Grandmaster (GM) Vidit Gujrathi became the new India No. 1 in FIDE's live rating list. He overtook five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand.
Gujrathi achieved this feat by defeating Nodirbek Abdusattarov with the white pieces in the penultimate round of the 2024 Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands.
After an exciting round on January 27, the Tata Steel Chess Tournament's Masters group has a five-way tie for first place. GM Vidit Gujrathi, GM Anish Giri, GM Gukesh Dommaraju, GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and GM Wei Yi all have a score of 7.5/12.
In the most important game of round 12, Vidit defeated Abdusattorov, who was the leader until then. With this win, Vidit became the new number-one Indian player in the live ratings. GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi lost his game, allowing GM Leon Luke Mendonca to catch up with him in the first place.
This comes just days after Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa beat the reigning world champion Ding Liren to become the new India No. 1, surpassing Anand. However, the 18-year-old has since fallen to third place with a rating of 2747.2.
Also Read | Tata Steel Chess India 2023: Gukesh slips to third, Praggnanandhaa suffers second loss
Anand, who is 54 years old, continues to be ranked second and has a rating of 2748.
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi was born on October 24, 1994, in Nashik. He made history in 2008 by becoming the first Indian to win the World Youth Chess Championship in the Open U14 category, scoring an impressive 9 out of 11 points and clinching his final norm to become an International Master.
In 2009, Vidit finished second in the U16 category of the World Youth Chess Championship, tying with eventual winner S. P. Sethuraman at 9 points. He took the first step towards becoming a Grandmaster in January 2010 by reaching a 2500 rating.
In 2013, Vidit won a bronze medal in the World Junior Chess Championship in Turkey in the Junior (U20) category. He qualified for the Chess World Cup 2015 by finishing equal third at the 2015 Asian Chess Championship but was eliminated in the first round.
In 2017, he tied for the best score of 7/9 at the Dubai Open. He also competed in the Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz in 2019, finishing in a tie for eighth with fellow wildcard Pentala Harikrishna. Most recently, he played in the Skilling Open, the first event of the Champions Chess Tour 2021.
Vidit received an invitation to the Chess World Cup 2023 after replacing women's world chess champion Ju Wenjun. He reached the round of 16, where he defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi to advance to the quarterfinals, making it his second consecutive World Cup quarterfinals.
Also Read | Praggnanandhaa and sister Vaishali become the first-ever Grandmaster siblings in history
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