About

About me

I'm an Indian chess grandmaster. I've spent two decades at the top of the game, and I'm now also working on AI, technology, and content. Here's the full story.

The player

01 · My first identity

Vidit Gujrathi thinking at the chessboard

I started playing chess as a kid in Nashik, India, and I now live in Mumbai. At eighteen I became a grandmaster — the 30th in India's history — the same period in which I took bronze at the World Junior Championship.

In 2023 I won the FIDE Grand Swiss on the Isle of Man — one of the strongest open tournaments in chess — and with it, a seat at the 2024 Candidates Tournament in Toronto: eight players, one shot at challenging for the World Championship.

Along the way I've stood on the podium with Team India — including the historic 2024 Chess Olympiad team gold in Budapest, and the 2020 Online Olympiad gold as captain — and spent years inside the world's top events, preparing, calculating, and competing against the best players alive.

"Chess gave me a way of thinking — calculation, patience, brutal honesty about your own mistakes. Those don't retire when you step back from the board."

Selected results

2024Candidates Tournament, TorontoOne of eight players fighting for the right to challenge for the World Championship.

2023FIDE Grand Swiss — WinnerWon one of the strongest open tournaments in chess, and qualified for the Candidates.

2024Chess Olympiad — Team gold, BudapestPart of India's historic gold-medal team at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary.

2020FIDE Online Olympiad — Captain of Team IndiaCaptained India to Online Olympiad gold.

2017The 2700 ClubCrossed the 2700 Elo barrier.

2013Grandmaster TitleIndia's 30th grandmaster, at age eighteen.

2013World Junior Championship — BronzeMedalist at the world's premier under-20 event.

Full rating history and games: FIDE profile 5029465.

I've spent twenty years preparing for games against the best players in the world. Preparation is the part I love.

Vidit Gujrathi

Off the board

The internet knows me for the chess — and, occasionally, for the banter. I make vlogs and videos about life as a professional chess player, and post the unfiltered version on X.

Away from the camera: I read, I train, and I go unreasonably deep on whatever has my attention — which, these days, is artificial intelligence.

Podcasts & interviews

04 · In conversation

Long-form conversations, if you want to get to know me beyond the games.

The transition

05 · Player → Builder

Elite chess is a strange education. You spend twenty years learning to prepare deeply, calculate honestly, and perform under pressure — and then you realize those skills are not about chess at all.

I'm now applying that education to AI and technology. I'm building tools, experimenting with what AI can do for chess and learning, writing about what I learn, and making content about the journey.

I still play — just fewer tournaments, with more time for building.

See what I'm building

The player

Selected results

Off the board

Podcasts & interviews

Talks at Google

UzChess Masters interview

Lie Detector Chess — Chess.com

GothamChess — on the 2024 Candidates

An Unfiltered Conversation — ChessBase India

Roast battle with Samay Raina

The transition