Srihari L R becomes the 86th Grandmaster of India

Srihari ends a year-long wait

Srihari L R got interested in chess after seeing his father Ravi play a game with Srihari's grandmother. They taught him the rules. Impact Chess Academy is where he had his first formal training from Banumati ma'am. It was near his place. After that, until he got his rating, he spent his formative years at Chrompet Chess Academy under Raghuram Balaji. Till he was rated around 2200, he was training with C Natarajan at Master Mind Chess Academy. Currently, he is working with GM Shyam Sundar M for the past two years. Srihari's parents have been very supportive of him. He was never pressed for studies and was allowed to play chess tournaments freely.

"Actually I am just happy and relieved that I got my GM title. I have been waiting for the last norm for quite some time to be honest. Last year at the Dubai Open, I was playing against Sethuraman in the last round. I was completely winning. During the end of the game, I made a one-move blunder and I lost a winning position. If I had won the game, I would have gotten the norm.

The last year has been really testing. I got close to getting a norm so many times. I am just thankful and happy that I just managed to make it here." - Srihari L R's initial words after becoming a Grandmaster.

First GM-norm: Six-days Budapest July-August 2023 GM A

Srihari earned his first GM-norm at Six-days Budapest in August 2023 in Hungary. He scored an unbeaten 7/9 to win the tournament, including draws against GM David Berczes (HUN), GM Valeriy Aveskulov (UKR) and GM Gergely Aczel (HUN).

Nico - Srihari, Round 5

Srihari repositioned his bishop on the long diagonal 23...Bb7 to attack on the knight and other reasons 24.d5? Rae8 25.Re5 Rd7 26.Nh4 Rxf2 and Black won the game in the next few moves.

Second GM-norm: Qatar Masters 2023

Srihari scored his second GM-norm a little over two months later in October at Qatar Masters 2023 in Doha, Qatar. Despite starting with a loss against the World no.1, Magnus Carlsen (NOR), he scored 5.5/8 in the remaining eight games to earn his second GM-norm. He defeated GM Emre Can (TUR) and GM Sandipan Chanda, drew with GM Vugar Rasulov (AZE), GM Aryan Chopra and GM Alisher Suleymenov (KAZ).

Emre - Srihari, Round 5

GM Emre Can (TUR, 2576) made an incorrect queen retreat 28.Qd2? Nfd5 29.Bxd5 exd5 30.f5 Rc2 31.Qd1 gxf5 32.g6 fxg6 things  started turning in Black's favor and he went on to win the game.

Third GM-norm: Asian Individual Men 2025

A little over 1.5 years later, he earned his final GM-norm at Asian Individual Men in May 2025 in Al-Ain, UAE. Before that he got an 2500 published rating in August 2024 FIDE Rating list. Srihari earned his final GM-norm in almost eight rounds as the final round result became immaterial towards his norm chances. He scored 5.5/9, perform at 2612 to secure his final GM-norm and the title. He defeated GM Abhijeet Gupta and GM Pranav V, drew with GM Salem Saleh (UAE), GM Xiangyu Xu (CHN), GM Pranav Anand, GM Aleksey Grebnev and GM Pranesh M.

Srihari - Abhijeet, Round 3

Srihari's best of the event has to be against the five-time Commonwealth Gold medalist, GM Abhijeet Gupta (2577). White kept rolling the g-pawn down the board 25.g4 Qd7 26.g5 Bg7 27.g6 Qf5 28.Rfg1 Bf6 29.Bh6 Rfe8 30.b4 e4 31.Ng4 e3 32.g7+ and it's over as Black has too many threats to overcome.

Replay Srihari's games

Srihari's Best Achievements

Srihari L R has a lot of achievements in his career. Here are some of his best ones:

• Gold - Commonwealth Under-14 Open 2019

• Silver - World Youth Under-14 Open 2019

• Silver - Asian Youth Under-14 Open Rapid and Blitz 2018

• Champion - 14th Chennai GM Open 2023-24

• Champion - 4th Athens of the East GM Open 2024

• Champion - Mariappan Nadar Memorial Rating Open 2018

• Champion for SRM - All India Inter University Men 2024

• Champion for Airport Authority of India - All India Public Sector Sports Promotion Board Tournament 2024

• Champion for SRM Institute of Science and Technology - South Zone Inter University Men 2023-24

• Champion - VS Chess Academy 1st Rapid Rating Open 2020

• Champion - Chessfee 360° Rapid Rating Open 2023

• Champion - SSKCC and STCS Rapid Rating Open 2023

• Champion - 1st SA Castle Rapid Rating Open 2023

• Champion - Tamil Nadu State Junior Under-19 Open Online 2021

• Runner-up - 3rd Athens of the East GM Tournament 2023

• Runner-up - 2nd Sri Raghavendra Rating Open 2018

• Runner-up - 31st National Under-18 Open 2022

• Runner-up - All India Chess Grand Prix Servo 1st Rapid Rating Open 2019

• Runner-up - 1st Vellore Rapid Rating Open 2021

• Runner-up - May Day Celebration Rapid Rating Open 2023

• Runner-up - 2nd Chessfee 360° Rapid Rating Open 2024

• Runner-up - 5th ICA Rapid Rating Open 2024

• Runner-up - 4th IIFL Wealth Mumbai Junior Under-13 Rating 2018

• Runner-up - 48th Tamil Nadu State Junior Rating Open 2019

• Second Runner-up - 26th Abu Dhabi Chess Festival Juniors 2019

• Second Runner-up - 18th Adyar Times Rating Open 2018

• Second Runner-up - 7th BBCF Rapid Rating Open 2024

• Second Runner-up - 6th Shaastra Rapid Rating Open 2024

• Second Runner-up - Olympiad Celebration 2nd Blitz Rating Open 2022

• Second Runner-up - 31st National Under-13 Rating Open 2017

• Champion - 29th Tamil Nadu State Under-11 Boys Rating 2016

• Second Runner-up - Kanchi District Under-11 Mixed 2015

Videos

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	Srihari L R becomes the latest International Master of India @ 06/11/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
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	World Youth 2019 Round 4: Srihari LR beats top seed Sreeshwan in under-14 section to claim sole lead @ 05/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)