Anuj Shrivatri: How India Got Its 100th Chess Grandmaster
A 22-year-old from Madhya Pradesh just became India's 100th chess Grandmaster. Here is what the title actually means and how he earned it.
On Sunday, Anuj Shrivatri, a 22-year-old International Master from Madhya Pradesh, became India's 100th chess Grandmaster. He clinched the title at the 7th ASEAN+ Individual Open Chess Championship in Ozamiz City, Philippines, after losing his very first game and then fighting back to finish the nine-round event with seven points.
The Grandmaster (GM) title is chess's highest rank, awarded by FIDE, the sport's international governing body. Reaching 100 GMs is a milestone India has been closing in on quickly, with several new title-holders added through 2026 alone. Here is what the title involves, and how Shrivatri got there.
What a Grandmaster title actually means
A GM title is not just a high rating, it is a qualification awarded by FIDE for life, and only a few thousand players in the world hold it. FIDE's Title Regulations set two main routes to earn it:
The norm route
A player must earn at least three "GM norms" across tournaments covering a minimum of 27 games, performing at a GM level against a mix of strong, internationally varied opponents, including a required number of fellow GMs.
The rating route
Separately, the player must at some point reach a live FIDE rating of 2500 or higher.
The direct-title route
At certain FIDE-approved continental or sub-continental events with enough participants and rounds, a clear winner (after tiebreaks) can be awarded the GM title directly, without going through norms, provided their rating is at least 2300.
Shrivatri's win falls under the third route. His FIDE rating after the tournament stood at 2450, below the usual 2500 mark required through norms, but comfortably above the 2300 floor FIDE sets for a direct title earned by winning an approved event outright.
Who is Anuj Shrivatri
Shrivatri is Madhya Pradesh's first-ever Grandmaster. He started playing chess at age seven and became the state's youngest International Master in 2019, at 15 years and 31 days old, training largely in Katni with coaches including the late V.K. Tiwari. In an earlier interview, he said he worked on much of his game independently because of the cost of coaching.
At the tournament in the Philippines, he recovered from an opening-round loss to finish just half a point ahead of the nearest rivals for the title spot. The All India Chess Federation's president, Nitin Narang, congratulated him publicly, calling it "a proud moment for Indian chess" and adding, "Onwards to 200 Grandmasters!"
Why the number 100 matters
India has been producing Grandmasters at a pace unheard of a decade ago. It has been decades since Viswanathan Anand became the country's first Grandmaster, and the growth since then, especially the last few years, has been driven by stronger coaching, more domestic norm-earning tournaments, and online training tools that let young players study without travelling abroad for every event.
What most people miss
- A GM title, once earned, is held for life. A player's rating can later drop well below 2500 without losing the title.
- The IM (International Master) title is not a legal requirement for becoming a GM. A player can go straight to GM norms without ever holding the IM title, though in practice most Grandmasters earn IM first.
- "Direct title" events have their own stricter entry rules (minimum participants, nationalities, and rounds), so not every tournament win can produce a GM title, only ones FIDE has specifically approved for this.
- A single loss early in a tournament, like Shrivatri's first-round defeat, does not rule out a title, FIDE norms and direct titles are based on the full event score, not a perfect run.
