46
    5. 5PuneMaharashtra42
    6. 6DelhiDelhi39
    7. 7MangaluruKarnataka26
    8. 8CoimbatoreTamil Nadu25
    9. 9GuwahatiAssam24
    10. 10BhubaneswarOdisha23
    11. 11HyderabadTelangana20
    12. 12AhmedabadGujarat19
    13. 13AgartalaTripura18
    14. 14MaduraiTamil Nadu17
    15. 15NagpurMaharashtra15

    North India, state by state

    Each page lists the rated tournaments held there and what they mean for a child learning chess, alongside our online classes for that area.

    What this means for a child learning chess

    In Chennai, a child who is ready has several rated tournaments to choose from every month. In Ludhiana, the nearest one is a state championship in another city, a few times a year. The difference is in how often a child gets to play rated chess.

    Where rated events are rare, the games in between carry more weight: regular play against opponents at the same level, someone who looks at those games, and preparation for the few rated events a child does play. That is what we built our online classes around, with a free tournament or chess event every weekend for our students.

    Book a free trial classHow to get a FIDE rating in India

    Also from FIDE's data: India's chess grandmasters and grandmasters by country.

    Method and caveats

    • Source: FIDE's list of rated tournaments for India, one list per monthly rating period, 24 periods from November 2024 to October 2026, read from ratings.fide.com on 12 October 2026. A tournament counts in the period FIDE rated it; start dates run from 23 Sep 2024 to 27 Sep 2026.
    • What counts as one tournament: each event FIDE rates separately. A rapid and a blitz event at the same venue count as two, and so do open and girls' sections when FIDE lists them separately. National championships count where they were held.
    • Cities and states: FIDE records the city as the organiser entered it, and no state. We merged spellings, counted neighbourhoods under their city and gave each place its state, checking the event name, or FIDE's event page, where a city name was ambiguous.
    • Not counted: tournaments that aren't FIDE-rated (most school and club events), online events, and players or games. This measures where rated tournaments are held, not how many children play.
    • The north India pages also count tournaments named as state championships or age-group events. Names vary by state (Assam's say "All Assam", not "State"), so those counts are only used state by state.

    Download the data

    Tournament records are FIDE's. Our city and state coding and the tables are free to use under CC BY 4.0. Please credit and link this page: LWSed (2026), Where India plays rated chess, lwsed.com.