Anish Giri

Chess is known to be an international game, but Grandmaster Anish Giri has to possess one of the more diverse backgrounds.  Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to a Nepalese father and Russian mother he moved with his family to Japan in 2002, then to the Netherlands in 2008. Giri was awarded the Grandmaster title at the age of 14. The past decade he has been routinely ranked in the top ten players in the world, briefly occupying the number two spot in 2015 when he crossed over 2800. Giri, who is known for his deep opening preparation and solid strategic play, is best known for winning the 2023 Tata Steel Masters and competing in multiple Candidates tournaments.  2025 was an excellent year for him as won clear first place in both the Sharjah Masters tournament and the Grand Swiss Tournament in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The latter, over 115 other players, was especially important as it qualified him for the 2026 Candidates tournament along with Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Anish Giri, Javokhir Sindarov, Wei Yi, Andrei Esipenko, and Matthias Bluebaum, with the winner facing reigning World Champion Gukesh Dommarju for the title in late 2016. 

Giri in addition to being a world class player is known to be active on social media and among the best commentators on chess in the world. He is also the author of several well received books including works on the Dragon Sicilian and the Winawer variation of the French.