^^^ But in one way Indian Chess has come a long way... Don't forget till 60s-70s there was only one International Master (M. Aaron - who won many Indian Championships - I remember him, interestingly, because when Bobby Fisher won the 1962 Inter zonal (first step towards world championship) his position was last - though he came in the news because he won a game from Portisch (who was, IIRC a GM then)
And before that..only noteworthy champion from from India was Sulthan Khan (I am not sure if this was his real name), who was a manservant to a maharaja and came to international notice when he played in England - while the maharaja was visiting Vilayat.
(R. Fine in his chess autobiography writes a rather embarrassing episode where the US champion and other chess greats went to congratulate Sultan Khan after a chess victory - the object of their honor was serving them drinks and refreshments while the maharaja was talking about his hunting dogs)
He played for England in Chess Olympiad (top board) (1930's).. won European championships ... all the more impressive because he had no book knowledge, has to learn the European Rules of Chess (Indian version does not allow Castling, double move of a pawn, and promoting a pawn is different).. .. he was very a strong but never got a title of IM or GM (I don't think those titles were there then).
Funny thing about him was when the Maharaja returned back to India.. no one in Chess world knew what happened to him.
R. Fine called him the best natural player he ever met. (Khan had very good record against the best in the world around that time, and did extremely well in many tournaments for a very short time while he was in England)
Added Later: Was curious so just did a google search on what happened to him -- I get:
Later life
Miss Fatima, also a servant of Sir Umar, had won the British Ladies Championship in 1933 by a remarkable three-point margin, scoring ten wins, one draw, and no losses.[1][18] She said that Sultan Khan, upon his return to India, felt as though he had been freed from prison.[19] In the damp English climate, he had been continually afflicted with malaria, colds, influenza, and throat infections, often arriving to play with his neck swathed in bandages.[20][21] Sir Umar died in 1944, leaving Sultan Khan a small farmstead, where he lived for the rest of his life.[4][16][20] Ather Sultan, his eldest son, recalled that he would not coach his children at chess, telling them that they should do something more useful with their lives.[20]
Sultan Khan died of tuberculosis in Sargodha, Pakistan (the same district where he had been born) on April 25, 1966.[4][16][22]
From
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_Sultan_Khan
(Interesting that, I have read about him a lot, know many of his games - admired some very much (some are classic and great) - but never knew about Miss Fatima - nor that he died in 1966)
(Also I see the R. Fine episode is mentioned in wiki article too..)
. I would love to see this girl win an Olympic medal for India.
really felt bad for the guy, he shouldn't have to worry about these things. unless we go fully pro and there is enough money for club players to sustain themselves we won't see much improvement.