Raahul VS becomes India's 91st Grandmaster with ASEAN Individual Championship triumph

Raahul VS became the 91st chess player from India to become a Grandmaster (GM) as he won the 6th ASEAN Individual Championship with a round to spare on Friday.

Raahul had achieved the tag of International Master (IM) in 2021 after securing his fourth and fifth IM norms before crossing the 2400 mark in live ratings.

“Heartiest congratulations to Raahul V S for clinching the ASEAN Individual Championship with a round to spare and, in the process, becoming the 91st Grandmaster of the nation! Wishing you many more milestones ahead and continued success in making Bharat proud,” All India Chess Federation (AICF) President Nitin Narang posted on X after the achievement of the 21-year-old.

Grandmaster No. 91 for Bharat!!

Heartiest congratulations to Raahul V S for clinching the ASEAN Individual Championship with a round to spare and, in the process, becoming the 91st Grandmaster of the nation!

Wishing you many more milestones ahead and continued success in… pic.twitter.com/1XrHafZqxZ

— Nitin Narang (@narangnitin) November 8, 2025

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Raahul’s achievement comes just a week after India got its 90th GM in Illamparthi AR who registered his final norm at the Bijeljina Open 2025 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Illamparthi is from Chennai and became the 35th GM from Tamil Nadu which is home to some of India’s finest chess talents.

Earlier in August, S Rohith Krishna had become the 89th Grandmaster from the country at the Almaty Masters Qonaev Cup in Kazakhstan as he went past the 2500 Elo ratings mark.

India’s rising chess footprint

India has emerged as a chess powerhouse in recent times. The current world champion is India’s D Gukesh who became the youngest to achieve the title at the age of 18 last year. Indian open and women’s team had both won gold in the 45th Chess Olympiad last year. The FIDE Women’s World Cup witnessed an all-India final with Divya Deshmukh defeating veteran Koneru Humpy to become the first Indian to win the title.

Four Indian players - Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh, Viswanathan Anand, are currently in the top 15 of FIDE’s rankings, the most from one country.

India is also hosting the ongoing Chess World Cup in Goa with multiple Indians going strong.