India reaches 100 grandmasters: Anuj Shrivatri’s comeback and the pipeline behind it

Anuj Shrivatri lost his first game at the ASEAN Plus Individual Open in the Philippines. He finished the tournament in first place. Khel Now reported that the 22-year-old scored seven points in nine rounds and became India’s 100th grandmaster, the first from Madhya Pradesh.

Nguyen Duc Hoa and Nouri Alekhine took the next two places in the final standings. The November 8 result gives India a milestone and gives anyone who has lost an opening round a comeback worth reading about.

What to do with a first-round loss

Give yourself time to see where the game turned. Write down one decision you’d change and what you’d play instead, then put the score sheet away before the next round. You can come back to the game when there’s time for a proper review.

It can help to choose something small for the next game. If you missed a threat because you moved too quickly, pause after each move in the opening and ask what changed. That gives you something useful to do with the loss while you’re playing a fresh position.

What sits behind a hundred titles

A grandmaster count records what happens at the top of the game. Getting there also takes strong opposition, tournaments where players can earn norms, and people willing to sit down afterward and help them understand a loss. Shrivatri’s result puts a name and a tournament to one part of that work.

The final nine-round tally tells the story better than the result of any one day. If you’re following an open tournament, look at the standings after round one and again before the last round. The players who have worked their way back up the table are often the ones with the best story.

The next rung matters

A player doesn’t need a title in mind for this to apply. A strong local game can show you where you run out of ideas. A game review can help you find one position to study before the next event. From the outside a milestone like 100 grandmasters is one number. For the person playing, progress is usually easier to see in the problem they can handle now that would have cost them the game a year ago.