Abhijit Kunte becomes GM

CALCUTTA, FEBRUARY 14: Abhijit Kunte, 23, became the country’s fourth Grandmaster while teenage sensation Sandipan Chanda earned his maiden GM norm at the 11th goodricke international open chess tournament here on Monday. IM Kunte, who faced Chanda in the ninth round of the high-profile tournament at the Gorky Sadan during the day, agreed to make peace after seven moves.

The 16-year old Chanda has been in superlative form in the competition so far scalping three highly rated GMs, only needed to take on a 2500 rated player to confirm the maiden norm he acquired yesterday after prevailing over TS Ravi. Kunte, on the other hand, needed a draw to follow in the footsteps of GMs Viswanathan Anand, Dibyendu Barua and Pravin Thipsay.

In another match, US GM Gregory Kaidanov shared point with Chinese GM Peng Xiaomin to remain as sole leader with 7.5 points. Xiaomin has picked up 6.5 points so far. Krishnan Sasikiran (6), employing his favourite Caro-Cann defence upstaged GM Viorel Ilrdachescu of MoldovaVeteranSwiss GM Viktor Korchnoi (6.5) also culled half a point when he agreed to a 17-move draw with top seeded Vladimir Akopian of Armenia.