Chess is a popular game, played extensively all over India. In India, chess tournaments are held in different parts of India. The first ever official National Chess Championship in India was organized by the All India Chess Federation (AIFF) at Eluru in Andhra Pradesh. Initially, the Indian chess tournaments used to be held at every alternate year, but are being held annually, since 1971. Almost all the Chess associations in India and the Chess clubs organise at least one tournament every year and the tournaments play a vital role in upbringing the young Chess players of India.

The Indian chess tournaments are mainly organised with a view to bring up new talents in the field of Chess and provide India with ample talented Chess players to shine in the international arena. The Indian Chess associations like the district associations, state associations or even the Chess clubs are in charge of organising these tournaments. However, as the national governing body for Chess in India, the All India Chess Federation (AICF) organises most of the national level Indian Chess tournaments. In India, people of every age play Chess like the children, the adults and even the senior citizens. Indian Chess tournaments are organised for each of those Chess players. There are tournaments at the under-7, under-9, under-11, under-15, under-19, junior, senior levels and there are separate tournaments for men`s and women`s, as well.

Apart from organising regional and national level tournaments, the Indian Chess associations also organise various International Chess tournaments. All these International tournaments are organised by the AICF and it gets sufficient help from the state Chess associations. Many Indian Chess tournaments have earned recognition and reputation in the international level and a large number of internationally acclaimed Chess players also come and play in these tournaments. Some of the major Indian Chess tournaments include the Parsvnath International Open, Delhi; the Gurgaon International Open, Haryana; the PESTITM Karnataka State Open FIDE Rated, Karnataka; the All Vizag FIDE Rated Open; the Kolkotta Open GM TMT; the P.K.V. Memorial FIDE Rated Open; the Mumbai Mayor`s Cup; the Shri. Maheshwaranand Saraswati FIDE Rated All India Open; the All India FIDE Rated Open; the Meenabai Shirgaonkar Women Fide Rating Open, Sangli; the Babu Kaka Shirgaonkar Fide Rated Open, Sangli; the CPAI All India Open Rapid Chess Tournament, Kolkata; the National U-9 Boys & Girls, Chennai; the National Women "B" Chess Championship, Sangli; the National U-25 Championship, Aurangabad; the G. H. Raison memorial FIDE Rating Chess Tournament, Nagpur; the Adyar Times Open Fide rating, Chennai; the National "B" Chess Championship, Delhi; the Palani All India Open FIDE Rated, Palani; the All Vizag FIDE rating Chess Tournament, Vizag; the National U-17 Boys & Girls, Ahmedabad; the National U-11 Boys & Girls, Nagpur; the SPIC FIDE Rated Open, Thoothukudi; the Asian Men Individual Chess Championship, Hyderabad; the National Cities Team Championship, Delhi; the National U-7 Boys & Girls, Aurangabad; the National Sub-Junior Boys & National Sub-Junior Girls, Maharashtra; the National Junior & National Junior Girls, Sivakasi; the Asian Youth under-8, 10, 12 & 14 Chess Championship, New Delhi; the World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad, Chennai etc.