India, which is rapidly emerging in chess in the last few years, has achieved another success. After the victory of Anuj Sriwati, he has got the title of Grand Master and now he has become the 100th Grand Master of India. By winning the 7th ASEAN+ Individual Chess Championship 2026 held in the Philippines, 22-year-old Anuj Srivatri has joined the great players of Indian chess. He has also become the first Grand Master to come from Madhya Pradesh. In 1987, Vishwanathan Anand became the first Grand Master of India and in 39 years the number of Grand Masters has increased to 100.
In 1987, Vishwanathan Anand won the Shakti Finance International Chess Tournament held in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, becoming India's first Grand Master. In July this year, VS Ratnavel had achieved the title of becoming the 99th Grand Master during the Guwahati Smart City International Open 2026. Within 5 months, India has also got its 100th Grand Master. This year has been great for India because this year India has got a total of 9 Grand Masters.
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100 Grand Masters completed, preparation for 200
On this occasion, All India Chess Federation (AICF) President Nitin Narang has written on X, 'India has got Grand Master number 100. India has achieved a spectacular feat as Anuj Srivatri has won the 7th ASEAN+ Individual Chess Championship 2026 held at Ozamiz City, Philippines and secured the Grand Master title. Congratulations Anuj! This is a proud moment for Indian chess. Moving towards 200 Grand Master.
What is the story of Anuj Srivatri?
Anuj Srivatri, who comes from Madhya Pradesh, is only 22 years old. Anuj, who became an International Master in 2020, then became the youngest International Master of Madhya Pradesh. In 6 years he has also achieved the title of Grand Master. Anuj started playing chess at the insistence of his father. His father also used to play chess during his university days.
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Anuj has done B.Tech in Computer Science from Lovely Professional University. He has studied well along with sports. After learning machine learning and software development, Anuj also did an internship in a German company for a year.
How to become a Grand Master?
Grand Master is considered the highest title in the game of chess. To achieve this title given by the International Chess Federation (FIDE), every player has to cross some important milestones. Let us tell you that when new players start playing and cross the FIDE rating 2200, they are called Candidate Master. Having a rating of 2300 gives you the title of FIDE Master, having a rating of 2400 and 3 IM norms, you get the title of International Master and then having a rating of 2500 and 3 GM norms, you get the title of Grand Master.
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The conditions for achieving GM norms are considered quite stringent. For this, a player has to play in such a tournament in which he has to play at least 9 matches. In this tournament he has to achieve Tournament Performance Rating (TPR) at least 2600. Also, one of its conditions is that at least 33 percent of the players in this tournament should be those who have achieved the Grand Master title. Also, players from at least 3 different federations must be playing.
By overcoming all these challenges, when a player crosses the FIDE rating of 2500 with 3 GM norms, he becomes eligible for the Grand Master title. Let us tell you that till now more than 2 thousand players around the world have achieved the title of Grand Master. India now ranks fourth in terms of number of Grand Masters. Russia, America and Germany are ahead of India.