Krishnan Sasikiran

Krishnan Sasikiran (born January 7, 1981) is an Indian chess Grandmaster. Among Indians, he is second, after Viswanathan Anand, No. 3 in Asia and ranked 26th in the world in FIDE rating as on May 2012.

"Sasi", as he is sometimes called, comes from Chennai in Tamil Nadu in south-eastern India. He earned 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 Jan Timman for first place in the 2005 Sigeman Tournament in Copenhagen/Malmö Denmark. In 2009, he tied for 2nd-3rd with Étienne Bacrot in Antwerp.

In the January 2007 FIDE rating list, Sasikiran was ranked number 21 in the world with an Elo rating of 2700. He became only the second chess player from India to reach Elo rating of 2700. He won a Gold medal in Asian Games 2006 in team event. Tamil Nadu government presented a cheque of Rs 20 Lacs as appreciation towards his success.

He completed his education in Modern Senior Secondary School, Nanganallur, Chennai. In December 2008, he won City of Pamplona international chess tournament, a category 16 event with average Elo above 2640, by an impressive one-point margin with a rating performance of 2795.

His handle on the Internet Chess Club is "babloo".

In October 2011, Sasikiran won 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 Viswanathan Anand.