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Updated: 09 Jul 2026
6 Min Read
S. Aswath, a 17-year-old from Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, sealed India's 98th Chess Grandmaster title on July 8, 2026. He locked in his third and final GM norm at the Pune International Grandmaster tournament, finishing second overall with 7 points from 9 rounds. The win came in the final round, where he beat the USA's FM Kannan Vaidyanathan while playing black.
Aswath is the third Indian to earn the Grandmaster title this month. Earlier, Ethan Vaz and Harshavardhan GB had earned their third norms to become India's 97th and 98th chess grandmasters, respectively.
The chess grandmaster title is awarded by the International Chess Federation (FIDE). A player needs to secure three Grandmaster norms and cross a FIDE rating of 2500 to receive the title.
India currently has 98 chess grandmasters as of 2026. Vishwanath Anand became the first chess grandmaster of India in the year 1988. Vishwanath recently received the SFJI gold medal, one of the most respected peer recognitions in Indian sport.
Here is the updated 2026 list of Indian chess grandmasters with the name, state, and year of achieving the chess grandmaster title.
|
SR. No |
Name |
State |
GM Title Year |
Achievement |
|
1 |
Viswanathan Anand |
Tamil Nadu |
1988 |
First Indian Grandmaster |
|
2 |
Dibyendu Barua |
West Bengal |
1991 |
Second Indian Grandmaster |
|
3 |
Praveen Thipsay |
Maharashtra |
1997 |
Among India’s early GMs |
|
4 |
Abhijit Kunte |
Maharashtra |
2000 |
National champion and GM |
|
5 |
Krishnan Sasikiran |
Tamil Nadu |
2000 |
One of India’s strongest classical players |
|
6 |
Pentala Harikrishna |
Andhra Pradesh |
2001 |
Elite Indian GM and former world junior champion |
|
7 |
Koneru Humpy |
Andhra Pradesh |
2002 |
India’s leading women’s chess star |
|
8 |
Surya Shekhar Ganguly |
West Bengal |
2003 |
Multiple-time national champion |
|
9 |
Sandipan Chanda |
West Bengal |
2003 |
Strong Indian GM and Olympiad player |
|
10 |
Ramachandran Ramesh |
Tamil Nadu |
2004 |
India’s top trainer and GM |
|
11 |
Tejas Bakre |
Gujarat |
2004 |
One of Gujarat’s first GMs |
|
12 |
Magesh Chandran Panchanathan |
Tamil Nadu |
2006 |
International GM and coach |
|
13 |
J. Deepan Chakkravarthy |
Tamil Nadu |
2006 |
National-level elite player |
|
14 |
Neelotpal Das |
West Bengal |
2006 |
Chess author and GM |
|
15 |
Parimarjan Negi |
Delhi |
2006 |
One of the youngest Indian GMs |
|
16 |
Geetha Narayanan Gopal |
Kerala |
2007 |
Women’s GM and national player |
|
17 |
Abhijeet Gupta |
Rajasthan |
2008 |
Commonwealth champion and GM |
|
18 |
Subramanian Arun Prasad |
Tamil Nadu |
2008 |
Indian GM and team player |
|
19 |
Sundararajan Kidambi |
Tamil Nadu |
2009 |
Strong all-India GM |
|
20 |
R. R. Laxman |
Tamil Nadu |
2009 |
Experienced Indian GM |
|
21 |
Sriram Jha |
Bihar |
2010 |
Indian GM and coach |
|
22 |
Deep Sengupta |
West Bengal |
2010 |
Former national champion |
|
23 |
Baskaran Adhiban |
Tamil Nadu |
2010 |
Aggressive attacking player |
|
24 |
S. P. Sethuraman |
Tamil Nadu |
2011 |
National champion and Olympiad player |
|
25 |
Harika Dronavalli |
Andhra Pradesh |
2011 |
India’s top women’s grandmaster |
|
26 |
M. R. Lalith Babu |
Andhra Pradesh |
2012 |
Strong Indian GM |
|
27 |
Vaibhav Suri |
Delhi |
2012 |
Young Indian GM |
|
28 |
M. R. Venkatesh |
Tamil Nadu |
2012 |
Indian GM and trainer |
|
29 |
Sahaj Grover |
Delhi |
2012 |
Young Indian GM |
|
30 |
Vidit Gujrathi |
Maharashtra |
2013 |
Top Indian GM and former national champion |
|
31 |
M. Shyam Sundar |
Tamil Nadu |
2013 |
Strong Indian GM |
|
32 |
Akshayraj Kore |
Maharashtra |
2013 |
Indian GM |
|
33 |
V. Vishnu Prasanna |
Tamil Nadu |
2013 |
GM and coach |
|
34 |
Debashis Das |
West Bengal |
2013 |
Indian GM and Olympiad player |
|
35 |
Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury |
West Bengal |
2013 |
Indian GM |
|
36 |
Ankit Rajpara |
Gujarat |
2014 |
Indian GM and national contender |
|
37 |
Chithambaram Aravindh |
Tamil Nadu |
2014 |
Former national champion |
|
38 |
Karthikeyan Murali |
Tamil Nadu |
2015 |
India’s national champion |
|
39 |
Ashwin Jayaram |
Tamil Nadu |
2015 |
Indian GM |
|
40 |
Swapnil Dhopade |
Maharashtra |
2015 |
Asian and Indian GM |
|
41 |
S. L. Narayanan |
Kerala |
2015 |
Rising Indian GM |
|
42 |
Shardul Gagare |
Maharashtra |
2016 |
Young Indian GM |
|
43 |
Diptayan Ghosh |
West Bengal |
2016 |
Indian GM |
|
44 |
Priyadharshan Kannappan |
Tamil Nadu |
2016 |
Indian GM |
|
45 |
Aryan Chopra |
Haryana |
2016 |
One of India’s youngest GMs |
|
46 |
Srinath Narayanan |
Tamil Nadu |
2017 |
Indian GM and coach |
|
47 |
Himanshu Sharma |
Haryana |
2017 |
Young Indian GM |
|
48 |
Anurag Mhamal |
Goa |
2,017 |
Goa’s GM representative |
|
49 |
Abhimanyu Puranik |
Maharashtra |
2017 |
Young Indian GM |
|
50 |
M. S. Thejkumar |
Karnataka |
2017 |
Indian GM |
|
51 |
Saptarshi Roy |
West Bengal |
2018 |
Indian GM |
|
52 |
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa |
Tamil Nadu |
2018 |
One of the world’s youngest GMs |
|
53 |
Nihal Sarin |
Kerala |
2018 |
Prodigy and Indian GM |
|
54 |
Arjun Erigaisi |
Telangana |
2018 |
India’s top elite GM |
|
55 |
Karthik Venkataraman |
Tamil Nadu |
2018 |
Indian GM |
|
56 |
Harsha Bharathakoti |
Telangana |
2018 |
Young Indian GM |
|
57 |
P. Karthikeyan |
Tamil Nadu |
2,018 |
Indian GM |
|
58 |
Stany G.A. |
Karnataka |
2,018 |
Indian GM |
|
59 |
N. R. Visakh |
Kerala |
2019 |
Indian GM |
|
60 |
Gukesh D |
Tamil Nadu |
2019 |
World Champion and Indian GM |
|
61 |
P. Iniyan |
Tamil Nadu |
2019 |
Indian GM |
|
62 |
Swayams Mishra |
Odisha |
2019 |
Indian GM |
|
63 |
Girish A. Koushik |
Karnataka |
2019 |
Indian GM |
|
64 |
Prithu Gupta |
Delhi |
2019 |
Indian GM |
|
65 |
Raunak Sadhwani |
Maharashtra |
2019 |
One of India’s youngest GMs |
|
66 |
G. Akash |
Tamil Nadu |
2020 |
Indian GM |
|
67 |
Leon Luke Mendonca |
Goa |
2020 |
Indian GM and rapid talent |
|
68 |
Arjun Kalyan |
Tamil Nadu |
2021 |
Indian GM |
|
69 |
Harshit Raja |
Gujarat |
2021 |
Indian GM |
|
70 |
Raja Rithvik R. |
Telangana |
2021 |
Indian GM |
|
71 |
Mitrabha Guha |
West Bengal |
2021 |
National champion and GM |
|
72 |
Sankalp Gupta |
Maharashtra |
2021 |
Indian GM |
|
73 |
Bharath Subramaniyam |
Tamil Nadu |
2022 |
Young Indian GM |
|
74 |
Rahul Srivatshav |
Telangana |
2022 |
Indian GM |
|
75 |
Pranav V |
Tamil Nadu |
2022 |
Indian GM |
|
76 |
Pranav Anand |
Delhi |
2022 |
Young Indian GM |
|
77 |
Aditya Mittal |
Maharashtra |
2022 |
Indian GM |
|
78 |
Koustav Chatterjee |
West Bengal |
2022 |
Indian GM |
|
79 |
Pranesh M |
Tamil Nadu |
2023 |
Indian GM |
|
80 |
Vignesh N. R. |
Tamil Nadu |
2023 |
Indian GM |
|
81 |
Sayantan Das |
West Bengal |
2023 |
Indian GM |
|
82 |
Prraneeth Vuppala |
Telangana |
2023 |
Indian GM |
|
83 |
Aditya Samant |
Maharashtra |
2023 |
Indian GM |
|
84 |
Rameshbabu Vaishali |
Tamil Nadu |
2023 |
Woman Grandmaster and GM |
|
85 |
Shyaam Nikhil P. |
Tamil Nadu |
2024 |
Indian GM |
|
86 |
Divya Deshmukh |
Maharashtra |
2024 |
Women’s world-class Indian player |
|
87 |
Srihari L R |
Tamil Nadu |
2025 |
Indian GM |
|
88 |
Harikrishnan A Ra |
Tamil Nadu |
2025 |
Indian GM |
|
89 |
Rohith Krishna S |
Tamil Nadu |
2025 |
Indian GM |
|
90 |
Ilamparthi AR |
Tamil Nadu |
2025 |
Indian GM |
|
91 |
V. S. Raahul |
Tamil Nadu |
2025 |
Indian GM |
|
92 |
Aaryan Varshney |
Uttar Pradesh |
2026 |
Indian GM |
|
93 |
Aarav Dengla |
Rajasthan |
2026 |
Indian GM |
|
94 |
Mayank Chakraborty |
Tripura |
2026 |
Indian GM |
|
95 |
Aronyak Ghosh |
West Bengal |
2026 |
Indian GM |
|
96 |
Ethan Vaz |
Goa |
2026 |
Indian GM |
|
97 |
Harshavardhan G. B. |
Karnataka |
2026 |
Indian GM |
|
98 |
Aswath S |
Tamil Nadu |
2026 |
Indian GM |
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