For most people, a vacation means escaping to exotic beaches or serene mountains. But for India's elite chess trio – World Champion D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, and Arjun Erigaisi – the most coveted getaway is a simple one: home. In a world where their lives are measured in air miles and time zones, the comfort of their own house has become the ultimate luxury.
A Life in Transit: The Grueling Calendar of a Chess Prodigy
The reality of being a top-tier chess player in 2025 is a relentless cycle of airports, hotels, and tournament halls. When the International Chess Federation (FIDE) recently asked stars for their dream vacation spot, answers like Greece, Bali, and the Maldives flowed in. The standout reply from the Indian contingent was a single, powerful word: "Home."
This isn't due to a lack of imagination, but a testament to their punishing schedules. "Nowadays going home feels like a vacation," Gukesh confessed with a smile in a FIDE interview. His statement is far from an exaggeration. Let's trace just a part of his journey: between August and October this year, Gukesh flew from Spain's Granada Chess Open to Poland for an exhibition, then to the USA for the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz and the Sinquefield Cup. From there, he jetted to Uzbekistan for the FIDE Grand Swiss, back to the USA for a USA vs India event, over to Greece for the European Club Cup, and once more to the US for the Clutch Chess event, before finally landing in Goa for the FIDE World Cup.
After a brief pause, he was in Mumbai for the Global Chess League (GCL), with immediate trips lined up to Qatar for the World Rapid and Blitz Championship and to Kolkata for the Tata Steel Chess India event. This year has also seen him compete in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Romania, Norway, and Croatia.
No Respite: Praggnanandhaa and Erigaisi's Matching Pace
The story is identical for his compatriots. Praggnanandhaa, chasing a Candidates tournament spot, has logged flights to Wijk aan Zee, Prague, Paris, Warsaw, Bucharest, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Croatia, the USA, Brazil, and the UK, among others. This frantic pace meant that between late August and early October, he competed on three separate continents.
"I've hardly been home this year. At the most, I get two weeks at home. To me, that's not really a break, because by the time you feel relaxed, another tournament is there," Praggnanandhaa revealed. He recounted the exhaustion of winning the UzChess Cup in Tashkent, playing for seven hours on the final day, and having to pack and fly out immediately after the closing ceremony. "But all this is part of what we do," he shrugged.
Arjun Erigaisi's narrative follows the same exhausting script. After his World Cup quarterfinal exit, he managed a mere ten-day break at home before flying to Jerusalem for a tournament and then to South Africa for the Freestyle Chess finale. He then headed straight to Mumbai for the GCL. Like the others, Qatar and Kolkata are next on his itinerary.
Pushing Limits: The Mindset of Champions
This breakneck schedule often means departing on the very day a tournament concludes. Erigaisi described a 13-hour marathon journey from Tel Aviv to South Africa via Addis Ababa to meet his commitments. He estimates playing tournaments for just over half the year, a slight reduction from a staggering 200 days of competition between June 2021 and 2022.
When asked about concepts like 'workload management' common in other sports, Erigaisi pointed to youth and fitness as their buffers. "At least now that I'm still young, fatigue hasn't happened. It's also why we all realise that fitness is one of the important goals for us," he said, citing Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand as examples of longevity built on physical conditioning.
Gukesh dismisses talk of mental fatigue with a champion's resolve. Questioned about playing a rapid exhibition in the USA just before a classical World Cup in Goa, with jet lag as a factor, his response was defining: "I was telling myself, if I don't push myself at this age, when am I going to push myself?"
For India's chess kings, the throne is earned not just over the board, but in the endless journey between them. Their vacation spot may be humble, but their ambition is boundless.
