My story
02
I started playing chess as a kid in Nashik. At eighteen I became a grandmaster — the 30th in India's history. In 2023 I won the FIDE Grand Swiss, one of the hardest open tournaments in chess, and earned my seat at the 2024 Candidates — the eight-player tournament that decides who challenges for the world title.
"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."
Chess taught me how to prepare, how to lose, and how to work at a hard problem for a long time. I'm now using all of that on AI, technology, content, and education — still playing, but also building things of my own.
