Top seed Shardul Gagare recorded his third successive win in the International Open Chess in Mumbai to earn the required points.
Top seed Shardul Gagare of Maharashtra became India’s latest Grandmaster after he registered his third successive win defeating B. Sekar in a third round match of the IIFL Wealth Mumbai International Open Chess Tournament on the weekend.
With the win, Shardul, a quiet 18-year-old from the tiny town of Rahuri, near Shirdi, in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, achieved the three points that he had required to become India’s newest Grandmaster.
Shardul’s father, Dr Annasaheb Gagare, had tears of joy in his eyes the moment his son completed his game.
“It has been an incredibly tough journey and I am happy Shardul made it,” said the proud father.
The pre-requisite for a Grandmaster title is three GM norms and achieve the rating of 2500. Shardul took off in this event with an international elo rating of 2497, needing three precious rating points to touch the magical mark of 2500. With a convincing third round win over Sekar, Shardul did just that.
Sharing the lead with Shardul on three points are International Masters Swapnil Dhopade, Stany G.A., Nitin S, Himanshu Sharma among others. In the IIFL Wealth Mumbai International Juniors top-seeded Fide Master Mohammad Fahad Rahman of Bangladesh is in the joint lead with two points from as many wins. Also sharing the lead are Sadhwani Raunak, Sankalp Gupta, D. Gukesh, Aditya Mittal and Mendonca Leon Luke.
