Aravindh Chithambaram and Karthikeyan Murali become Grand Masters after fine showing in U-16 Olympiad
New Grand Masters
The state of Tamil Nadu has added two more names to the list of Grand Masters (GMs) to emerge from the state. After a brilliant performance in the World Youth Olympiad in Hungary, 15-year olds Aravindh Chithambaram and Karthikeyan Murali became the youngest Grandmasters (GM) from the state. The duo reached the Elo rating of 2500, the minimum required to be a GM.
Aravindh and Murali played a major role in India defending their gold medal at the tournament. The Indian team -comprising Diptayan Ghosh, Karthikeyan, Aravindh, Kumaran Balaji and Monnisha GK -beat Iran and Turkey in the last round to clinch the title. The event saw the participation of 54 countries which included Canada, Poland, Slovekia, Korea, Israel, South Africa, Poland, hosts Hungary and others.
Five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand congratulated the duo on the achievement.
Congrats aravindh chidhambaram. Welcome to the GM club.He has scalped a few big names . Look forward to meeting you in chennai. Proud !
— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) December 21, 2014
Its been a good year for chess in india . To top it off 2 GM and gold in U 16 !
— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) December 22, 2014
Parents reactions
Karthikeyan’s father was ecstatic with the result. "Karthikeyan was part of last year's Olympiad-winning team as well. I missed watching him play though," he said. Aravindh lost his father when he three years old and was raised by his mother Deivama. She couldn’t follow the game due to work constraints. "It was my relatives who broke the news to me. It's tough to put my joy to words. There have been times when I've wondered how I would be able to support my son's dream," she said.
She spoke about the effort that her son puts in each and every day. "He just never gave up. It gave me courage that we could battle it out. My son sure has a long way to go, but this is a huge milestone," she said.