India has its 100th Grandmaster! Anuj Shrivatri becomes the first GM from Madhya Pradesh

Anuj Shrivatri (Photo by ChessBase India) NEW DELHI: Madhya Pradesh’s Anuj Shrivatri became India’s 100th chess grandmaster on Sunday, fulfilling the title requirements by winning the 7th ASEAN Plus Individual Open Chess Championship. The result was also the first grandmaster of his state.Born in 2004, Shrivatri started the tournament with a loss. He lost his opening match, then recovered to finish on seven points after nine rounds.That was half a point ahead of Vietnam’s Nguyen Duc Hoa, third out of six was Nouri Alekhine of the Philippines.The title was still tied in the final rounds and he won the last two by a wide margin.The result arrived on Diwali, the festival of lights.The milestone ends a wait that began in 1988 when Viswanathan Anand became India’s first Grandmaster.The country has added several in recent months, with S Aswath becoming 98th in July and VS Rathanvel recently becoming 99th.Shrivatri was among the names offered as a probable 100.He has long been seen as promising. Shrivatri won the IM title in 2020 and was then reported as the youngest international champion from Madhya Pradesh. After six years, the next step is complete.For Indian chess, the number has symbolic weight. India have been eyeing a 100th Grand Masters title for some time now and the speed with which new Grand Masters have been coming in shows how strong the talent has grown in the country.For Madhya Pradesh, which has not yet produced one, Shrivatri’s name opens a new chapter.