Remembering IM Arun Vaidya (1949-2025) - a strong chess player and coach

Born in 1949, Arun Vaidya was one of India's strongest players in the 1970s-80s. He became the 7th IM of India in the year 1985 at the Asian Zonal Chess Championships in Dubai. He represented India at the 1984 Chess Olympiad in Thessaloniki, Greece. On 24th of December 2025, he passed away at the age of 76 years - a big loss for Indian chess. One of the most amazing things about Arun Vaidya was his love for the game. A couple of days before he passed away, he conducted his regular group chess training sessions for kids at his home.

Arun Vaidya became the national-B champion of India in 1971 in Shimla and 1982 in Ahmedabad. At the National A, the premier tournament of the country, held in Shimla 1972, Arun Vaidya tied for the top spot with Manuel Aaron and Mohammed Hasan scoring 9.5/13. In that event, Arun Vaidya had won a scintillating game against Manuel Aaron with a beautiful tactic. GM Pravin Thipsay speaks very highly about the game, "Vaidya scored a brilliant victory over a legendary player, who was considered to be invincible in Indian Chess. It was indeed a great game!" We managed to find this game from the book - Indian Chess History by Aaron and Pandit:

Manuel Aaron vs Arun Vaidya, National A 1973

Arun Vaidya could have continued normally here with ...Re8. The e4 pawn is weak and he is clearly better. However, he found a direct way to break through! ...Nxe4!! A stunning sacrifice. Bxe4 Bh4! Bf2. And we reach this position...

In this position, Black play ...Re8!! The pin is decisive - there is no way for White to save himself anymore.

A play-off match between the top 3 spots was held in Delhi later in the year. Manuel Aaron dominated the event, with Mohamed Hassan finishing 2nd. Arun Vaidya had to settle for the 3rd spot.

After the performance at the 1973 National Championships, Arun Vaidya took a break from playing actively and focused on his personal life. He made a come back in chess in 1980s and with fresh vigour started to show his amazing abilities over the board. In 1982, he won the tournament in Palani. The book "Indian Chess History" notes, "G Venkatraman, the Chairman of the Vijaykumar Mills in Kalayamputhur, increased the Prize fund as well as the entry fee by 25% every year. When the tournament stopped it was probably the richest open tournament in the country. As the Mills manufactured cotton yarn, the unusual notice in the tournament hall read - Smoking allowed only inside the tournament hall!"

The mid-80s was the period when a young Vishy Anand was rising through the ranks. He began playing the National Championships from 1984 and his first national (open) title came in 1986.

What made the 1986 National Championships held in Bombay exciting was the final round clash between Anand and Arun Vaidya. Anand was on 11 points and Arun Vaidya was on 10.5. If Arun won the game, there was quite a good possibility that he would become the national champion - a title that was missing in his career. The game started off with a Grunfeld and Vaidya dominated the game for nearly 80% of the moves! But, he was unable to convert the advantage. 16-year-old Vishy just needed a couple errors and he managed to checkmate the white king.

Talking about this encounter, Vishy Anand says, "It was a game full of mistakes, but still kind of interesting - and then at the end we posed together for this photograph. It may seem that he was just part of the story, he was my last round opponent, but in fact he was also fighting for the title. Had he beaten me, he would have taken the title! If he had won, he would have unbelievable tiebreaks, something like that. He got caught up in the excitement as well, and then he lost on time." Here's the exciting final round clash between Arun Vaidya and Vishy Anand.

This was the last national championships played by Arun Vaidya. In the 90s he shifted to Pune and started his chess coaching career. Coaching was never a part of the plan in Arun's life. His good friend Ravi Behere adviced him - "When you have such immense knowledge about chess, why keep it to yourself? Why not spread it?" This was the push that Arun needed to start teaching chess!

There are many anecdotes in the tributes given by his students later in the article. There is one story which was told to us by Arun Vaidya's wife Sunila. Arun used to hang a poster of Anand in his academy and had the words written below it - the 15th World Chess Champion. This was in the 90s when Anand had not yet become a World Champion.

Arun Vaidya's students would come and ask him why he had written that Anand is the 15th World Champion even when he hadn't become one yet. He would then tell them stories and anecdotes about Anand. Imagine the joy and happiness felt by Arun when Vishy actually became a World Champion in the year 2000! His prediction had come true!

On a personal note

We got the news of the demise of Arun Vaidya sir when we were at the dinner table in Doha, at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz 2025. Tears started rolling down Amruta's eyes on hearing the news. Vaidya sir had had a huge impact on not just her development as a chess player but her overall love for the game had grown when working on chess with him. "We couldn't meet Vaidya sir in his final days", she told me, "But once we are back home, we will go and meet Aunty!" We kept our word and on 5th of January 2026, we went to Thane.

Many guests visited the home while we were there. But aunty took the time to take us down the memory lane. It was clear that she had lived a complete life with Arun and chess! While she didn't understand the game in depth, she deeply understood the passion of her husband. Right from being a player to a coach, she supported him in all his chess endeavours. That's the reason why most of the students got the feeling of being with parents when they were around them. Arun and Sunila did not have biological kids, but they had many people who considered them their parents.

"He absolutely adored his motorbike", says Roopal. "It was one of the things that he wanted to do all his life. From being a coach to my son, he had become like a father to me. When he went to the groceries, he would often call me and ask if I needed anything for my home. Such was his warmth and care. He was never money-minded and absolutely enjoyed training the kids. In this present day of commercialization in chess, working with him felt so nice."

As Amruta and I walked away from the house after spending couple of hours with aunty, we were amazed at the beauty with which IM Arun Vaidya lived his life until his last breathe. Very active, would travel on his motorcycle, teach chess to kids, eat and enjoy simple food, build meaningful relationships in his life. A life well lived! For Amruta, it was reliving the life of a man who had made her fall in love with chess and for me through Amruta I can see the deep and lasting impact a good trainer can have on the student.

Some photos from the life of Arun Vaidya

Tributes from important chess personalities and his students

We reached out to some of the prominent chess personalities of Indian chess who knew Arun Vaidya. They were his contemporaries or his students and have written their personal experiences and anecdotes with Arun Vaidya.

GM Vishy Anand

I was just thinking about Arun Baskar Vaidya. I remember that he was the reason I started wearing caps to some tournaments when I was a junior, because he would have this keychain he would keep spinning it on one finger, and I thought if I keep seeing that, that distracts me - so I wore this cap. At some point we were also a little bit of rivals. But I also remember our name for him was uncle - many of used to call him uncle! I also remember my brother was living in Mulund then.

Whenever I would go to Mulund, I would take the suburban from Mulund and go to Thane. Arun would pick me up at the station and then we go home. I was remembering the Poha, probably mango juice as well because both were things I liked a lot back then. I think we would discuss chess, maybe play some Blitz. It was very nice of him, I remember him as being a very affectionate person. There's a nice photo of me posing with him after I beat him in Chembur. It was a game full of mistakes, but still kind of interesting - and then at the end we posed together for this photograph. It may seem that he was just part of the story, he was my last round opponent, but in fact he was also fighting for the title. Had he beaten me, he would have taken the title! If he had won, he would have unbelievable tiebreaks, something like that. He got caught up in the excitement as well, and then he lost on time.

I was quite friendly with him and have nice memories of him. Before I sent you this, I wanted to look up - I seem to remember he came for some Olympiads - maybe it was Manilla, or maybe it was either Thessaloniki or Novi Sad, so '88, '90 or '92. I think it's a pity that I didn't see him much recently - somehow we lost touch. And then I found out- maybe Amruta or Prathamesh wrote something about how he helped many people, he had coached many youngsters. So in a way, I still felt his presence if you would like. I was very sad that he passed away, it would've been very nice if I could have met him once more.

GM Pravin Thipsay

I or rather we (my brothers and me) first came across Arun Vaidya in 1973. We had begun to play Chess tournaments in the wave of the historic Fischer-Spassky Match. During our first tournament in 1971, we got acquainted to some seasoned star players such as Avinash Awate, N Neelakantan and Bhalachandra Vidyadhar Gokhale, who told us about the structure of the chess organisations in the country, the AICF, MSCA and BCA and the Zandu club. We started occasionally visiting Zandu club at Prabhadevi in 1972.

We were pleasantly surprised to see legends of Indian Chess such as Ramchandra Sapre and Shrikrishna Sakhalkar (about whom we had read only in the newspapers) regularly visiting the club to play in friendly games almost every day. There we learnt about the play and conquests of Suresh Shaligram, Arun Vaidya, Vijay Adhikari, Abdul Jabbar and other top players in the country.

Shaligram & Vaidya visited the club only during Interclub tournament or after playing in some important tournaments, as they were staying a bit far, in Thane. We, therefore, had little interaction with them till 1973. However, one of the founder members of the AICF, Mr Raman Menon – who wrote a Chess column as ‘Ramji’s Corner’ in Times of India, was a daily visitor at Zandu. Ramji was a living Chess encyclopedia and we learnt a lot about the Indian Chess from him.

Beginning of 1973 turned out to be indeed a great year for Arun Vaidya as he tied for the top place in the Ahmedabad National A championship with Manuel Aaron & Mohammad Hasan. The tiebreaks in the championship were quite different that year. All the players who had tied for the top spot were to play a Four game each robin match among themselves at some later date, to be declared by AICF. The Mumbai players were eagerly waiting for these top players to return from the tournament. We didn’t have to wait long.

Several players of 1973 National A paid a visit to Zandu on the very same day of their arrival. That was the time when I saw Vaidya for the first time. As soon as he arrived, players went to him to greet and he interacted with them in his regular friendly manner. It was a sort of celebration, which went on for several days. Vaidya was asked to show his brilliant victory over a legendary player, who was considered to be invincible in Indian Chess. It was indeed a great game, Vaidya playing the Black side of Sicilian. The analysis of games played in National A went on for almost a week, with all the top players participating in it, showing their own games with minute intricacies. By then we had befriended Awate and Neelakantan, so we never felt awkward to ask our silly doubts to these top players and I remember that we were never unanswered. There was no place for snobbishness in Zandu culture.

The historic ‘Interclub’ Chess tournament soon began & we – the players playing in the preliminary division – got an opportunity to watch the top Indian players (who were playing in the Premier division) in action. Though I had very little interaction with the star players – as I was very shy -, I watched a lot of Sapre, Sakhalkar, Vaidya, Shaligram, Shamsul Hasan, Mohan Babur and Ravi Dandekar. Each one of them was a legend in their own way.

Unfortunately, the play-off for the top spot in 1973 did not go well for Vaidya. He had started working as a contractor at a building site and was unable to cope with the tension caused due to absenteeism of labour at the working sites. Yet, he continued his visits to Zandu despite the dismal results in the Playoff. Abhay even had an opportunity to play against him in Indian Gymkhana All India Open Chess Tournament. In 1974, Vaidya abruptly stopped playing in tournaments due professional obligations.

In those days, Elo rating could be achieved only in International Tournaments, so most of the top Indian players in 1960s and early 1970s remained unrated despite their great playing skills. Around 1978, FIDE changed the Rating regulations, which enabled the National Federations to conduct Rating tournaments without needing foreigner participants. The newer generation , therefore, got the ratings comparatively easily.

When Vaidya decided to come back to Chess in 1980 – having gained stability in his business – he was not taken seriously by the Informator generation which believed that the result of Chess games depended solely on superior theoretical information. However, ‘unrated’ Vaidya started winning open tournaments one after another in the early 1980s. He not only qualified to National A from National B Ahmedabad, but earned a berth in the Indian Team for the second time (February 1984, Ahmedabad) – after a long gap of 11 years. The knowledge acquired at Zandu a decade ago had proven to be very helpful.

However, performing well at European Tournaments was not easy for Asians then. At this stage, (1981-1985) the AICF started conducting regular Grandmaster Coaching Camps for Indian Teams and this turned out to be very useful to the Indian team. Though Vaidya was the most senior player of the team (we all called him uncle), he seemed to be the most sincere student during the Coaching Camps by Grandmaster Eduard Gufeld. He even visited Gufeld’s room daily after the class to discuss his openings and games. Vaidya became a formidable player between 1984-1986. He played for India in the 1984 Thessaloniki Olympiad. Vaidya got his IM title in the Asian Zonal Chess Championship, Dubai, January 1985.

Between 1985 and 1989, he was appointed as a Coach in several coaching camps by AICF. This experience laid the foundation of his Coaching skills. Vaidya moved from Thane to Pune in early 1990s and reduced his participation in tournaments. He concentrated on coaching youngsters and became very successful in it.

Vaidya was a multi-skilled personality. He enjoyed cooking and was an excellent cook. He was a strong character who took decisions which he stood by. During his years of working as a building contractor, he had learnt many skills unknown to middle class. Vaidya possessed the uncommon skill of opening most of the locks without keys or repairing manual chess clocks without proper equipment. He always made his presence felt by his ideas and acts.

I do not remember when I met him last but the last tournament we played together was Goodricke 1998. He didn’t perform as good as he was hoping to. Surprisingly, though his performance was not so good, his desire and interest in gaining knowledge had not reduced a bit. After losing against the King’s Indian Defence by Kiril Georgiev, he came to my room to analyse the game. We analysed for 2-3 hours before he left. It was our last real interaction as Chess players.

Though Vaidya was not keeping good health, his unexpected demise, just a few days before his 76th birthday, came as a shock to the Indian chess fraternity.

IM Rakesh Kulkarni

I met Vaidya Sir during Rochess, December 2004 in Thane, just a few weeks after he had shifted from Pune. We already had our first chess lesson in 2005 January first week, and after that never really stopped! Sir was my main fundamental coach throughout my childhood for more than 10 years! He didn’t just teach me chess but also Life! He also stressed on learning life skills and not just be full of chess knowledge. In my nascent career, Sir inspired me to take up chess professionally about his past achievements that included many event titles, government accolades and also being in the Indian team for several years! The highlight - Playing the 1986 Dubai Chess Olympiad alongside a teenager Vishy Anand!

We often met his prior students from Pune like GM Abhijit Kunte, WGMs Soumya Swaminathan, Swati Ghate, Eesha Karavade etc.. and many others! Sir also always mentioned one of his favourites IM Prathamesh Mokal, who was always super disciplined, hard working and extremely fit (Karate Black Belt!)

The most loving memory with Sir was in 2009, just after my 10th Standard board exams, when my family and I had plans to go for a vacation, but he advised and convinced us to focus on the upcoming one-month Exposure Trip in Spain, which I had earned thanks to a Top-5 finish in the National Sub-Junior, 2008. My family went ahead for the vacation, while I shifted to Sir’s house for two weeks!

Sir and Kaku welcomed me into the lives apart from the chess classes. It was 24x7 Chess knowledge, chess stories, overall lessons, practice games and drills while having copious amounts of Tea (which Sir loved!) Kaku always brought us amazing snacks and tasty food! Which sometimes got cold thanks to some rich crazy analysis over the board! In those 15 days, Sir also showed me his cooking! Sir’s Chicken Curry was scrumptious!

Both Sir and Kaku repeatedly taught me lessons about tournament life which included booking travel, making your food, eating whatever is possible without being fussy, being self-reliant and funding my own trips! Post the pandemic, I regret that we didn’t that often. But, it was customary to go and visit him on 29th December for his birthday! (Sadly, didn’t get the chance this time). Even though he was still coaching until a few months ago, I think I was his last student to become an International Master!

Thanks to this, I was also awarded the Shiv Chhatrapati Award (Maharashtra Government’s Highest Sporting Honor) An Achievement which Sir was extremely proud of! This wouldn’t have been possible without Sir and Kaku! Lastly, It was really nice to have Sir and Kaku attend our wedding celebration! I really wanted to show my wife Deo that the man she married wouldn’t have been half as good, if it weren’t for Arun Vaidya Sir and Kaku!

WGM Swati Ghate

Arun Vaidya, Vaidya Aunty and my association started when I finished my 10th board exams in 1995 and moved to Pune. I was staying with Vaidya sir in kind of Gurukul system of the old era. Though I was completing my secondary high school from my native place Sangli most of the time was spent in Pune under the guidance of Vaidya Sir.

Arun Vaidya, fondly called as ‘Uncle’, in chess circles was basically from Thane but had moved to Pune in the year 1993 just with the sole purpose of teaching chess to young generation. Many prominent players from Pune and Mumbai who went on to become professional chess players had received innumerable tips and guidance from Vaidya Sir. I was treated like a daughter by both of them. They did not have any biological kids but the affection, care in minute things by Vaidya Aunty gave all of us a second home.

I do remember many senior players gathering together at Vaidya Sir’s home and we used to play blitz games almost whole night with of course appetite fully taken care by Vaidya Aunty with delicious food. Sir not only taught us Chess but also passed on lot of knowledge about day to day life such as repairing two wheelers, cooking tips. He was an enterprising person at heart as his life journey had lot of ups and down. He had worked in Mazgaon Dock, had electrical shop, a little bit of political life, and was also a chess trainer for an academy in UAE for a brief period.

Mumbai chess players still fondly remember the days when all the senior players including Vaidya Sir used to gather at Zandu Canteen and go on discussing chess games for days together. Vaidya Sir with his trademark Kan and Paulsen opening beat many formidable players at his peak. He was popular not only in chess fraternity but also among the society where he lived by his helping and lively nature.

IM Eesha Karavade

Teaching me Sicilian and getting the true feel of Sicilian was taught to me by Vaidya sir. Another thing that I learnt from him was Rook lifts! He used to say Rooks are light! I remember I played a game with a rook lift move Rd4! I was extremely happy with this move. It is a pity that I am unable to find this game anymore.

IM Prathamesh Mokal

Our Santa has passed away this Christmas. With profound sadness, we mourn the loss of my former trainer International Master Arun Vaidya, who was among India's top players in the 1980's. It was by stroke of luck that Arun Vaidya Sir (Uncle as he was popularly known in chess circle) had shifted to Pune for a few years in the 1990's, and like Santa, he had come bearing gifts of rare chess knowledge and wisdom, which we badly needed. He and his better half Sunila Vaidya gave us so much love, care and general wisdom that we readily accepted a couple of his faults without the blink of an eye. Sincere gratitude to them.

Many of Pune and Maharashtra's and even some of India's titled players have learned a lot from him, just to name a few, Abhijit Kunte, Mrunalini Kunte, Swati Ghate, Eesha Karavade, Soumya Swaminathan, Rakesh Kulkarni, me, my sister Amruta Mokal and the list goes on... In the end I will carry the regret of always wanting to, but postponing and not being able to spend more time with him in his final years. Just kept thinking that he is there, will go and meet him soon. Very saddened by the sudden loss. Wish the best for his soul. Om Shanti.

Amruta Mokal

Vaidya Sir had a great impact on my life in many ways. A story to share is when I joined just a few days before my U-12 nationals, sir taught me just first four moves of the Sicilian Kan opening and some critical ideas in such a way that just in few days when I went for the U-12 nationals I was able to win a crucial game against Tania. She was on 7.0/7 when we played and the leader of the tournament. When I returned, Sir loved the game so much that he used to ask me to show it to any of his chess friends who would keep visiting his house back then. I fell so much in love with the Kan opening that I played it all my life. He had these amazing books and I have great memories of enjoying the books like "Think like a Grandmaster by Kotov" where one game would be seen for so many hours at depth.

He also made it affordable and being able to learn from a coach who is not money minded makes a huge difference as there is complete trust that the coach loves the game more than anything else. One more thing I loved was his story telling which was present in every move, how he used psychology against his opponents and he would show his own games with stories and it was amazing to learn. His house was always open to anyone for chess. You enter his house and living room was nothing but a table and chairs especially made for chess practice, and chess book cupboard. Aunty has always been there as a strong support and I have fond memories of how all the students loved her home-made Ice-cream and pepsicolas in the summer. So sir and aunty both gave their all to chess in some way or other. It was very sad that we wanted to do a detailed interview of his legendary life and in GCL I met someone who knows him and we even had a conversation that Jan or Feb we will do it, but unfortunately it couldn't happen. Nevertheless I will make sure to share the knowledge which he passed on to me.

Some tributes we received online

I’d met him during the Palani tournaments. He did a public lecture, analysing Anand-Kasparov g/9 , which was very well received. Om Shanti. - Jaideep Unudurti

Arun uncle used to live in the same complex in Pune where I lived in my final year of engineering in 1998. Swati Ghate used to train under him. we never talked chess, but I always had fond memories of him being extremely jovial with a conquering smile and a great disposition. - Bitcoiner Texan

Very sad to know that Shri.Arun Vaidya is no more.He is well known International master in Tamilnadu. May his soul rest in peace. - Mithra Kanth Poorna Sharma

I played Arun Vaidya in Kyiv, 1984. My deepest condolenses to his family and Indian chess players - Dimitri Komarov

It was fun to spend time with him. I was fortunate to be associated with him last 3 years till his last day. He was passoinate for the game. He was wikipedia of Indian Chess. Arun Vaidya sir you will be missed. - Ashish Thatte

Arun Vaidya's legacy lives on through the numerous students he mentored and inspired, his impact on Indian chess will never be forgotten. - Hugo Villanueva

Omg, was a wonderful aggressive player, had the opportunity to meet him at the BCA which was then operating from the Zandu pharma canteen in Mumbai. I think may have played a game or 2 with him. - Rammohan Kale

Prabhu Respected Arun Vaidya Sir ki Atma ko shanti de. Excellent man. I took GM Swapnil Dhopade to Respected Arun Vadiya sir for coaching with Swapnil was a kid. Great coach. - Om Kakra

He was our neighbour. As he stays in thane. He taught my elder son. We always missed him. - Shreya Bagwe

One of the pioneers in the resurgence of Indian chess. along with GM Praveen Thipsay and some lesser known Indian masters who were playing in Philippine tournaments in the late 70s and early 80s, TN Parameshwaran and Ravisekhar. - Saldy Cudiamat Lopez

I am very lucky to have seen him playing delhi tournaments like Bhilwara chess in 1980s. He was very soft spoken, entered the playing Hall with dignity and subtleness. He was a fighter to the core. It's very unfortunate to learn the passing away of such a great player. May his soul rest in peace. Om shanti om. - Giridharan Girichess

Rest in peace...I played a few games with IM Arun Vidhiya and always lost. Learnt many tactics from home. Later I got prizes because of him. I am always grateful to him. I feel sad on knowing about his demise. - CVK Balakrishnan

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