Aditya Samant becomes India’s 83rd chess Grandmaster

The 17-year old Samant, an International Master, became a GM when he started his ninth round game against compatriot Aryan Chopra at the BielChess MTO 2023 tournament.

Aditya Samant became a GM when he started his ninth-round game against compatriot Aryan Chopra at the BielChess MTO 2023 tournament. | Photo Credit: BielChess Twitter

Aditya S Samant on Wednesday became India’s 83rd chess Grandmaster.

The 17-year-old Samant, an International Master, became a GM when he started his ninth-round game against compatriot Aryan Chopra at the BielChess MTO 2023 tournament.

He had drawn his eighth-round game against Bu Xiangzhi and needed to achieve his final GM norm by playing the ninth round, no matter the result.

Maharashtra player Samant had already crossed the 2500 Elo mark in the live ratings and had obtained two GM norms, Hence, the third and final norm was all he needed to become India’s latest Grandmaster.

To become a GM, a player has to secure three GM norms and cross the live rating of 2,500 Elo points.

His live rating going into the ninth round game is 2525.4.

He earned his first GM norm at the Abu Dhabi Masters in August last year and secured his second GM norm at the 3rd El Llobregat Open in December 2022.