Anuj Shrivatri, 22, became India’s 100th chess grandmaster by winning the ASEAN Plus Open in the Philippines with 7 points from 9 rounds. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the milestone on Tuesday, two days after the Madhya Pradesh player secured the title.
Ozamiz City, Philippines: Anuj Shrivatri lost his opening game and still won the tournament. He took the 7th ASEAN Plus Individual Open Chess Championship on Sunday, 8 November, and the event’s format awards the grandmaster title directly to its winner, making him the 100th grandmaster in India’s chess history and the first from Madhya Pradesh.
A recovery from round one
After the opening-round defeat, Shrivatri won six of his remaining eight games and drew two, finishing on 7 points from nine rounds. That left him half a point ahead of Vietnam’s grandmaster Nguyen Duc Hoa, who scored 6.5. He won both of his final two games, and the second of those clinched the title and the grandmaster honour.
From Katni to a hundred
Shrivatri is from Katni in Madhya Pradesh. He began playing in 2011, at the age of seven, and his parents, both teachers, put their savings into his training and travel. He worked as a software engineer for a German company before leaving the job to play chess full time.
A milestone for Indian chess
The reaction came quickly. Viswanathan Anand, who became India’s first grandmaster in 1988, congratulated Shrivatri on social media, and All India Chess Federation president Nitin Narang posted “GRANDMASTER No. 100 FOR BHARAT!” On Tuesday, Modi joined in on X. “India has hit a century in chess!” the Prime Minister wrote, calling the milestone a reflection of the talent and hard work of Indian players and of chess’s growing popularity among young people.
The number comes in a big year for Indian chess. R Praggnanandhaa won the St. Louis Rapid & Blitz and became the first Indian to win the Grand Chess Tour, and the country’s grandmaster count has climbed rapidly in recent years.
Result (7th ASEAN Plus Individual Open Chess Championship, Ozamiz City, Philippines, concluded 8 November 2026): 1. Anuj Shrivatri (India) 7/9; 2. Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam) 6.5/9. The winner earned the grandmaster title under the event’s format.
