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Vidit Gujrathi
Vidit Gujrathi (born 24 October 1994) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He is a double gold medalist at the Olympiad. He is also a silver medalist at the Asian Games. Gujrathi attained the title of grandmaster in January 2013, becoming the 30th player from India to do so. He is the fourth Indian player to have crossed the Elo rating of 2700. He became the third Indian to qualify for the Candidates tournament by winning Grand Swiss 2023. CareerEarly life and careerVidit Santosh Gujrathi was born in Nashik to Santosh Gujrathi and Nikita Santosh Gujrathi.[2] 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.[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, clinching his final norm to become an International Master. He finished 2nd in the U16 category of the World Youth Chess Championship in 2009, tying with the eventual winner S. P. Sethuraman at 9 points.[5] He made the first step towards becoming a grandmaster in January 2010 by reaching a 2500 rating. 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 at the age of 18 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 (U20) category.[9][10] Vidit finished third in the Hyderabad International Grandmasters chess tournament in 2013, winning Rs 150,000.[11] He passed the 2600-rating threshold on the January 2014 rating list. Vidit's equal third at the 2015 Asian Chess Championship qualified him to the Chess World Cup 2015, where he was eliminated in the first round. In 2017, he tied for the best score of 7/9 at the Dubai Open. 2018–presentVidit won the Challenger event of the 2018 Tata Steel Chess Tournament by a full point, going undefeated with a score of 9/13. He qualified for the Masters event of the 2019 tournament, where he had a respectable 7/13 showing, including a win over former world champion Vladimir Kramnik.[12] From 22–26 November 2019, he competed in the Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz as a wildcard competitor. He finished in a tie for eighth with fellow wildcard Pentala Harikrishna.[13] He played in the Skilling Open, the first event of the Champions Chess Tour 2021.[14] He was the captain of the historic gold medal-winning Indian team in Online Chess Olympiad 2020.[15] Through February and March 2022, Vidit played in the FIDE Grand Prix 2022. In the first leg, he tied for second with Daniil Dubov with 3/6 in Pool C. In the second leg, he finished second in Pool C with a result of 3/6, finishing 12th in the standings with seven points. Vidit qualified to the Chess World Cup 2023 by rating, replacing women's world chess champion Ju Wenjun. He reached the round of 16, where he defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi to advance to the quarterfinals for his second consecutive World Cup.[16][17] He lost to Nijat Abasov in the quarterfinals, missing out on a chance to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.[18] He played in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2023 from 25 October to 5 November 2023. He lost in the first round, but won 7 out of his next 10 games to win the tournament with a score of 8½/11.[19][20][21] Vidit qualified to the Candidates Tournament 2024 by finishing in the top two of the Grand Swiss.[22] The All India Chess Federation announced a financial assistance of ₹20 million for Candidates preparation to Vidit, R Praggnanandhaa and R Vaishali.[23][24][25] He finished sixth in the Candidates Tournament 2024, notably defeating Hikaru Nakamura in both of their games. Notable results
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