A Ra Harikrishnan earned his third GM-norm at the La Plagne International Chess Festival in France on Friday to become the country’s 87th Grandmaster.
The Chennai-based Chess professional earned his first GM norm in July 2023 at the Biel International Chess Festival in Switzerland. Harikrishnan, 24, gained his second one at Andujar Open in Spain last month.
In chess, a Grandmaster (GM) norm is a performance in a tournament that meets specific criteria, indicating a strong level of play. To achieve the GM title, a player typically needs to earn three GM norms and reach a FIDE rating of 2500.
The first breakthrough for Harikrishnan came in July 2023 at the Biel International Chess Festival in Switzerland, where he earned his first norm. He added a second at the Lince Andujar Open in Spain in June.
As a seven-year-old, Harikrishnan earned his FIDE rating, the youngest Indian to do so at that time. But it wasn’t until 2018 that he earned the International Master title. Seven years later, he finally crossed the next big milestone.
“I took up chess when I was five, after I saw my brother Venkata Krishnan playing. He was a state-level player. After bagging the IM title, I was stuck there for a while. It was only in 2022 that I started playing seriously again and took part in back-to-back tournaments.
It was also the year I started training with my coach Shyam sir , and we worked on a lot of stuff,” said Harikrishnan, whose mother, Renga Nachiar, is an international arbiter.