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    India's grandmasters · the road to the title

    Arjun Erigaisi: Six Norms in Eight Months to Grandmaster at 14

    Arjun Erigaisi started chess late for a prodigy, at about eight, learning the basics from Bollam Sampath in Warangal. In 2016, rated 2379, he entered the strongest section of Moscow's Aeroflot Open and lost his first six games. His father then e-mailed GM Victor Mikhalevski, who coached him online.

    He began 2018 with no norms at all. In eight months he made three International Master norms and three grandmaster norms, the last at Abu Dhabi on 15 August 2018, aged 14: India's 54th grandmaster and Telangana's first. Six years later he was rated 2801 and world No. 4.

    Arjun Erigaisi in 2026
    Arjun Erigaisi, 2026. Photo: TheBoburshokh, CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication, via Wikimedia Commons.
    Born
    3 Sep 2003, Telangana[1]
    Learned chess
    About 8, in Warangal[2]
    First coach
    Bollam Sampath[2]
    Grandmaster
    August 2018, at 14[3]
    Peak rating
    2801 (December 2024)[4]
    Coaches named in sources
    7[2]

    Tournament by tournament: the road to grandmaster

    1. 2011

      Andhra Pradesh State Under-9 selection tournament (undivided AP)[5]

      Runner-up

      The first tournament any source names; his first result of note.

    2. 2012

      State Under-11 selections, Rajahmundry[5]

      Gold

      First state age-group title.

    3. 2012

      National Under-9 Championship, Ahmedabad[2]

      Played; beat Nihal Sarin in their first meeting (final placing not stated)

      First national championship named in sources; start of his friendship and rivalry with future GM Nihal Sarin.

    4. 2015

      Asian Youth Championship, Korea[5]

      Silver medal

      First continental medal.

    5. 2016 · age 12

      Aeroflot Open A, Moscow[2]

      Lost his first six games, then beat GM Debashis Das; finished last

      Chose the A group (2550+) at 2379; ChessBase India's Sagar Shah calls it a defining test of character.

    6. 2016 · age 12

      National Under-13 Championship, Ahmedabad[5]

      Gold; qualified for the World Youth and Asian championships

      National age-group title; The Hindu calls him the first boy from his region to win one.

    7. Sep 2017 · age 14

      World Youth Championship Under-14 Open, Montevideo, Uruguay[6]

      Silver medal, 9.0/11

      World youth medal.

    8. Dec 2017 · age 14

      3rd IIFL Wealth Mumbai International Open[7]

      6.5/9 against an average rating of 2308

      First IM norm (FIDE record). He had no IM or GM norm before this event.

    9. 2018 · age 15

      GM title approved by FIDE[8]

      Grandmaster

      India's 54th GM and Telangana's first GM.

    10. Feb 2018 · age 14

      Aeroflot Open 2018 A, Moscow[7]

      4/9 against an average rating of 2596

      Second IM norm (FIDE record), two years after finishing last in the same event.

    11. Mar 2018 · age 14

      8th HDBank International Cup 2018, Masters, Hanoi[7]

      5.5/9 against an average rating of 2465

      Third IM norm (FIDE record).

    12. May 2018 · age 14

      3rd Kolkata International GM Open[9]

      7/9 against an average rating of 2418

      First GM norm (FIDE record 227049).

    13. Jun 2018 · age 14

      Third Saturday 80, Novi Sad, Serbia (round robin)[9]

      7/9 against an average rating of 2399

      Second GM norm (FIDE record 227049).

    14. Jul 2018 · age 14

      IM title approved[8]

      International Master

      IM title, after three IM norms in January-March 2018.

    15. Aug 2018 · age 14

      25th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival, Masters[10]

      6/9 against an average rating of 2495; won the last round against Krishna Teja; performance 2620

      Third and final GM norm; GM requirements complete. Nihal Sarin completed his GM title at the same event.

    Coaches and trainers

    7 people are named in published sources as a coach, trainer, second or mentor, in order. Players rarely list everyone who helped them, so this is what's on the record, not a complete count.

    1. Bollam Sampath[2]first coach; taught him the basics in Warangal (Wikipedia: BS Chess Academy, Hanamkonda) · from about 2011 (start)
    2. A Sudarshan[2]coach; travelled from Hyderabad to Warangal to train him · after Bollam Sampath, before the move to Hyderabad (years not stated)
    3. Narahari Ramaraju (N Ramaraju)[5]coach at the Race Academy, Kothapet, Hyderabad; also coach of GM Dronavalli Harika · from about mid-2015 ("one year ago" in an Aug 2016 article)
    4. Victor Mikhalevski (also spelled Viktor Mikhalevski; "Michaelosky Victor" in Telangana Today)[3]online trainer through the norm run and GM title · from about late 2016 ("a little less than two years ago" in Oct 2018); still training him online in Feb 2021
    5. Srinath Narayanan[2]trainer/coach (GM) · from the World Youth U-16 Olympiad, Turkey, 2018; named as current coach in Feb 2021 and as trainer in Feb 2022
    6. Rustam Kasimdzhanov[11]trainer (openings, calculation, endings) · from September 2021
    7. Viswanathan Anand[11]mentor through the WestBridge-Anand Chess Academy (not a personal coach) · named as mentor in Feb 2022

    Records, as they stood

    • India's 54th grandmaster (as of 2018-08)[3]
    • Telangana's first grandmaster (as of 2018-08)[12]
    • 32nd youngest GM in the world when he qualified (as of 2018-10)[3]
    • First boy from his region to win a national age-group title (as of 2016-08)[5]
    • Youngest Indian ever to win the Tata Steel Challengers, with the biggest winning margin since the Challengers began in 2003 (as of 2022-02)[13]
    • Second Indian, after Viswanathan Anand, to pass 2800 in classical ratings (as of 2024-12)[4]
    • First Indian since Anand (2017) to reach the podium at both the World Rapid and World Blitz (as of 2025-12)[14]

    Since the title: career highlights

    • Dec 2024Peak classical rating 2801 on FIDE's December 2024 list, world No. 4 on that list[4]
    • Oct 2024World No. 3 on the live list at 2802.1 (October 2024)[1]
    • Sep 202445th Chess Olympiad, Budapest 2024: team gold with India (first ever) and individual gold on board three, 10/11[15]
    • Aug 202244th Chess Olympiad, Chennai 2022: individual gold on board three (8.5/11) for India-1[1]
    • Jan 2022Won the Tata Steel Challengers 2022 with 10.5/13, a round to spare[13]
    • Oct 2024Won the WR Chess Masters 2024, London, beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in Armageddon in the final[16]
    • Dec 2025Bronze medals at both the World Rapid and World Blitz Championships 2025, Doha[14]
    • Oct 2026FIDE October 2026 list: classical 2746, rapid 2740, blitz 2766; world No. 12 among active players, India No. 2[8]

    Checked on 2026-10-22. Ratings and rankings change every month.

    Where sources disagree

    We show both versions instead of picking one quietly.

    • Birthplace
      • Warangal[1]
      • Karimnagar (AICF's GM title application to FIDE)[17]
    • Age at the GM title (exact days)
      • 14 years, 11 months, 12 days[3]
      • 14 years, 11 months, 14 days (same article, later paragraph)[3]
      • 14 years, 11 months, 13 days[18]
      • 15 years (AICF)[10]
    • First IM norm event
      • Kolkata, January 2018 (Telangana Today)[12]
      • 3rd IIFL Wealth Mumbai International Open, 30 Dec 2017 - 7 Jan 2018 (FIDE IM title record; used)[7]
    • Second GM norm event
      • Armenia (Telangana Today, first mention)[12]
      • Serbia (Arjun's own words in the same article; matches FIDE record: Third Saturday 80, Novi Sad; used)[12]
    • Victor Mikhalevski's country
    • Place in the 2800 club
      • 15th player in history[4]
      • 16th player in history (FIDE's post, embedded on the same page)[4]
    • Olympiad 2024 performance rating

    Every grandmaster started with a first tournament

    How long the road usually takes, from first moves to the title, is in our study of how long it takes to become a grandmaster. For a child starting out, here's how to get a FIDE rating in India.

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    Quick answers

    When did Arjun Erigaisi become a grandmaster?

    He completed the title on 15 August 2018 at Abu Dhabi, aged 14, and FIDE approved it at its Congress that autumn. He was India's 54th grandmaster and the first from Telangana.

    Who was Arjun Erigaisi's first coach?

    Bollam Sampath in Warangal. Later coaches named in sources include A Sudarshan, Narahari Ramaraju, Victor Mikhalevski, Srinath Narayanan and Rustam Kasimdzhanov.

    How fast did Arjun Erigaisi make his norms?

    Very fast: FIDE's records show three IM norms and three GM norms between January and August 2018.

    More of India's greats

    Sources

    Every fact above links to the page it came from. We read each page and copied the sentence that says it; the quote is shown here. Checked on 2026-10-22.

    1. [1]en.chessbase.com"Erigaisi was born in Warangal on September 3, 2003. He only discovered chess at the relatively 'late' age of 8, and even then, only started training regularly with a coach when he was 10."
    2. [2]chessbase.in"A school-teacher in Tirupati asks one of her students, a five-year-old to take up the sport of chess since she thinks that he is quite a sharp kid. But as circumstances would have it, it takes three more years before the kid is able to fulfil the teacher’s request."
    3. [3]chessbase.in"On 15th of August 2018, Arjun Erigaisi achieved his final GM norm at the Abu Dhabi Masters 2018 and became India's 54th GM."
    4. [4]chess.com"With 2801, Arjun is the world number-four on the December 2024 FIDE rating list behind GMs Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, and Hikaru Nakamura."
    5. [5]thehindu.com"Arjun made the first impression in the chess circles finishing runner-up in the then undivided AP State (under-nine) selection tournament in 2011"
    6. [6]chessbase.in"Arjun Erigiasi has been performing consistently for quite some time now. He scored 9.0/11 and finished second in under-14 open."
    7. [7]ratings.fide.com"2017-12-30 2018-01-07 Mumbai IND 3rd IIFL Wealth Mumbai Intl Open SS 2308 6.5 6.5 9"
    8. [8]ratings.fide.com"Grandmaster 89th FIDE Congress 2018, 26 Sep - 6 Oct, Batumi, Georgia YES International Master 2nd quarter Presidential Board Meeting 2018"
    9. [9]ratings.fide.com"2018-05-14 2018-05-22 Kolkata IND Kolkata Intl GM Open Tnmt SS 2418 7 7 9"
    10. [10]aicf.in"We have another brand new Grand Master from Telangana, India. Arjun Erigaisi also completed this third norm beating Krishna Teja from the same state. His rating performance is whopping 2620 with gain of another 13 points."
    11. [11]africa.espn.com""Arjun and I started working together in September last year and he impressed me with his endless readiness to change and evolve. We work on openings, calculation, endings and analyse his games."
    12. [12]web.archive.org"In the next five months, the Warangal lad then captured three GM norms to become the first Grandmaster from the State, all at the age of 14 years 11 months."
    13. [13]chessbase.in"18-year-old Arjun Erigaisi became the youngest Indian ever to win Tata Steel Chess Challengers 2022."
    14. [14]timesofindia.indiatimes.com"With the medals, he also became the first Indian player to register podium finishes at both events since Viswanathan Anand won the Rapid section and finished third in Blitz back in 2017."
    15. [15]indianexpress.com"Arjun Erigaisi was also a hero of the team, scoring 10 points in 11 games and winning individual gold on board three."
    16. [16]thehindu.com"Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi secured the WR Chess masters title after defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France in the Armageddon game following two draws in Classical chess during the final."
    17. [17]ratings.fide.com"Family Name : Erigaisi First name: Arjun FIDE ID Number : 35009192 Date of Birth :2003-09-03 Place of Birth :Karimnagar"
    18. [18]en.wikipedia.org"A chess prodigy, he earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 13 days."