Parimarjan Negi is an Indian chess Grandmaster and a chess prodigy, who became the youngest International Master in 2005 and the second youngest Grandmaster in 2006. He was born on February 9, 1993 in New Delhi, India.
Negi's early career achievements include winning the under-10 and under-12 Indian championships, the under-11 World Championship and the Asian under-10 and under-14 championships.
He has represented India multiple times at the Chess Olympiads and World Team Chess Championships. Achieving his first norm victory in July 2005, Negi became the third youngest person in the world to become an International Master (IM) in 2006. In this year he also became a chess Grandmaster aged just 13 years, 4 months and 22 days, which made him the then second youngest Grandmaster in history.
Negi has won several tournaments including the Parsvnath Open, 3rd Kolkata Open Grandmaster, Philadelphia International Open, Politiken Cup, the Cappelle-la-Grande open, and the Copenhagen Chess Challenge. He was also invited to play at the World Cup and the Tata Steel Group B, two prestigious world chess tournaments.
He later shifted his focus to his studies, starting a degree in Mathematics at Stanford University in 2014. He led the Stanford chess team that won the National Championship during this period. He has also co-written a five volume book series on 1.e4, a staple starting strategy in chess.
A recipient of many accolades, Negi won the Arjuna Award, given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, for his achievements in chess in 2010. He also receives company sponsorships from Nike and BPCL.