GM Vidit Gujrathi

Vidit Gujrathi (born 24 October 1994) is an Indian chess player. He attained the title of Grandmaster in January 2013. He is the fourth Indian ever to have crossed the Elo rating threshold of 2700.

Gujrathi was born in Indore to Santosh Gujrathi and Nikita Santhosh Gujrathi. He did his early schooling at Fravashi Academy 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.^[2]

Gujrathi achieved the title of International Master when he secured 7 points out of 13 in the Velammal 45th National A Chess Championship in Chennai in 2008.^[3] In 2008, he won the World Youth Chess Championship in the Open U14 section, the first Indian to do so.^[4] He scored 9 points out of a possible 11, gaining his final norm to become an International Master.

He finished 2nd in the U-16 category of the World Youth Chess Championships in 2009, tying at 9 points to the eventual winner S.P. Sethuraman, also from India.^[5] In the World Junior Chess Championship in Chennai in 2011, held for U20 players, Vidit finished with 8 points out of 11, thus gaining his first GM norm.^[6]

In the Nagpur International Open in 2011, Vidit finished with 8 points out of 11, one point behind the eventual winner Ziaur Rahman. He gained his second GM norm in the tournament.^[7] Vidit achieved his final GM norm in the eighth round of the Rose Valley Kolkata Open Grandmasters' chess tournament in 2012, where he finished third.^[8]

In 2013, Vidit won a bronze medal in the World Junior Chess Championship in Turkey in the Junior (U-20) category.^[9][10] Vidit finished third in the Hyderabad International Grandmasters chess tournament in 2013, winning Rs 1.5 lakh.^[11]

Vidit has been also performing in the top 10 of other tournaments, including the Commonwealth Championship in 2008. Throughout the years, Vidit was also coached by IM Anup Deshmukh, IM Roktim Bandopadhyay and GM Alon Greenfeld of Israel.^[12] Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte, who also coached Vidit earlier, said in 2013 that Vidit could reach an Elo rating of 2700 in two-three years. Kunte also considered Vidit's positional sense excellent, comparing him to the Indian chess player P Harikrishna.^[9]

From 22 November 2019 to 25 November, he competed in the Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz, as a wildcard. He finished in a tie for eighth with fellow wildcard Pentala Harikrishna.^[13]

Notable Results

• First place in 2019 Biel Chess Festival Grand Master tournament.
• Runner-up at the 2020 Prague Chess festival masters tournament.

GM Vidit