Anuj Shrivatri's journey: From lessons in Katni to India's 100th Grandmaster

Anuj Shrivatri's first chess lesson took place around 2010 at a sawmill in Katni, where his father had taken him and his elder brother, Animesh, to meet a coach who did not teach just anyone.

Birendra Kumar Tiwari wanted to see the boys play before deciding whether to take them on. Within 10 or 20 minutes, he suggested that they continue their lessons at his house.

Years later, as Anuj became India's 100th Grandmaster, his father remembered that first meeting and the coach who had wanted the boy to reach this day.

The 22-year-old won the seventh ASEAN Plus Individual Open Chess Championship in the Philippines on Sunday, November 8, becoming Madhya Pradesh's first GM. After losing his opening game, he scored seven points from the remaining eight rounds, winning the last two to finish half a point ahead of Vietnam's Nguyen Duc Hoa. The victory earned him the Grandmaster title directly.

For his father, Ashok Shrivatri, the happiness had three parts: his son had become a Grandmaster, his state had its first, and India had reached 100. The fact that the achievement came on Diwali made it harder to put into words.

India's Grandmaster journey began with Viswanathan Anand, who completed his final GM norm at the Sakthi Finance tournament in Coimbatore on December 28, 1987. Earlier that year, Anand had won the World Junior Championship in Baguio in the Philippines, the country where Anuj's victory has now taken India's Grandmaster count to 100.

Anuj's introduction to the game came through his father, who enjoyed playing chess at university. Ashok, a science teacher at a railway school, was posted in Katni when he began looking for someone to teach his sons. His wife, Manorama, is also a teacher at a government school in Madhya Pradesh.

Tiwari had no academy. Ashok remembers a coach who chose the children he would teach, rather than simply enrolling everyone brought to him. Once he agreed to work with the brothers, the family had to find a practical arrangement.

Taking the children to Tiwari's home was difficult for Ashok, so he offered to collect the coach instead. For roughly a year and a half, he did so. The fee was Rs. 500 a month, although Ashok says neither of them kept an account of when it was paid and when it was not.

In October 2012, Tiwari was accompanying Anuj at the National Under-9 championship in Ahmedabad when Ashok learned that the coach's mother was seriously ill due to age-related complications in Katni.

Ashok urged Tiwari to return home and booked him a Tatkal train ticket. Tiwari was concerned about leaving Anuj at the tournament, but Ashok assured him that they would manage.

After reaching Katni, Tiwari learned he had lost his mother by the time he arrived. Later that night, he suffered a heart attack and passed away. Their funerals were held at the same time.

Ashok was still in Ahmedabad with Anuj when he received a call from Tiwari's son. "He told me, 'Papa has passed away.' I asked him whether it was his father or his grandmother. He said, 'Both Papa and Dadi have passed away,'" Ashok told Sportstar.

Thereafter, the family helped the young player through the loss and arranged further coaching. Among those who guided him were Sagar-based chess coach Yashpal Arora and Jabalpur's Rajesh Bahadur, who coached Anuj from 2016 to 2019. He also learnt from International Master Anup Deshmukh and FIDE instructor Niklesh Jain, whom Ashok describes as a mentor who accompanied Anuj on trips abroad.

The results began to reflect that progress. In July 2016, Anuj finished third at the National nder-13 championship in Ahmedabad, scoring 8.5 points from 11 games behind Arjun Erigaisi and Koustav Chatterjee. A year later, he represented India at the World Youth Championship in Montevideo, Uruguay, finishing fourth in the U-14 open section with an unbeaten eight points from 11 rounds.

His first International Master norm followed at the Sitges Open in Spain in 2018. He secured his second at the Goa International in 2019 and his final norm later that year at Sant Adria in Spain, where he also crossed the 2400 rating mark. His IM title was approved in 2020.

The Grandmaster title took longer, during years in which chess shared his attention with education and employment.

Anuj had done well at school and was clear that he wanted to study computer science, a choice his father supported. He pursued a B.Tech at Lovely Professional University in Punjab and, according to Ashok, completed his degree in 2023 before taking up a work-from-home job with a German company.

For about a year, Anuj tried to balance the demands of the job with the hours he needed for chess. Eventually, he told his father that he could not manage both and left the job in 2024.

"He needed to give eight or nine hours to chess, and he had to give time to the company as well. He told me he could not do both. I said there was no problem; he could leave the job," Ashok said.

These days, Ashok says, Anuj largely prepares on his own, discussing the game with fellow players and remaining in touch with people who have guided him. His parents give him greater responsibility for deciding what he needs.

"We do not get into whom he is learning from or what he is studying now. We just provide whatever he needs. If he says he wants to go somewhere, we make the arrangements," Ashok said.

Away from the board, Ashok describes a son who is careful with money and capable of looking after himself. He remembers Anuj returning from the Uruguay trip with some of the money he had been given still unused. He is also a good cook; a skill Ashok connects to traveling for tournaments and learning to share everyday chores with the players and coaches around him.

Through those changes, the family kept returning to the ambition Tiwari had held for the child who first sat down with him at the sawmill.

"We kept reminding him that it was sir's dream that he become a GM," Ashok said. "If he were here today, he would have been happier than you (reporter) or me."