- Monday, February 24, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi has qualified for the FIDE Grand Swiss League which will be held in Riga, the capital of Latvia, between October 25 and November 8.
Gujrathi, who is based in Nashik, Maharashtra, has also qualified for the FIDE Grand Prix 2022 after finishing among the top eight at the recently concluded Chess World Cup in Sochi, Russia.
The 26-year-old has a couple of shots to book his spot at the prestigious Candidates 2022 from which a player qualifies to challenge the world champion. Gujrathi, who is the third highest rated player from India after Vishwanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna, recently made the quarterfinals at the World Cup, becoming only the second Indian after Anand to do so.
“I was confident that I would qualify for the Grand Swiss league considering my previous performance in the past one year. It was a great feeling to play Classical chess and that too over the board,” Gujrathi was quoted as saying in a press release.
“Indeed it is always a proud moment representing India and this time it was more special as I reached the Quarter-finals. I am happy with my overall performance and looking forward to the next tournaments. My aim is to play the best chess and qualify for the Candidates 2022,” he added.
Only four Indian men have qualified for the Swiss league and they include, besides Grand Master (GM) Anand and GM Harikrishna, GM B Adhiban and Gujrathi.
The event will feature top 114 players in a 11-round Swiss format. There are other reserve players including Indians like GM K Sasikaran, GM S P Sethuraman and GM Aravindh Chithambaram. The qualification for the event was based on the average rating from June 2020 to July 2021.
GM D Harika has qualified for the women’s Swiss league which will feature the top 50 players globally. IM R Vaishali is in the reserve players list.
The FIDE Swiss league is an important event as the players finishing in the top two in the men’s and women’s category get their seats booked at the Candidates 2022 and have a chance to face the World champion.
