Bharat Subramaniyam secured his third and final GM norm and touched the requisite 2,500 (Elo) to become the latest Chess Grandmaster from India.

He is just 14 years 2 months and 23 days. Chennai-based Chess player Bharat Subramaniyam scored 6.5 points from nine rounds alongside four others to finish the competition held at Cattolica In Italy in seventh place. Meanwhile, the tournament was won by fellow Indian player MR Lalith Babu with seven points, winning the title on the basis of a better tie-break score after he tied with three others including top-seed Anton Korobov of Ukraine.

Bharath achieved his first GM norm after securing 11th place at the Aeroflot Open in Moscow in February 2020. He secured the second norm after placing 4th in the Junior Roundtable Under 21 tournament in Bulgaria with 6.5 points in October 2021. He finally achieved his third and final GM norm by finishing the tournament in Italy in seventh place.

Bharat became an International Master at the age of just 11 years and eight months in 2019. His coach M Shyam Sundar, a GM himself, congratulated Subramaniyam and tweeted: “Congratulations Bharath for becoming the latest GM of India!! Let’s focus on new goals in this new year!!”

Meanwhile, Mitrabha Guha and Sankalp Gupta were the last two Indians to have achieved the GM titles in November last year.