Chess career[edit]

Born in Madras, Sasikiran won the Indian Chess Championship for the first time in 1999 and won it
again in 2002, 2003 and 2013. In 1999 he also won the Asian Junior Chess Championship in Vũng
Tàu, Vietnam.[2] Sasikiran completed the requirements for the Grandmaster title at the
2000 Commonwealth Championship. In 2001, he won the prestigious Hastings International Chess
tournament. In 2003, he won the 4th Asian Individual Championship as well as the Politiken Cup
in Copenhagen. Sasikiran tied with Jan Timman for first place in the 2005 Sigeman & Co Chess
Tournament, which took place in Malmö and Copenhagen.[3]
In 2006, he tied for first place at the Aeroflot Open in Moscow with Baadur Jobava, Victor
Bologan and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, finishing third on tiebreak score. Later in the same year,
Sasikiran won a gold medal in the 2006 Asian Games' team event. Tamil Nadugovernment
presented a cheque of Rs 20 Lacs as appreciation for his success. He was also bestowed with
the Arjuna Award in 2002. In the January 2007 FIDE rating list, Sasikiran was ranked number 21 in
the world with an Elo rating of 2700.[4] He became only the second chess player from India to reach
Elo rating of 2700.[5]
In December 2008, he won City of Pamplona international chess tournament, a category 16 event
with average Elo above 2640, by one-point margin with a rating performance of 2795.[6] In 2009, he
tied for 2nd-3rd with Étienne Bacrot in Antwerp.[7]
In May 2011, Sasikiran won the Asian Blitz Chess Championship in Mashhad on tiebreak
over Wesley So and Bu Xiangzhi, after all three players finished on 7/9 points.[8] In October of the
same year, he placed clear first in the open section of the 15th Corsican Circuit. He reached semi-
final stage of the Corsica Masters knockout rapid tournament losing to eventual winner Anand.[9][10]
At the 2014 Chess Olympiad in Tromsø he scored 7.5/10 points on board three to help the Indian
team to win the bronze medal.[11]Sasikiran also won the individual silver medal on board three.[12]