6/28/2025 – Born in 1994, Anish Giri turns 31 years old today, on 28 June 2025. Anish is a player whom we have known for almost a decade now. In this article, we go down memory lane with some selected images that tell the story of what a gem of an individual Anish is. Amruta and I first met Anish in 2015 at the London Chess Classic. The then young GM has turned into an experienced player - as he remains at the top of the world rankings! | Photos: Amruta Mokal
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The family man
The first time I met Anish properly was in 2017 at the FIDE World Cup in Tbilisi, Georgia. We were just beginning our journey at ChessBase India, but when Anish saw us, he started talking about some of the videos and articles we had posted. Seeing the fact that a world class GM was following the work we were doing was greatly inspiring!
Anish would come to the press room after almost every single game that he played at the FIDE World Cup and would analyse it on my computer. I got insights into how a super GM thinks and calculates.
This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.
Anish playing in Georgia was a wonderful thing for Sopiko, as she could spend time with her family. Little Danny was just 1 year old back then!
Back in 2017, Anish was just 23 years old and was already a father, husband and a super GM! He would play his games and then spend time with his family.
The single best decision of Anish's life - marrying Sopiko!
Anish and Sopiko at the Qatar Masters 2015
Style icons!
There are only a few people who can make someone laugh like this! Anish with former FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov.
Anish Giri and Vishy Anand have always shared a beautiful bond. This one is during the London Chess Classic 2015.
At the FIDE Candidates 2016.
At some point, Anish got eliminated from the World Cup. We were there until the very end, covering the event. On one of the days, Anish asked us if we would like to go on a walk with him through the city of Tbilisi. Amruta and I were thrilled. We usually have absolutely no time to do any sightseeing during an event when we are covering it, but this was too tempting of an offer to pass.
Through the streets of Tbilisi with Anish.
Late in the night, when we would be working in the press room, Anish would often stop by along with Erwin l'Ami after their dinner. I am glad we took this picture as a lovely memory!
Anish always had this ability to find the right talent! Here he is with Vidit, who was his second back then, and who is now a very close friend.
The Indian chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi with an ELO of over 2700 (June 2023) is one of the best 20 players in the world. For the first time, the sympathetic top player presents himself in a video course. Let a world-class player show you tactical moti
The lassi boys!
The boxing boys!
Anish's instructive videos
There are several interviews on the ChessBase India YouTube channel of Anish explaining a number of subtle points of how a top-level player thinks. Find here a few of my favourites.
Anish always bonded well with almost all the top Indian players- (From left to right): Sagar, Anish Giri, Padmini Rout, Surya Ganguly, Tania Sachdev, Vidit Gujrathi and Amruta Mokal
Recording a video course for ChessBase at Anish's home in The Hague
Anish and Sopiko visited the family of Amruta after Vidit's wedding in Pune
This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.
If you wanted to know about Anish's life story, then this 11-minute video is for you...
...and if you want to know about it in detail, then this is the video for you
Anish and his kind heart
When we, at ChessBase India, wanted to organize the Death Match 1.0 between Anish Giri and Vidit Gujrathi, I asked Anish if the prize fund of Rs.3 lakh for the winner and Rs.2 lakh for the loser would make sense. He agreed to it. Later we increased it to Rs.5 lakh to the winner and Rs.3 lakh to the loser. After winning the Death Match 1.0, Anish instantly announced that he would donate Rs.2 lakh to HelpChess. This money was then used to support two young talents - Ilamparthi and Jubin Jimmy - both of whom have become talented young IMs.
In this video course, experts including Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver Reeh, examine the games of Boris Spassky. Let them show you which openings Spassky chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were and much more.
Anish Giri with Ilamparthi at the WR Chess Masters 2023
Thank you Anish for being the wonderful person that you are in the world of chess. Thank you for bringing brightness and smiles into the lives of so many people.
Sagar ShahSagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.
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