Chennai: Sankalp Gupta has become the 71st Grandmaster of India, after which veteran chess player Viswanathan Anand said that he is now waiting for the 100th Grandmaster. Sankalp Gupta secured the third Grandmaster norm by finishing second with a score of 6.5 in the GM Ask 3 Round Robin competition in Arandjelovac, Serbia.
Sankalp Gupta achieved three grandmaster norms in just 24 days playing in three consecutive tournaments. This player from Maharashtra had also reached his ELO rating at 2500 during the third tournament. To earn the title of Grandmaster, a player must achieve three Grandmaster norms and have a ‘Live’ ELO rating of 2500 or more.
Sankalp Gupta won five games, drew three, and lost to Rudik Markarian (Russia). Markarian also scored 6.5 points but got first place on the basis of a better tie-break score. Another Indian player S Nitin finished fourth with 5.5 points. Former world champion and veteran chess player Anand congratulated Gupta on becoming the Grandmaster.
Anand tweeted, “Another great weekend for Indian chess again. Congratulations to our new Grandmaster… When will we reach our 100th Grandmaster now??”
