The International Chess Federation, commonly referred to as FIDE, organizes Chess World Cup, and it is to be held in Sochi, Russia from 10th July. India’s Vidit Gujrathi has qualified for the FIDE Chess World Cup 2021. With this, Vidit has become the fourth Indian man to qualify for the upcoming World Cup. Vidit has joined Grandmasters P Harikrishna, Aravindh Chidambaram, and P Iniyan as the Indian men to have qualified for the FIDE Chess World Cup too. Meanwhile, Koneru Humpy, D Harika, R Vaishali, Bhakti Kulkarni, and Padmini Raut have qualified for the women’s event at the Chess World Cup.

The upcoming FIDE World Cup 2021 will be a grand Classical event with standard time control in the tournament. FIDE is an international chess federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE. It is based in Switzerland, and it connects the distinct national chess federations and acts as the governing body for many international chess competitions. Since the current COVID-19 pandemic ruled out Indian participation in the ongoing championship, the FIDE allowed India a quota spot in the competition. In the recent FIDE World Cup, Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi heads a very strong field in the tournament.

Vidit Gujrathi is a Nashik-based chess player and he was born on 24 October 1994. He achieved his incredible title of Grandmaster in January 2013, becoming the 30th player from India to do so. Presently, Vidit is the third highest-rated player in India, behind Viswanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna. He is also the fourth Indian player to have crossed the Elo rating threshold of 2700, which is a rating system in chess.

Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi was selected based on his ratings from the past performances. The event by All India Chess Federation online selection tournament for the world cup took place from May 26 to 30, and with the following round-robin format, Vidit won this tournament. And as a winner, Vidit Gujrathi qualified for the World Cup. This will be Vidit Gujrathi’s third World Cup appearance, having previously featured in 2017 and 2019. He claims that he is assured of stroking a nice show in this chess tournament.

Vidit Gujrathi is presently ranked 23rd in the entire world. In an interview the Hindustan Times, he said, “Really happy to be a part of the WC squad. Playing for India is always a proud moment and especially the World Cup which is the most prestigious event across any spot”. He also said that “I am confident of putting up a nice show and will surely try to give my best in each and every game I play. Eagerly looking forward to the event as this is going to be my first Over the Board event since February 2020”.

FIDE World Cup 2021 will be Vidit’s third world cup. Moreover, there have been many events in the past where he has proved himself a skilled chess player. In 2008, Vidit Gujrathi won the World Youth Chess Championship in the Open Under-14 section, and he was the first Indian to do so. He also scored 9 points out of a possible 11, gaining his final standard to become an international master in chess.

From 22 November to 25 November in 2019, he also competed in the Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz, as a wildcard, and he finished in a tie for eighth with his fellow wildcard Pentala Harikrishna. He was a part of the first event of the 2020-21 tour in the Skilling Open with a prize fund of 1 lakh US dollars. In 2020, Vidit Gujrathi was also the captain of the historic Gold-winning Indian team in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad. And this year, when Vidit himself has been qualified for the FIDE World Cup, numerous chess enthusiasts from India have high hopes for him.
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Reference:

• www.chessbase.in
• www.hindustantimes.com
• www.fide.com