Vidit Gujrathi (born 24 October 1994) is an Indian
chess grandmaster
Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally the t ...
. Gujrathi attained the title of grandmaster in January 2013, becoming the 30th player from India to do so. He is the fourth Indian player to have crossed the
Elo rating
The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American chess master and physics professor.
The Elo system wa ...
of 2700. He is a double gold medalist at the
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...
. He is also a silver medalist at the
Asian Games
The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...
. He became the third Indian to qualify for the
Candidates tournament
The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The win ...
Nashik
Nashik, formerly Nasik, is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra situated on the banks of the river Godavari, about northeast of the state capital Mumbai.
Nashik is one of the Hindu pilgrimage sites of the Kumbh ...
to Santosh Gujrathi and Nikita Gujrathi, who are doctors. He did his early schooling at Fravashi Academy and was coached in chess from an early age.
Career
2006–2017
In 2006, he finished 2nd in the Asian Youth Championships in the U12 category, thus receiving the title of
FIDE Master
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
.
In 2008, he won the
World Youth Chess Championship
The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. History
Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015 (OR 2016), the event has been s ...
in the Open U14 section, the first Indian to do so. He scored 9 points out of a possible 11, clinching his final norm to become an
International Master
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
.
He finished 2nd in the U16 category of the
World Youth Chess Championship
The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. History
Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015 (OR 2016), the event has been s ...
in 2009, tying with the eventual winner S. P. Sethuraman at 9 points. He made the first step towards becoming a grandmaster in January 2010 by reaching a 2500 rating.
In the
World Junior Chess Championship
The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament (players must have been under 20 years old on 1 January in the year of competition) organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE).
The idea was the brainchild of William Rits ...
in
Chennai
Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
in 2011, held for U20 players, Vidit finished with 8 points out of 11, thus gaining his first GM norm.
In the
Nagpur
Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...
International Open in 2011, Vidit finished with 8 points out of 11, one point behind the eventual winner
Ziaur Rahman
Ziaur Rahman (19 January 193630 May 1981) was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the sixth president of Bangladesh from 1977 until Assassination of Ziaur Rahman, his assassination in 1981. One of the leading figures of t ...
. He gained his second GM norm in the tournament. Vidit achieved his final GM norm at the age of 18 in the eighth round of the Rose Valley
Kolkata
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
Open Grandmasters' chess tournament in 2012, where he finished third.
In 2013, Vidit won a bronze medal in the
World Junior Chess Championship
The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament (players must have been under 20 years old on 1 January in the year of competition) organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE).
The idea was the brainchild of William Rits ...
in Turkey in the Junior (U20) category. Vidit finished third in the
Hyderabad
Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
International Grandmasters chess tournament in 2013, winning Rs 150,000. He passed the 2600-rating threshold on the January 2014 rating list.
Vidit's equal third at the 2015 Asian Chess Championship qualified him to the Chess World Cup 2015, where he was eliminated in the first round. In 2017, he tied for the best score of 7/9 at the Dubai Open.
2018–present
Vidit won the Challenger event of the 2018
Tata Steel Chess Tournament
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Ste ...
by a full point, going undefeated with a score of 9/13. He qualified for the Masters event of the 2019 tournament, where he had a respectable 7/13 showing, including a win over former world champion
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. He was the World Chess Champion#Split title (1993–2006), Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the 14th undisputed World Ch ...
.
From 2226 November 2019, he competed in the
Tata Steel
Tata Steel Limited is an Indian multinational steel-making company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, with its primary operations based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. It is a subsidiary of the Tata Group.
Formerly known as Tata Iron and Steel ...
Rapid and Blitz as a wildcard competitor. He finished in a tie for eighth with fellow wildcard
Pentala Harikrishna
Pentala Harikrishna (born 10 May 1986) is an Indian chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster. He achieved a peak world ranking of 10 in November 2016, and a peak Elo rating system, Elo rating of 2770 in December 2016.
On 17 August 2001, he bec ...
FIDE Grand Prix 2022
The FIDE Grand Prix 2022 was a series of three chess tournaments played between 4 February and 4 April 2022. The top two finishers – Hikaru Nakamura (winner) and Richárd Rapport (runner-up) – qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2022,
. In the first leg, he tied for second with Daniil Dubov with 3/6 in Pool C. In the second leg, he finished second in Pool C with a result of 3/6, finishing 12th in the standings with seven points.
Vidit qualified to the Chess World Cup 2023 by rating, replacing women's world chess champion
Ju Wenjun
Ju Wenjun (; born 31 January 1991) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. She is the reigning five-time Women's World Champion, the reigning Women's World Blitz Chess Champion, and a two-time Women's World Rapid Chess Champion. In March 2017, she be ...
. He reached the round of 16, where he defeated
Ian Nepomniachtchi
Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi ( rus, Ян Алекса́ндрович Непо́мнящий, r=Yan Aleksandrovich Nepomnyashchiy, p=ˈjan ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ nʲɪˈpomnʲɪɕːɪj, a=Ru-Ian Alexandrovich Nepomnyashchij.ogg; born 14 J ...
to advance to the quarterfinals for his second consecutive World Cup. He lost to Nijat Abasov in the quarterfinals, missing out on a chance to qualify for the
Candidates Tournament
The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The win ...
.
He played in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2023 from 25 October to 5 November 2023. He lost in the first round, but won 7 out of his next 10 games to win the tournament with a score of 8½/11. Vidit qualified to the Candidates Tournament 2024 by finishing in the top two of the Grand Swiss. The All India Chess Federation announced a financial assistance of ₹20 million for Candidates preparation to Vidit,
R Praggnanandhaa
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (born 10 August 2005) is an Indian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, Praggnanandhaa placed second in the 2023 Chess World Cup, and is the only Indian to win the Tata Steel Chess Tournament after Viswanathan Anand. H ...
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2019
The FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2019 was a chess tournament that formed part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship 2021. It was played on October 10 to 21 2019, on the Isle of Man.