Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (born 24 October 1994) is an Indian

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

grandmaster. He attained the title of grandmaster in January 2013, becoming the 30th player from India to do so. he is the second highest rated player in India (behind

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of ...

. 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. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor. The Elo system was invented as an improved ch ...

threshold of 2700.

Early life and chess career

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi was born in

Nashik Nashik (, Marathi: aːʃik, also called as Nasik ) is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated on the banks of river Godavari, Nashik is the third largest city in Maharashtra, after Mumbai and Pune. Nashik ...

to Santosh Gujrathi and Nikita Santosh Gujrathi. He did his early schooling at

Fravashi Academy Fravashi Academy is a pre-primary, primary and secondary school run by the R. S. Luth Education Trust in Nashik City, Maharashtra, India. It also has a junior college. Mr. Ratanshaw Sorabji Luth, after whom the trust is named was also the fo ...

and was coached in chess from an early age. In 2006, he finished second 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 an ...

. Vidit achieved the title of

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 ...

(14) when he secured 7 points out of 13 in the Velammal 45th National A Chess Championship in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

in 2008. 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. Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015, the event has been split into "World Cade ...

in the Open U14 section, the first Indian to do so. He scored 9 points out of a possible 11, gaining his final norm to become an International Master. He finished 2nd in the U16 category of the World Youth Chess Championship in 2009, tying at 9 points to the eventual winner S. P. Sethuraman, also from India. 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 Ritso ...

in 2011, held for U20 players, Vidit finished with 8 points out of 11, thus gaining his first GM norm. In the

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

International Open in 2011, Vidit finished with 8 points out of 11, one point behind the eventual winner

Ziaur Rahman Lt. General Ziaur Rahman (19 January 1936 – 30 May 1981), was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1977 to 1981. He was assassinated on 30 May 1981 in Chittagong in an army coup d' ...

. 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 (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Open Grandmasters' chess tournament in 2012, where he finished third. In 2013, Vidit won a bronze medal in the World Junior Chess Championship 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 and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

International Grandmasters chess tournament in 2013, winning Rs 1.5 lakh. Vidit has been also performing in the top 10 of other tournaments, including the Commonwealth Championship in 2008. Throughout the years, Vidit was coached by IM Anup Deshmukh, IM Roktim Bandopadhyay, and GM

Alon Greenfeld Alon Greenfeld ( he, אלון גרינפלד; born 17 April 1964 in New York City) is an Israeli chess grandmaster and trainer. His peak rating is 2610, achieved in the FIDE rating list of January 1994. In 1982, he finished runner-up in the Eur ...

of Israel. Grandmaster

Abhijit Kunte Abhijit Kunte (born 3 March 1977 in Pune) is an Indian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster. Biography He has participated many times in the Indian Chess Championship, winning two gold medals (1997, 2000) and four bronze meda ...

, who also coached Vidit earlier, said in 2013 that Vidit could reach an Elo rating of 2700 in two to three years. Kunte also considered Vidit's positional sense excellent, comparing him to the Indian chess player

Pentala Harikrishna Pentala Harikrishna (born 10 May 1986) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He became the youngest grandmaster from India after attaining the title in 2001, a record now held by Gukesh D. He was Commonwealth Champion in 2001, World Junior ...

. From 2226 November 2019, he competed in the

Tata Steel Tata Steel Limited is an Indian multinational steel-making company, based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand and headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a part of the Tata Group. Formerly known as Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited (TISCO), Tata ...

Rapid and Blitz as a

wildcard Wild card most commonly refers to: * Wild card (cards), a playing card that substitutes for any other card in card games * Wild card (sports), a tournament or playoff place awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal pla ...

competitor. He finished in a tie for eighth with fellow wildcard

. He was a part of the Skilling Open, the first event of the 2020–2021 online Champions Chess Tour. He was the captain of the historic gold medal-winning Indian team in

FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2020 The FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2020 was an online chess tournament organised by the FIDE, Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and hosted by Chess.com. It was held between 24 July and 30 August. The event was organised after the 44th Ch ...

. Through February and March 2022, Vidit played in the

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.

Notable Results

* Captain of gold medal-winning Indian team in

. * First place in 2019

Biel Chess Festival The Biel International Chess Festival is an annual chess tournament that takes place in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. It consists of two events, the Grandmaster Tournament, held with the Round-robin tournament, round-robin system, and the Master Open T ...

Grandmaster tournament. * Runner-up at the 2020

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Chess Festival masters tournament. * Quarter-finalist of

FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship 2019 The FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship 2019 (WFRCC) was the first world championship in Fischer random chess officially recognized by the international chess federation FIDE. Previous unofficial championships had been held, with the ...

. * Rank #12 out of 154 in the

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.

with a score of 7/11. * Quarter-finalist of FIDE World Cup 2021.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vidit, Gujrathi 1994 births Living people Chess grandmasters Indian chess players People from Nashik