‘We are slowly being poisoned’: Chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi flags hazardous Delhi-NCR AQI

Indian Chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi flagged high AQI levels in Delhi-NCR region

Indian chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi has reignited the debate around Delhi’s worsening air pollution with a sharply worded social media post that has since gone viral, drawing attention to what he called a dangerously normalised public health emergency.

Posting on X, Gujrathi questioned the absence of urgency around the capital’s toxic air, warning that the crisis is unfolding gradually but relentlessly. “We are slowly being poisoned and no one cares? Shouldn’t solving this be the top priority?” he wrote. His post included a screenshot from Delhi’s air quality dashboard showing the AQI soaring to 598, a level classified as hazardous and unsafe even for brief exposure.

We are slowly being poisoned and no one cares? Shouldn’t solving this be the top priority ? pic.twitter.com/1qyZvPFLFq

— Vidit Gujrathi (@viditchess) January 17, 2026

Gujrathi’s remarks came at a time when Delhi continues to reel under severe pollution. Data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed that the AQI stood at 376 at 9 am on Saturday, firmly in the very poor category. This represented a further deterioration from the city’s 24-hour average AQI of 354 recorded on Friday evening, signalling that air quality was continuing to worsen.

The chess star’s blunt assessment struck a chord online, triggering widespread reactions from users who echoed his concern and frustration. Many agreed that air pollution in Delhi has turned into a slow-moving crisis that both authorities and residents have begrudgingly learned to tolerate.

One user likened the situation to the well-known boiling frog analogy, saying people fail to react because the damage happens gradually. “All of us are the frogs, not just the government, but the people too,” the user wrote, pointing to collective complacency.

Others resorted to dark humour to underscore the grim reality. One post remarked that with AQI levels crossing 700 in winter, “breathing fresh air feels like a luxury vacation now,” suggesting that Delhi appears to be locked in an unspoken race to break its own pollution records each year.

Another user highlighted the lack of political urgency, arguing that such pollution levels would trigger mass protests and emergency responses in many other cities. “In India, we’ve just accepted it,” the user wrote, adding that air quality rarely becomes an electoral issue, allowing politicians to ignore it.