Jyotirmoy Halder

What a Diwali it is for Indian chess! ✨

🇮🇳 India has its 100th Grandmaster.

Hailing from the banks of Katni river, Anuj Shrivatri becomes Madhya Pradesh's first GM.

His didn't have to cross 2500 or meet three GM norms required. Winning the 7th ASEAN Plus Individual Open Chess Championship made him a GM directly, just as Divya Deshmukh won the FIDE Women's World Cup in 2025 and became a Grandmaster without the other requirements.

A full story on his journey will be published tomorrow on TOI. Keep an eye out for that 👀

Congratulations, @AnujShrivatri!

Happy Diwali, all! 🪔

🇮🇳 So happy for Pranesh. 1st Chola Chess GM Open champion! 🏆

From a small home in Karaikudi, he became an International Master in 2020. He prepared with borrowed books, handwritten notes, and whatever he could find. No engines. No fancy setup.

At 11, he joined Chess Gurukul. RB Ramesh (@Rameshchess) saw the spark early, guided him, pushed him, and stayed with him through every step. The same coach who once wrote that Pranesh didn’t even have a laptop until he became an IM at the age of 14.

The same coach who tried to lift him in celebration after every major win.

From there, Pranesh became India’s 79th Grandmaster at 16. He sat in Vaishali’s corner at the Candidates in Cyprus, keeping things light, preparing openings, being the calm presence when pressure was highest.

And now, he is the Champion of the 1st Chola Chess GM Open.

A live rating brushing 2700.

Congratulations, Pranesh. And thank you, Ramesh sir. You’ve both made a lot of people proud. ♟️❤️

@CholaChess @Praneshchess

Proud moment for Indian chess! 🇮🇳🏆

🥇 GM Pranav Venkatesh won the Open title at the FIDE World Junior Blitz Championship in Al Ain, UAE, scoring 10.5 points from 13 rounds.

India’s Aamuktha Guntaka finished fifth in the Girls section, while Savitha Shri placed seventh.

Pranav had previously won silver in Rapid.

🇮🇳🗣️ India No. 1 R Praggnanandhaa (@rpraggnachess) talks about Gukesh vs Sindarov title clash:

"I think it's going to be interesting. I've known both of them from a young age. Like I played my first game against Javokhir in 2013 and against Gukesh probably around the same time.

"Obviously, Javokhir is coming from a very good form. I feel at Olympiad also, Gukesh has had some good results in Olympiad. Gukesh felt in good spirits, so I think that's also extremely important."

Full video interview (source: @ChessbaseIndia): youtube.com/watch?v=v03Du8…

Read Full story:
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/chess/w…

🇮🇳 Nihal Sarin, the defending champion, 🏆 will return to Menorca Masters next year, it has been confirmed.

Nihal has recently broken into world's top 20 in FIDE rankings.

The tournament will be hosted between March 30 and April 4.