Bhat first learned to play chess at the age of 6. His mother taught him and his older brother, Harish how to play. The two brothers started playing in the Kolty Chess Club in Campbell every Thursday night. Bhat spent his early years studying the games of Paul Morphy and José Raúl Capablanca as a part of the Blue Knights. "That was my steady diet," Bhat said. Bhat studied chess with GM Gregory Kaidanov. At 10 years and 176 days old, Bhat became the youngest national master, breaking the record previously held by Jordy Mont-Reynaud, Stuart Rachels, and before that by Bobby Fischer. Since then, his record has been broken three times, by California players Hikaru Nakamura, Nicholas Nip, and Samuel Sevian. In 1998, Bhat contributed to "Whiz Kids Teach Chess" with Eric Schiller. At the age of 15 years and 10 months, Bhat became an International Master, at the time the youngest ever in U.S. history; this record was later surpassed by Hikaru Nakamura and is presently held by Ray Robson.
After taking an extended break from chess, Bhat began to play regularly again in 2008. On April 22, 2008, it was announced that Vinay was awarded the 2008 Samford Fellowship. This fellowship was created to "identify and assist the best American chessmasters under the age of twenty-five by providing top-level coaching, strong competition and access to study materials." Bhat was awarded with the title of International Grandmaster in October 2008 when he crossed 2500 FIDE, with his three Grandmaster norms coming from Qingdao, Balaguer, and Balaguer.
Other notable tournament results
Clear first place at the 2005 Michael Frannett Memorial in California
Tied for first at the 2009 International Open of San Sebastian in Spain
Tied for first at the 2009 SPICE Cup in Texas
Bhat also has the second longest undefeated streak in the league, with Alex Lenderman holding the current record
Along with Julio Becerra Rivero, Bhat is the only player to have multiple wins in the US Chess League against the highest-ranked US player Hikaru Nakamura
Education
Bhat graduated from Lynbrook High School in San Jose, CA, in 2002. While at Lynbrook, he played on his school's chess team, leading it to victory in local state and high-school competitions. Instead of focusing solely on chess, Bhat chose to continue his education and received a B.S. in Statistics and Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley in 2006. In 2004, while an undergraduate, Bhat co-founded the East Bay Chess Club.
Career outside of chess
Until receiving the Samford Fellowship, Bhat was employed at Cornerstone Research, an economic consulting firm headquartered in Menlo Park, CA. After two-and-a-half years of professional chess play, Bhat began working full-time again in December 2010. He currently works at Shipt, where he is the Head of Data Science.
Personal
Bhat currently resides in San Francisco, California. Bhat plays poker casually and has won a local tournament. He listens to hip-hop and Indian music and cites J-Live, Gift of Gab, Wu-Tang Clan, and Nas as among his favorite artists. Bhat has expressed that he found GZA's 2005 album Grandmasters particularly interesting for its references to chess. In his recreational time, Bhat enjoys playing tennis.
