Anish Giri Height, Age, Girlfriend, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Anish Giri

• Anish Giri is a Dutch chess player who became a grandmaster in 2009 when he was 14 years old. Giri has won the Dutch championship five times (in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, and 2023) and also won the Corus Chess B Group in 2010. He has played for the Netherlands in six Chess Olympiads (in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2022).

• His father is from Nepal, his mother is Russian, and his grandmother is from Varanasi, India. In a media conversation, he once explained his family background and called himself a world citizen.
  

  A childhood picture of Anish Giri with his sister

• When Anish Giri was six years old, he began learning chess from his mother. At eleven, he was rated above 2100. His first chess club was DYUSH-2 in Saint Petersburg, where he was trained by veteran chess players Asya Kovalyova and Andrei Praslov.

• In 2002, he shifted from Saint Petersburg, Russia, to Sapporo, Japan, with his parents. In Japan, he was part of the Japan Chess Association and the Sapporo Chess Club. He was the winner of the Sapporo Chess Championship in 2004.
  

  Young Anish Giri in Japan

• In 2007, Anish Giri tied for first place in the Russian Higher League Under-14s Boys Championship. He won the Saint Petersburg Boys Under 16s and came third in the Under 18s event in the same year.
  

  Anish Giri while playing chess in 2008

• In February 2008, he and his family shifted to Rijswijk in the Netherlands, from Japan.

• In 2008, Anish Giri tied for first place at the Blokadny Saint Petersburg Open and won the Petrograd Winter Open.

• In April 2008, he got his first Grandmaster norm at the Intomart GfK Open by tying for first place. He also tied for second place at the Kunsthalle GM Open and got his second Grandmaster norm at Groningen by tying for fourth place.
  

  Young Anish Giri while playing chess in 2008

• In 2009, Anish Giri shifted to the Netherlands and received chess training under Vladimir Chuchelov from 2009 to 2012 and again in 2017.
  

  Anish Giri with Vladimir Chuchelov

• In January 2009, Giri received his third Grandmaster norm by tying for second place at the Corus Chess Group C, and he officially became a Grandmaster in June. In the same year, he shared second place at the Dutch Open.

• Anish Giri won the Dutch Chess Championship in 2009 and tied for second place at the Unive Chess Tournament.

• In 2010, he moved up to Group B in the Corus Chess tournament after winning Group C, the previous year, with a score of 9/13. He also assisted Viswanathan Anand in preparation for the 2010 World Chess Championship, where Anand successfully defended his title against Veselin Topalov.
  

  Anish Giri with Viswanathan Anand

• In his first Tata Steel tournament in 2011, Anish Giri scored 6½ out of 13 games and defeated Magnus Carlsen, a Norwegian chess grandmaster, in 22 moves. Thereafter, he won the Dutch championship for the second time and tied for first place at the Sigeman & Co tournament alongside Wesley So and Hans Tikkanen.

• He won the 2012 Reggio Emilia chess tournament and secured his third Dutch championship, also sharing third place at the Biel Chess Festival.
  

  Anish Giri while playing chess in 2012

• In 2013, Anish Giri secured fourth place at the Reykjavik Open.

• From 2013 to 2016, he was trained by chess master Vladimir Tukmakov.
  

  Anish Giri with Vladimir Tukmakov

• In 2014, Anish Giri achieved second place at the Tata Steel tournament, won individual bronze at the 41st Chess Olympiad, and finished second at the Qatar Masters Open.
  

  Anish Giri with his wife Sopiko Guramashvili at the Qatar Masters 2014

• In 2014, he published his debut book Anish Giri: My Junior Years in 20 Games.
  

  The cover of the book ‘Anish Giri My Junior Years in 20 Games’

• In 2016, Anish Giri participated in the Candidates Tournament for the first time, drawing all 14 games while attending with his wife and coach.

• Since 2016, he has been sponsored by Optiver, a global trading firm and market maker.

• He then went on to participate in various chess tournaments such as the Reykjavik Open in 2017 and the Tata Steel Masters in 2019.

• In 2019, he won the Third Edition of the Shenzhen Masters, which some people think is his first big win in a super tournament.
  

  Anish Giri while playing chess in 2019

• He then participated in the Candidates Tournament 2020, which was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• In 2021, Anish Giri won the online chess tournaments titled Magnus Carlsen Invitational and the MrDodgy Invitational twice.

• In the same year, he started a YouTube channel, where he often uploads his chess vlogs.
  

  A snip of Anish Giri’s YouTube channel

• In 2022, he published a book titled The Dragon Sicilian: A Take-No-Prisoners Repertoire Versus 1.e4.
  

  The cover of the book The Dragon Sicilian A Take-No-Prisoners Repertoire Versus 1.e4

• In 2023, Anish Giri won the Tata Steel Chess Tournament and claimed his 5th Dutch championship title, but was defeated in the Chess World Cup.
  

  Anish Giri while at Tata Steel tournaments

• In 2024, he secured joint first place in the Tata Steel tournament but lost in the tiebreaker semifinals.

• Anish Giri has reviewed top games for ChessBase and written articles for chess magazines like New in Chess, 64, and Schach Magazin 64. He used to write for ChessVibes Training, a renowned magazine.

• He has created two Chessable courses in which he focused on the Sicilian Najdorf and French Defence openings. ^[4]Chessable

• In his free time, Anish Giri likes skiing, playing football and billiards, and horse riding.
  

  Anish Giri while playing billiards

• Once, in a media conversation, he talked about his favourite restaurant and his love for Asian food. Anish Giri said,
  

  The London Chess Classic, pretty much a Japanese restaurant [where I ate] every day, for over two weeks, two times a day. And I never had enough of it. Like I can eat Asian food forever.”

  

  Anish Giri while cooking food at home

  In the same conversation, he said that he liked watching Hindi action films and songs. He said,

  Oh! I like Hindi movies. Although my wife thinks the hero and heroine breaking into a song and dance every five minutes is ridiculous, but I find them entertaining. Especially the action and stunts.”

• Anish Giri is often spotted enjoying alcoholic beverages on various occasions.
  

  Anish Giri posing with his wife while enjoying an alcoholic beverage