Anish Giri

Anish Kumar Giri (Nepali: अनीश कुमार गिरी; Russian: Аниш Кумар Гири; born June 28, 1994) is a Russian-born Dutch chess player. A former chess prodigy, he completed the requirements for the title Grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 7 months and 2 days.[2][3] FIDE awarded him the title in 2009.

Anish Giri
अनीश गिरी
Anish Giri in Bundesliga 2014
CountryRussia (until 2009)[1]
Netherlands (since 2009)
Born (1994-06-28) June 28, 1994
Saint Petersburg, Russia
TitleGrandmaster (2009)
FIDE rating2764 (February 2021)
Peak rating2798 (October 2015)
RankingNo. 11 (February 2021)
Peak rankingNo. 3 (January 2016)

Giri is a four-time Dutch champion (2009, 2011, 2012, and 2015) and won the Corus Chess B Group in 2010. He has represented the Netherlands at five Chess Olympiads (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018). He also won major international tournaments, including the 2012 Reggio Emilia tournament, 2017 Reykjavik Open and shared 1st place in the 2015 London Chess Classic and 2018 Wijk aan Zee. In 2019 he won clear first at the Third Edition of the Shenzhen Masters, deemed by some to be his first supertournament victory[4][5] and supported by Dutch Chess Federation (KNSB). As of February 2021, Anish Giri is the No. 1 ranked player in Netherlands and the No. 11 in the world, with a FIDE rating of 2764. In 2021 Wijk aan zee, Giri shared the first place with fellow Dutch GM Jorden Van Foreest, but lost to him in the armageddon after the two blitz games in the playoff ended in a draw. Giri also has two famous Chessable courses, featuring the Sicilian Najdorf and French defense.

Personal life

Giri was born in St. Petersburg on 28 June 1994 to a Russian mother, Olga Giri,[6] and Nepali father, Sanjay Giri.[3][7] His grandmother is from Varanasi, India.[8][9] In 2002, he moved to Sapporo, Japan, with his parents and lived there until 2008. Since February 2008, Giri and his family have lived in Rijswijk, Netherlands, where his father works at a research and consulting foundation. He has two sisters, Natasha and Ayusha.

In June 2013, Giri graduated from Grotius College high school in Delft. He married IM Sopiko Guramishvili on 18 July 2015.[10][11] Giri and Sopiko have a son named Daniel, commonly called Danny. [12]

Chess career

Giri began playing chess with his mother at the age of six.[13] Giri's first club was a local youth sport club 'DYUSH-2' in St. Petersburg, Russia. His trainers in this club were Asya Kovalyova and Andrei Praslov. He was a member of the Japan Chess Association and the Sapporo Chess Club during his stay in Japan.

Giri developed quickly as a junior, his rating increasing rapidly between April 2006 and July 2010 from 2114 to 2672.

Giri worked with a famous Russian born Belgian trainer Vladimir Chuchelov between 2009–2012 and resumed the collaboration in 2017. Giri also worked with Vladimir Tukmakov between 2013 and 2016.

2007–2008

Giri shared first place in the Russian Higher League Under-14s Boys Championship scoring 6½/9, winning the St Petersburg Boys Under 16s and coming third in the Under 18s event in 2007. The next year saw him share first at the Blokadny St Petersburg Open and win the Petrograd Winter Open scoring 8½/9. He followed with his first Grandmaster norm, achieved at the Intomart GfK Open sharing first with 7/9 in April 2008, sharing second at Kunsthalle GM Open and reaching his second Grandmaster norm at Groningen by sharing fourth place with 6½/9.

Anish Giri, 2008

2009

Giri's first appearance at a major tournament came in his shared second place at Corus Chess Group C in January 2009 giving him his third GM norm, his Grandmaster status being confirmed in June.[14] He also shared second at the Dutch Open, won the Dutch Championship and shared second at the Unive tournament.

2010

His performance in the previous year's Corus Chess Group C earned him a spot in Group B in 2010. He won the tournament with a score of 9/13, half a point ahead of Arkadij Naiditsch. Despite a disappointing result in the European Individual Championships, he drew a match with Nigel Short and won the Sigeman & Co tournament scoring 4½/5, coming second in the Dutch Championships behind Erwin L'Ami and was one of the best scorers for the Rising Stars team during the NH tournament against the Experienced team, but was unable to qualify for the Melody Amber tournament, losing on tiebreaks against Nakamura.[15][16]

It was revealed in May 2010 that Giri had aided Viswanathan Anand in preparation for the World Chess Championship 2010 against challenger Veselin Topalov. Anand won the match 6½–5½ to retain the title.[17][18]

2011

At his debut appearance at Tata Steel in 2011 he scored 6½/13 (+2–2=9) and defeated Magnus Carlsen with Black in 22 moves.[19][20] He also became Dutch champion for the second time and shared first place at Sigeman & Co with Wesley So and Hans Tikkanen.[21][22]

2012–2013

Despite being the lowest ranked player, Giri won the 2012 Reggio Emilia chess tournament, claimed his third Dutch championship and shared third place at the strong Biel Chess Festival.[23] His solid improvement continued with fourth place at the Reykjavik Open and a match victory against Vassily Ivanchuk at Leon in 2013.[24]

Giri took part in the 2012/13 FIDE Grand Prix cycle, but failed to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.

2014–2015

In 2014 Giri shared second place at the Tata Steel tournament, won individual bronze for his first board performance at the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromso and finished second at the strong Qatar Masters Open.[25][26][27]

Giri participated in the 2014/15 FIDE Grand Prix cycle, but again failed to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.

2016

In March 2016, Giri participated in the Candidates Tournament 2016 in Moscow, Russia, where he drew all 14 games. He went to the tournament with his wife Sopiko Guramishvili and his coach Vladimir Tukmakov.[28][29]

As of 2016, Giri has been sponsored by the proprietary trading firm Optiver.[30]

2017

In April 2017, Giri won the Reykjavik Open with a score of 8½/10 (+7–0=3).[31]

2018

Giri started off 2018 by placing joint-first with Carlsen on a score of 9/13 (+5–0=8) at the 80th Tata Steel Masters. He was defeated in the blitz tie-break by Carlsen 1½–½.[32][33]

In April 2018, he participated in the fifth edition of Shamkir Chess, finishing sixth with a score of 4½/9 (+1–1=7).[34]

In July 2018, he competed in the 46th Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, placing second with a score of 4/7 (+2–1=4).[35]

In November 2018, he shared first in the 2nd Dute Cup in Shenzhen, together with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Ding Liren and took second place on tie-break.[36]

2019

Giri competed in the 81st Tata Steel Masters in January 2019, placing clear second with 8½/13 (+5−1=7),[37] losing to Ian Nepomniachtchi in the first round.

In March 2019, Giri won the 3rd edition of the Shenzhen Masters (Dute Cup), placing clear first with 6½/10 (+3−0=7).[38]

In May, Giri participated in the Moscow FIDE Grand Prix tournament, which is part of the qualification cycle for the 2020 World Chess Championship. The tournament was a 16-player event, and he was eliminated from the tournament after an upset loss to the lowest ranked player, GM Daniil Dubov in the first round.[39]

In December, 2019, Anish Giri qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2020 as a player with the highest FIDE rating for the 12 months period (January — December, 2019). In the rating list, Giri led Maxime Vachier-Lagrave by the average of 6 points.

2020

Giri played in the Candidates Tournament 2020 which was suspended at the half way point due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time he was on shared third place, with 3½/7, one point behind the two leaders. His second during the event was Erwin l'Ami.[40]

2021

At the 83rd Tata Steel Masters held in January, Giri shared first place with Jorden van Foreest on a score of 8½/13 (+4-0=9). The tie-break involved two blitz games, followed by an armageddon game if scores were level after blitz. They drew both blitz tie-breaks and Giri lost the armageddon game when he ran out of time, despite van Foreest blundering a pawn and then a bishop in the frantic time scramble.[41] Giri finished as the runner-up of the tournament.

Team chess

Chess Olympiads

Giri has represented the Netherlands at five Chess Olympiads earning three individual Bronze medals and scoring a total of 28,5 points from 40 games(+19-2=19).[42]

Olympiad Board Individual result Team result
Khanty-Mansiysk 2010Fourth8/11 (Bronze)15th
Istanbul 2012First4/76th
Tromso 2014First8/11 (Bronze)12th
Baku 2016First7/1136th
Batumi 2018 First 8,5/11 (Bronze) 40th

Other team results

Giri has also competed in a World Team Championship, two European Team Championships and a World Cities Championship, earning a team gold medal in the World Cities Championship:

Event Board Individual result Team result
2011 European Team ChampionshipFourth5/9 (7th)6th
2012 World Cities ChampionshipFirst5/7Gold
2013 European Team ChampionshipFirst6½/9 (7th)11th
2013 World Team ChampionshipFirst5/9 (5th)6th

Giri has played for numerous clubs in team tournaments including SK Turm Emsdetten since 2008 in the Chess Bundesliga, HSG (Hilversum Chess Society), the Delftsche SchaakClub (Delft Chess Club), HMC Calder and En Passant. He used to play in Spanish league for chess club Sestao Naturgas Energia. He used to play in the French league (TOP-16) for l'Echiquier Châlonnais and Russian league for SHSM-64 (Moscow). He has participated and won the prestigious European Club Cup with Azeri SOCAR and Russian Siberia.

Playing style

Giri has a very solid, conservative style. This makes him very hard to beat, but also leads to him not translating his chances into wins.[43] His infamous streak of 14 draws at the 2016 Candidates Tournament is illustrative, and led to him being the butt of many jokes, such as a Chess24.com April Fool's piece about Giri writing a book entitled My 60 Memorable Draws (a play on Bobby Fischer's My 60 Memorable Games).[44] He also has been dubbed ‘the artist’ due to his propensity for drawing.[45] Nonetheless his peers acknowledge his strengths as a player, with Grandmaster Arkadij Naiditsch opining that beating world champion Magnus Carlsen is easier than beating Giri.[46]

Other interests and skills

Giri is fluent in Russian, English, and Dutch and moderately proficient in Japanese, Nepali and German.[47] He used to play football and table tennis in his childhood.

He annotated a number of top games for the popular chess site ChessBase,[48] and has written several articles, including analyses of his own games for chess magazines, such as New in Chess, 64 (chess magazine), and Schach Magazin 64. He used to be a columnist for the magazine ChessVibes Training.

In 2014 Giri published his first book, My Junior Years In 20 Games.[49]

Anish also has a YouTube channel, which has over 100,000 subscribers as of December 2020.[50]

References
  1. Player transfers in 2009. FIDE.
  2. "Anish Giri, 14, makes his final GM norm". Chessbase.com. 2009-01-31. Archived from the original on 3 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
  3. "NRN boy youngest grandmaster". MyRepublica.com. 2009-02-01. Archived from the original on 5 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
  4. Chess24:"Giri wins “soft” Shenzhen Masters
  5. Optiver: Get to know Anish Giri
  6. "Promise of greatness in Dutch chess prodigy". Nrc.nl. 2010-01-15. Archived from the original on 2010-03-29. Retrieved 2012-12-14.
  7. Oleg Bogatov (2016-03-17). "Chess player Anish Giri: the wedding in Georgia was amazing, I even sang in Georgian!". Р-Спорт. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
  8. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/chess/i-always-think-about-beating-magnus-carlsen-anish-giri/articleshow/72059955.cms?frmapp=yes&from=mdr
  9. https://twitter.com/anishgiri/status/532566999764058112?lang=en
  10. "Anish and Sopiko tie the knot". Chess News. 2015-07-23. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  11. "Another Chess Wedding: Anish Giri becomes a Son in Law of Georgia, and Sopiko Guramishvili Marries One of the World's Top Players | chess-news.ru". chess-news.ru. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  12. Another Chess Wedding: Anish Giri becomes a Son in Law of Georgia, and Sopiko Guramishvili Marries One of the World's Top Players - chess-news.ru, 18 July 2015
  13. "Exclusive Interview with GM Anish Giri | Chess Blog of iChess.NET". Chess Videos, Chess DVDs, Chess Software and more. 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
  14. "FIDE Title Applications". FIDE. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  15. "Sigeman: Giri wins with 4½/5 and a 2936 performance". ChessBase. 2010-05-31. Archived from the original on 3 June 2010. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  16. "NH Chess Tournament 2010". The Week in Chess. 2011-08-22. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
  17. "Anand in Playchess – the helpers in Sofia". Chessbase. 2010-05-19. Archived from the original on 22 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-19.
  18. "Carlsen, Giri, Kasparov and Kramnik all helped Anand". Chessvibes. 2010-05-20. Archived from the original on 23 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  19. "73rd Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2011 | The Week in Chess". theweekinchess.com. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  20. Emmett (SonofPearl), Ryan. "Giri Stuns Carlsen In Tata Steel". Chess.com. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  21. "19th Sigeman & Co 2011 | The Week in Chess". theweekinchess.com. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  22. Emmett (SonofPearl), Ryan. "Three-Way Tie At Sigeman". Chess.com. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  23. "Giri and Lanchava win Dutch Championship titles". The Week In Chess. Mark Crowther. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  24. "Giri beats Ivanchuk in Leon". ChessBase. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  25. "Results - Tata Steel Chess". Tata Steel Chess. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  26. "Tromso Final". ChessBase. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  27. "Yu Yangyi wins Qatar Masters Open 2014". ChessBase. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  28. "FIDE Candidates 2016 | The Week in Chess". theweekinchess.com. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  29. Doggers (PeterDoggers), Peter. "Karjakin Wins Candidates' Tournament, Qualifies For World Title Match". Chess.com. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  30. "Optiver Loves Chess". Optiver. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  31. "Tournament Standings". Chessgames.com. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  32. Barden, Leonard (2018-02-02). "Chess: Magnus Carlsen storms back into form with Wijk aan Zee victory". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  33. "Tata Steel Chess: Carlsen, the Roger Federer of chess". Chess News. 2018-01-29. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  34. Staff writer(s) (28 April 2018). "Results: Cross Table". Shamkir Chess. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  35. 46th Dortmund Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 2018 The Week in Chess
  36. "2nd DT Cup 2018 | The Week in Chess". theweekinchess.com. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  37. McGourty, Colin (28 January 2019). "Tata Steel 2019, 13: Carlsen's Magnificent Seven". Chess24.
  39. Doggers, Peter (18 May 2019). "Top GMs Exit Early After Bloody FIDE Grand Prix Day 2". Chess.com.
  40. "Quick chat with... Erwin l'Ami, the theory specialist". chess24.com. 2020-06-26. Retrieved 2020-08-28.
  41. Doggers (PeterDoggers), Peter. "Jorden van Foreest Wins Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021". Chess.com. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  42. "Men's Chess Olympiads: Anish Giri". Olimpbase. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  43. "Candidate Profile: Anish Giri". 3 March 2016.
  44. "Giri's 60 Memorable Draws (exclusive excerpt!)". Chess24.com. 1 April 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  45. "Tata Steel Chess Round 2: Anish Giri takes sole lead; Viswanathan Anand in joint 2nd after draw".
  46. "Chessbase India interview with Delhi International 2018 winner GM Arkadij Naiditsch". 16 January 2018.
  47. http://anishgiri.nl/html/eng/about_anish_intro.html
  48. "Sofia World Championship: Giri on game twelve". ChessBase. 2010-05-11. Archived from the original on 14 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-11.
  49. Giri, Anish (7 July 2014). "Anish Giri: My Junior Years in 20 Games - Google Books". ISBN 9789056915520.
  50. "Anish Giri - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
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