Special Guest - Super GM Anish Giri
"Losing is supposed to hurt. If you [don't] care about your losses, you won't be able to fight hard enough ... and you won't have the mindset to improve." --- GM Anish Giri offering practical advice to Silver Knights students.
What’s one of the most exciting ways to inspire your child in chess and in life? Let them interact and play with a chess superstar! Chess Grandmaster (GM) Anish Giri, one of the world’s top players and a five-time Dutch champion, visited Silver Knights Chess Academy for a special event full of chess, fun, learning, and lifelong memories!
Grandmaster Anish Giri
Over the years, our chess Academy program has welcomed legends like five-time world champion GM Magnus Carlsen and GM Judit Polgár, who is unquestionably the best-ever female chess player. This time, GM Giri, the current Dutch #1 and former world #3, joined us to share his expertise, wisdom, and passion for the game with our students.
For any young chess fan, getting to interact with, and even play with, a top chess grandmaster is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It’s like a basketball fan shooting hoops and getting advice straight from an NBA star. Your child doesn’t just get tips from one of the world’s best–they walk away with a memory that sticks for life and a burst of motivation that can spark a whole new level of excitement about chess!
Who is Chess Grandmaster Anish Giri?
Anish Giri is one of the world’s strongest chess players. He became a chess grandmaster at just 14 years old and has remained among the world’s top 20 players ever since. Giri has been the Netherlands’ #1 player for over a decade, won the Dutch Championship five times, and twice qualified to play in the prestigious Candidates Tournament—the final step before the World Chess Championship. Along the way, he’s defeated former world champions like Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Ding Liren, and Gukesh D on multiple occasions!
But that’s just one side of the board. Off the board, Anish is known as one of the most down-to-earth and quick-witted grandmasters in the chess world. Whether he’s playing a perfect game of chess, offering sharp game analysis, or making kids laugh, Anish brings a friendly, approachable energy that makes chess feel exciting and welcoming, and that’s exactly what he brought to the event with our students.
Choosing Our Challengers
While everyone was excited to meet GM Giri, we only had time for him to play three or four students, so we hosted an exciting qualifier tournament on ChessKid to select our challengers. The qualifier was open to all Silver Knights Academy students and featured eight rounds of 5+1 blitz chess. After several hard-fought, exciting, and instructive chess battles, four students secured their spots to play against a grandmaster: Yavor, Jackson, Siddharth, and Diya.
We weren’t joking when we said that meeting a top grandmaster can be incredibly motivating. One of our advanced students, Yavor, is a great example: he joined the qualifier tournament all the way from Bulgaria, where it was already 1:15 AM when the event began. Not only did he stay up until nearly 3:00 AM, he also qualified to play against GM Giri!
Banter Blitz Chess Event
In a “Banter Blitz” event, the guest plays and talks at the same time, providing chess insights for the audience. Additionally, we asked Anish to play at extreme time odds: each student had five minutes per game while Anish only had one. Despite the intense time pressure, Anish played great chess and delivered instructive (and often hilarious) commentary that kept everyone engaged.
What stood out even more? After each game, Anish paused to go over key chess positions and shared insights that were helpful not just for his opponent, but everyone watching. Students got to see how a world-class chess player thinks in real time and how much fun the game can be, even at the highest level.
Highlights From the Q&A
The event wrapped up with a lively Q&A session where kids were allowed to ask Anish anything from silly to serious. Some wanted to know how to handle losses in chess tournaments, while others asked about specific chess openings. Whether the question was beginner-friendly or advanced, Anish took the time to answer every one with his trademark blend of sharp insights and good humor.
Here are some of our favorite questions and responses:
Oliver: How do I improve at endgames?
Anish Giri: Start with basic theoretical endgames—simple positions with only a few pieces that every strong player knows. Learn about opposition, the square rule, and how to checkmate with a bishop and knight. Then, a great resource to study is the book “100 Endgames You Must Know.” As your games start lasting longer, you’ll naturally reach more endgames and gain experience. With more complex endgames, improvement comes gradually through playing and analyzing.
Gustav: How do you recover from a tough loss in a tournament?
AG: That’s one of the toughest parts of being a chess player. Losing is painful—and it should be. If a loss didn’t hurt, you wouldn’t grow from it. But the key is to keep your routine steady. Eat the same meals, prepare the same way, and don’t let emotions throw you off course. Even top players like Carlsen or Nakamura feel the sting of losing. The goal is to bounce back and play the next game as if nothing happened. The best way to recover is to stick to your process and remember your next game matters more than the last one.
Isabel: What do grandmasters eat for breakfast?
AG: It depends! At tournaments with hotel buffets, I enjoy a big breakfast with lots of options. But when I’m on my own, I’ll usually just have something simple: yogurt, fruit, and tea. I go through phases: sometimes scrambled eggs, sometimes sweet bread. There’s no one “grandmaster breakfast”—every player is different.
Alice: What chess books do you recommend?
AG: For endgames, “100 Endgames You Must Know” is a must-read. More advanced players can try Dvoretsky’s books. If you enjoy learning from great players, check out “The Anand Files,” “From London to Elista,” and the classic “Zurich 1953.” Garry Kasparov’s “My Great Predecessors” series is also excellent, though the analysis can be deep. Don’t hesitate to skip some of the more complex/boring variations if needed. Boris Gelfand’s books are also incredibly instructive, especially since they’re based on his own games.
Chess Openings Q&A
Giri is known as one of the world’s leading opening specialists. While he’s obviously strong in every phase of the game, his contributions to modern opening theory are especially notable. He has also authored several top-rated opening courses. Naturally, our students took this opportunity to ask him detailed opening-related questions:
Multiple Academy students: What’s your favorite opening?
AG: A great way to pick your openings is to choose a player you like—Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Caruana, or (tongue-in-cheek tone) me! Look at the openings they play, study their games, and try using the same lines yourself. It’s a fun and effective way to learn.
Angad: Should I play mainline openings or sidelines?
AG: Mainlines are usually the better choice when you're starting out. They offer more opportunities to learn key ideas and patterns. Sidelines can be tricky if your opponent isn’t prepared, but they don’t help much in long-term improvement. Stick with mainlines while building your foundation.
Jackson: Should I play the Spanish or the Italian?
AG: The Spanish (Ruy Lopez) is the traditional main line and a fantastic opening to learn from. It has been played by legends like Kasparov and Karpov. The Italian is also excellent—I’ve even covered it in my Chessable course. If you’re just starting, begin with the Spanish, and once you're comfortable, add the Italian. Both are valuable tools to have in your repertoire.
Anish also responded to questions about specific opening variations. Use the chess boards below to see his answers to questions about the Vienna and Najdorf from our students Diya and Pranav.
Diya’s Vienna Variation Question:
Pranav’s Najdorf Variation Question:
Other Highlights From the Banter Blitz
One of the most exciting parts of the event was the Banter Blitz games GM Giri played against our four student challengers. There’s nothing quite as instructive as hearing a top-level grandmaster explain his thinking in real time. Here are some of the highlights from each game, including a key puzzle moment for you to solve and a full game replay:
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Anish’s Game vs. Yavor
Puzzle from the game:
Replay the full game: -
Anish’s Game vs. Jackson
Puzzle from the game:
Replay the full game: -
Anish’s Game vs. Siddharth
Puzzle from the game:
Replay the full game: -
Anish’s Game vs. Diya
Puzzle from the game:
Replay the full game:
Despite playing with just one minute on his clock, Anish didn’t rush past instructive moments. During his game against Yavor, he demonstrated how doubled pawns, often considered a weakness, can actually be an asset. As he explained, his central doubled pawns helped control key central squares and limited his opponent’s mobility—an advanced concept that gave students a glimpse into how elite players think beyond general rules. Advanced strategic nuances like this are exactly the kind of ideas we explore in the advanced levels of our online chess Academy program.
Conclusion
Grandmaster Anish Giri’s visit was not only fun, but deeply instructive and truly memorable. The chance to play and interact with one of the world’s leading super grandmasters brought together students of all levels, including many of our higher-rated players from across the Academy and around the world, each of them eager to learn and play.
We can’t wait to create another experience like this for your child. That’s why we’re already excited about our next special guest: GM Judit Polgár, a regular at our Academy. The best part? As always, all of our students will get access to this event.
We’re also looking forward to helping students learn more about Judit’s legendary attacking style during our upcoming online chess camp, which will give students opportunity to study one of the finest attackers in chess history and have a ton of fun doing it.
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