IM Aswath S completed the requirements to become India’s 98th Grandmaster after scoring his third and final GM norm at the Pune International Grandmaster Round Robin Tournament on Wednesday.
The 17-year-old from Nagercoil needed to win his final-round game and did exactly that, beating FM Kannan Vaidyanathan with the black pieces to finish the tournament with 7/9 points. His title push came in a period of rapid growth for Indian chess, with Harshavardhan G.B. having become the country’s 97th GM shortly before him.
India’s Grandmaster story began with Viswanathan Anand in 1988. Nearly four decades later, the country is now two short of the 100-GM mark, with Tamil Nadu continuing to produce the largest share of India’s elite chess players (35).
Here’s a look at the 98 Grandmasters India has so far:
1. Viswanathan Anand, 1988: This is where the Indian GM story starts. Anand became the country’s first Grandmaster and later carried Indian chess into the world elite.
2. Dibyendu Barua, 1991: Barua became India’s second Grandmaster, three years after Anand, and the title was a big moment for Bengal chess as well.
3. Praveen Thipsay, 1997: Thipsay was later recognised more for his coaching and analysis.
4. Abhijit Kunte, 2000: Kunte was one of the early names from Maharashtra on India’s GM list.
5. Krishnan Sasikiran, 2000: Sasikiran was one of the strongest players after Anand’s generation paved the way. He became a regular part of Indian teams.
6. Pentala Harikrishna, 2001: Harikrishna was among the first Indians after Anand to become a long-term elite player. He later crossed 2700 and stayed around the top level for years.
7. Koneru Humpy, 2002: Humpy became India’s first woman Grandmaster. She has been one of the biggest names in women’s chess for more than two decades.
8. Surya Shekhar Ganguly, 2003: Ganguly added another strong name to Bengal’s chess tradition.
9. Sandipan Chanda, 2003: Chanda was part of the early-2000s batch that made the Indian GM list grow faster.
10. R.B. Ramesh, 2003: Ramesh earned the GM title as a player, but is better known as one of India’s most important coaches, training R, Praggnanandhaa and R. Vaishali.
11. Tejas Bakre, 2004: Bakre became Gujarat’s first Grandmaster.
12. Magesh Chandran Panchanathan, 2006: Magesh Chandran was part of the Tamil Nadu group that continued to add depth to Indian chess.
13. J. Deepan Chakkravarthy, 2006: Deepan Chakkravarthy’s title added to Tamil Nadu’s growing chess strength.
14. Neelotpal Das, 2006: Neelotpal Das became another Grandmaster from Bengal. His title came in the same period when Bengal had a good run of strong players.
15. Parimarjan Negi, 2006: Negi was one of India’s first big teenage GM stories. He became a Grandmaster at 13, before later moving away from full-time chess.
16. G.N. Gopal, 2007: Gopal became Kerala’s first Grandmaster. It was an important moment for chess outside India’s more established centres.
17. Abhijeet Gupta, 2008: Abhijeet was one of India’s strongest young players at that time.
18. Subramanian Arun Prasad, 2008: Arun Prasad was another Tamil Nadu player to make the GM list. He has been a regular in the Indian tournament circuit.
19. Sundararajan Kidambi, 2009: Kidambi is known not just as a player, but also as a chess thinker and writer.
20. R.R. Laxman, 2009: Laxman added another Tamil Nadu name to the list.
21. Sriram Jha, 2010: Sriram Jha was one of the experienced Indian players to reach the GM title. He later worked in coaching players as well.
22. Deep Sengupta, 2010: Deep Sengupta became another strong Grandmaster from Bengal.
23. Baskaran Adhiban, 2010: Adhiban became a Grandmaster and crossed 2700; he was known for his fearless style of play.
24. S.P. Sethuraman, 2011: Sethuraman became another Grandmaster from Tamil Nadu. He has also won the national title.
25. Harika Dronavalli, 2011: Harika became India’s second woman Grandmaster. She has been one of the most consistent Indian players in women’s chess.
26. M.R. Lalith Babu, 2012: Lalith Babu had been a strong player in the Indian circuit for years.
27. Vaibhav Suri, 2012: Suri was one of the Delhi players to join the GM list. He has been part of India’s strong open-tournament generation.
28. M.R. Venkatesh, 2012: Venkatesh is another Grandmaster from Tamil Nadu. He has been active both as a player and mentor.
29. Sahaj Grover, 2012: Grover was a strong junior before completing the GM title. He was one of the notable Delhi names of that period.
30. Vidit Gujrathi, 2013: Vidit went on to become one of India’s leading players. He later crossed 2700 and also reached the Candidates stage.
31. M. Shyam Sundar, 2013: Shyam Sundar became a GM from Tamil Nadu and later moved strongly into coaching and running Chess Thulir academy which has produced six Grandmasters.
32. Akshayraj Kore, 2013: Kore added to Maharashtra’s presence on the GM list. He has been part of India’s open-tournament scene for a long time.
33. V. Vishnu Prasanna, 2013: Vishnu Prasanna became a GM and later a well-known coach. He has worked with many Indian players including GM and World Champion D Gukesh.
34. Debashis Das, 2013: Debashis Das became Odisha’s first Grandmaster.
35. Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury, 2013: Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury added another Bengal name to the Indian GM list.
36. Ankit Rajpara, 2014: Rajpara became another GM from Gujarat after Tejas Bakre.
37. Aravindh Chithambaram, 2015: Aravindh later became one of Tamil Nadu’s strongest players. He has since moved into the 2700 bracket.
38. Karthikeyan Murali, 2015: Karthikeyan became a national champion and a strong GM from Tamil Nadu.
39. Ashwin Jayaram, 2015: Ashwin Jayaram was part of Tamil Nadu’s expanding GM group.
40. Swapnil Dhopade, 2016: Dhopade became a GM from Maharashtra.
41. S.L. Narayanan, 2016: Narayanan became one of Kerala’s strongest players having crossed 2600 rating.
42. Shardul Gagare, 2016: Gagare added to Maharashtra’s GM list.
43. Diptayan Ghosh, 2016: Diptayan became one of Bengal’s strong young Grandmasters, achieving title at age 17.
44. Priyadharshan Kannappan, 2016: Priyadharshan added another Tamil Nadu name to India’s GM list.
45. Aryan Chopra, 2017: Chopra became one of Delhi’s young Grandmasters, achieving the title at the age of 14.
46. Srinath Narayanan, 2017: Srinath’s GM title came after a long journey. He later became known for his coaching work with Indian players and teams.
47. Himanshu Sharma, 2017: Himanshu Sharma became a Grandmaster at the age of 34, and is the first from Haryana.
48. Anurag Mhamal, 2017: Mhamal became Goa’s first Grandmaster.
49. Abhimanyu Puranik, 2017: Puranik was one of Maharashtra’s promising young GMs. He later crossed 2600 and stayed active in strong events.
50. M.S. Thejkumar, 2017: Thejkumar became Karnataka’s first Grandmaster.
51. Saptarshi Roy, 2018: Saptarshi added another Bengal name to the GM list.
52. R. Praggnanandhaa, 2018: Praggnanandhaa became a GM at 12 and later became one of India’s biggest names in chess. His World Cup run made him known far beyond India.
53. Nihal Sarin, 2018: Nihal is one of India’s brightest young players of this generation. He is in action at the Chennai Grand Masters 2026 underway.
54. Arjun Erigaisi, 2018: Arjun later became one of India’s top players. He crossed 2800 and joined the elite list of players.
55. Karthik Venkataraman, 2018: Karthik Venkataraman added to India’s growing list from the southern chess belt.
56. Harsha Bharathakoti, 2019: Harsha became a GM during the period when India’s numbers began rising quickly.
57. P. Karthikeyan, 2019: P. Karthikeyan added another Tamil Nadu name to the list.
58. Stany G.A., 2019: Stany became a Grandmaster from Karnataka. He added to the state’s growing presence in Indian chess.
59. N.R. Visakh, 2019: Visakh became a GM from Tamil Nadu. His title came in a period when the state was producing Grandmasters at a rapid pace.
60. D. Gukesh, 2019: Gukesh became a GM at 12 and later reached the very top of world chess. His rise is now one of the biggest Indian chess stories.
61. P. Iniyan, 2019: Iniyan became another Tamil Nadu Grandmaster. He has won national-level titles and played international events as well.
62. Swayams Mishra, 2019: Swayams became Odisha’s second Grandmaster.
63. Girish A. Koushik, 2019: Girish became a Grandmaster from Karnataka.
64. Prithu Gupta, 2019: Prithu became a GM at 15.
65. Raunak Sadhwani, 2019: Raunak became a GM at a young age and later grew into one of India’s leading juniors. He has also crossed 2600.
66. G. Akash, 2020: Akash became another Tamil Nadu player on the GM list.
67. Leon Luke Mendonca, 2020: Leon became Goa’s second Grandmaster. He completed the title while playing through difficult pandemic period in Europe.
68. Arjun Kalyan, 2021: Arjun Kalyan became a GM from Tamil Nadu.
69. Harshit Raja, 2021: Harshit became a Grandmaster from Maharashtra.
70. Raja Rithvik R., 2021: Raja Rithvik became a GM from the Hyderabad chess circuit.
71. Mitrabha Guha, 2021: Mitrabha became another Grandmaster from Bengal. He has been among the state’s important young players.
72. Sankalp Gupta, 2021: Sankalp became a GM from Maharashtra. His title came during a strong phase for young Indian players.
73. Bharath Subramaniyam, 2022: Bharath became a young Grandmaster from Tamil Nadu at the age of 14.
74. Rahul Srivatshav, 2022: Rahul completed the GM title after crossing the rating mark in Europe.
75. Pranav V, 2022: Pranav became a GM from Karnataka. He later won the World Junior title and won the 2024 Chennai Grand Masters Challengers Section.
76. Pranav Anand, 2022: Pranav Anand became another young GM from Karnataka.
77. Aditya Mittal, 2022: Aditya became a GM from Mumbai. He later joined India’s growing group of 2600-level young players.
78. Koustav Chatterjee, 2023: Koustav became a Grandmaster from West Bengal, and during the 58th National Senior Championships, defeated Karthikeyan Murali and S P Sethuraman.
79. Pranesh M, 2023: Pranesh became a GM from Tamil Nadu. He has been one of India’s strong junior players in international events.
80. Vignesh N.R., 2023: Vignesh completed a long wait for the GM title. He won his first two title norms in 2015 and 2017, and the final norm was achieved in 2023.
81. Sayantan Das, 2023: Sayantan became a Grandmaster from Bengal. His title added to the state’s long chess tradition.
82. Prraneeth Vuppala, 2023: Prraneeth became a GM from Telangana.
83. Aditya Samant, 2023: Aditya became a Grandmaster from Maharashtra. His title added another Mumbai player to India’s list.
84. R. Vaishali, 2023: Vaishali became India’s third woman Grandmaster. Along with Praggnanandhaa, she is part of one of Indian chess’ best-known sibling stories.
85. Shyaam Nikhil P., 2024: Shyaam’s GM title came after a long wait. Shyaam secured his first two GM norms and crossed the required 2500 ELO rating by 2012. However, the third and final GM norm took him over a decade to achieve.
86. Srihari L.R., 2025: Srihari became another Grandmaster from Tamil Nadu.
87. Harikrishnan A Ra, 2025: Harikrishnan became a GM from Chennai. His final norm came in Europe.
88. Divya Deshmukh, 2025: Divya became India’s fourth woman Grandmaster. Her Women’s World Cup success made her one of India’s major chess names.
89. Rohith Krishna S, 2025: Rohith Krishna became a GM from Tamil Nadu.
90. Ilamparthi A.R., 2025: Ilamparthi became a GM from Chennai. He was part of the young Tamil Nadu group that took India closer to the hundred mark.
91. V.S. Raahul, 2025: Raahul became another Tamil Nadu Grandmaster. His title added to the State’s already large contribution to the Indian list.
92. Aaryan Varshney, 2026: Aaryan became India’s first Grandmaster of 2026.
93. Aarav Dengla, 2026: Aarav became a GM from Mumbai. His title continued Maharashtra’s contribution to Indian chess.
94. Mayank Chakraborty, 2026: Mayank became Assam’s first Grandmaster and the first from the Northeast. That made his title a major regional breakthrough.
95. Aronyak Ghosh, 2026: Aronyak became a GM from Kolkata. His title added another player to Bengal’s long chess line.
96. Ethan Vaz, 2026: Ethan became Goa’s third Grandmaster. At 14, he also showed how young India’s latest GM group has become.
97. Harshavardhan G.B., 2026: Harshavardhan became India’s 97th GM after completing his final norm in Chennai. His title came through the Chola Chess GM Norm event.
98. Aswath S, 2026: Aswath became India’s 98th GM after a must-win final round in Pune. From Kanyakumari, he comes from a chess-coaching family and finished the event with 7/9.
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Published on Jul 16, 2026