Sources & method
Every number, sentence and image on this site traces back to a numbered source. This page lists them all.
How we verify
Cite first, write later. A source is registered with an ID (SRC-0001) before anything is taken from it. Each fact is stored as a claim (CLM-0001) that points to its sources.
Official and free first. We prefer FIDE rating files and title records, the All India Chess Federation, and government sources. Press articles fill gaps, with links and short paraphrases.
Every record has a status.
- draft collected from a source but not yet checked by a second person.
- verified checked against the saved source by a second person. It needs one official (Tier A) or primary (Tier B) source, or two independent reputable (Tier C) sources.
- disputed sources disagree. We keep both versions and say so on the page.
Source tiers
- A, official record: FIDE rating files and title records, AICF lists, government records.
- B, primary account: interviews, tournament crosstables, contemporary documents, public broadcaster reports.
- C, reputable secondary: ChessBase India, Sportstar, The Hindu, Scroll, Wikipedia (as a lead to its references).
- D, leads only: forums, social posts, aggregator lists. Never enough on their own.
How we count
Grandmasters are numbered in the order they completed the title requirements (the norms and a 2500 rating), not the later date FIDE confirmed the title. India's first, Viswanathan Anand, completed it in 1987; FIDE confirmed it in 1988, which is why many lists say 1988. Where a report gives the day, we use it. Otherwise we work it out from FIDE's records: the last day of the final norm event in the title application, or the month the rating first reached 2500. Where outlets disagree on the order (as with the 97th and 98th in July 2026), we mark the number as disputed and keep FIDE ID as the permanent key, because numbering can be disputed and FIDE IDs cannot. "Age at title" is approximate: title year minus birth year.
Spot an error?
Email abrahamjose.economist@gmail.com with the claim ID (for example CLM-0013) and a link to a better source. Families and players can also send stories; we only publish them with written consent, and with a parent's consent for minors.
Sources ()
| ID | Source | Tier | Licence | Accessed | Archive |
|---|
Claims ()
| ID | Ch. | Claim | Sources | Status |
|---|
Credits and licences
© 2026 Abraham Jose. All rights reserved. This covers the site’s writing, data tables and code. To ask about reusing them, email abrahamjose.economist@gmail.com. Images keep the licences shown in their credits, and facts stay credited to their sources. Wikipedia text is never copied; where its facts are used, it is credited as a source (CC BY-SA). This is an independent project and is not endorsed by FIDE or the All India Chess Federation.