Who is Anuj Shrivatri? All you need to know about India's 100th Chess Grandmaster
India have added nine grandmasters in 2026
Anuj Shrivatri became India’s 100th chess Grandmaster on November 8, after winning the 7th ASEAN Plus Individual Open Chess Championship in Ozamiz City, Philippines. He is also the first Grandmaster from Madhya Pradesh.
The milestone comes nearly four decades after Viswanathan Anand became India’s first Grandmaster in 1988. All India Chess Federation (AICF) president Nitin Narang hailed it as a historic moment for Indian chess, as the country entered triple digits in their list of producing chess Grandmasters.
Who is Anuj Shrivatri?
Catch Every Update, Anytime, Anywhere
Anuj Shrivatri was born on July 21, 2004, and hails from Katni in Madhya Pradesh. He started playing chess at the age of seven, with his early results showing glimpses of his potential.
Shrivatri finished third in the National Under-13 Championship and fourth at the World Youth Under-14 event. Rajesh Bahadur coached him from 2016 to 2019, and he later reached the International Master level without a regular coach.
Also Read: Full list of chess Grandmasters from India
He became an FM in 2018 and an IM soon after. He earned the IM title at the age of 15 years and 31 days, which made him the youngest IM from Madhya Pradesh and Central India at the time. FIDE formally approved his title in 2020.
The Indian prodigy completed both the final IM norm and the 2400 rating requirement at the Sant Adria tournament in Spain.
Achievements before becoming 100th GM
Shrivatri’s career has been built on steady results in open tournaments. He first announced himself at the 2018 Sitges Open in Spain, where he was tied for second place on points but finished third after the application of tiebreaks.
A year later he tied for fourth with 6.5/9 at the same event after losing two straight games in rounds three and four and scoring 4.5/5 in the last five rounds. In 2022, he finished third at the 3rd Gujarat International GM Open with 8.5/10 after winning six games in a row in the closing rounds and won INR 1.5 lakh.
In 2025, he finished as runner-up at the 2nd Namma Bengaluru GM with 8/10, level with the winner Levan Pantsulaia and Alexei Fedorov.
His 2026 season has been his best so far, as on October 10-11, the Indian won the Grandeur 10 Open Rapid Rating tournament in Vadodara with an unbeaten 8.5/9 and a draw against GM Abhimanyu Puranik in the last round. It was his 9th overall tournament victory of the year and 8th in India.
Road to becoming a Grandmaster
Shrivatri did it the hard way in the Philippines. He lost his first game, then went on to score 7/8 to win the tournament. He had to win the final two rounds to secure the title, and finished on 7 points from 9 games, half a point ahead of Vietnam’s GM Nguyen Duc Hoa. The timing provided the perfect Diwali gift for Indian chess fans.
To earn the Grandmaster title through the standard route, a player must achieve three GM norms and reach a peak FIDE rating of at least 2,500. However, Shrivatri secured his title via FIDE’s direct title regulations by outright winning the ASEAN Plus Open Championship.
Indian chess has been adding Grandmasters at a remarkable rate. Ilamparthi A. R. became the country’s 90th in October 2025, so Shrivatri is the 10th new Grandmaster since then, in just over a year.
Who is Anuj Shrivatri?
Shrivatri is an Indian chess grandmaster from Madhya Pradesh. He became India’s 100th chess grandmaster after winning the 7th ASEAN Plus Individual Open Chess Championship title. Born on July 21, 2004, Anuj started playing chess at the age of seven and became an International Master in 2018.
How did Anuj Shrivatri become a chess grandmaster?
Shrivatri became a FIDE Master in 2018 and International Master soon after. He earned the IM title at the age of 15 years and 31 days, which made him the youngest IM from Madhya Pradesh and Central India at the time. FIDE formally approved his title in 2020. The Indian prodigy completed both the final IM norm and the 2400 rating requirement at the Sant Adria tournament in Spain. He then won the 7th ASEAN Plus Individual Open Chess Championship title to become a grandmaster.
How many chess grandmasters do India have?
India now have 100 grandmasters in chess.
For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram