Anuj Shrivatri becomes India's 100th Grandmaster
The 22-year-old chess player won the 7th ASEAN Plus Individual Open Chess Championship in the Philippines.
Chennai International Master Anuj Shrivatri became India’s 100th Grandmaster (GM) on Sunday after winning the 7th ASEAN Plus Individual Open Chess Championship in the Philippines, according to reports by Sportstar, Hindustan Times and The Times of India.
Shrivatri, a B.Tech graduate in Computer Science from Lovely Professional University, is the first chess player from Madhya Pradesh to achieve the required norms for the title. He finished the tournament on seven points after nine rounds, half a point ahead of Vietnam’s Nguyen Duc Hoa.
The milestone comes 38 years after Viswanathan Anand became the first Indian Grandmaster in 1988. Anand told Hindustan Times that the achievement is a remarkable milestone, noting that India had 30 grandmasters 15 years ago.
Shrivatri is the ninth player to earn the title in 2026. Earlier this year, S Aswath became the 98th GM in July, while V.S. Rathnavel was confirmed as India’s 99th GM earlier this month after reaching the 2500 Elo rating mark at the Guwahati Smart City International Open 2026.
Shrivatri had earned the International Master (IM) title in 2020. He recovered from a loss in his opening game to win his final two matches of the championship.