Prithu Gupta becomes International Master, gains maiden Grandmaster norm

Prithu, facing a must-win situation to make his 9-game GM-norm, posted a 34-move victory to take his tally to 5.5 points.

Prithu Gupta’s (above) norm comes a day after Raunak Sadhwani made his second International Master norm.

Delhi’s 13-year-old Prithu Gupta completed the International Master title and gained his maiden Grandmaster norm by scoring over Norway’s Christiansen Johan-Sebastian in the ninth and penultimate round of the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters chess tournament here on Wednesday.

Prithu, facing a must-win situation to make his 9-game GM-norm, posted a 34-move victory to take his tally to 5.5 points. Prithu’s norm comes a day after Raunak Sadhwani made his second International Master norm.

On the other boards, involving Indians, Abhijeet Gupta (6.5 points) drew with Boris Gelfand and Debasis Das continued his impressive run by beating Bonelli Edurado Iturrizaga.

Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Richard Rapport (Hungary), Levon Aronian (Armenia) and Daniil Dubov (Russia) share the lead at seven points.

Important ninth-round results (involving Indians): Levon Aronian (7) bt S. P. Sethuraman (6); Boris Gelfand (Isr, 6.5) drew with Abhijeet Gupta (6.5); Sandipan Chanda (6) drew with Nihal Sarin (6); Lance Henderson (Esp, 6) drew with S. L. Narayanan (6); Bonelli Eduardo Iturrizaga (Ven, 5) lost to Debashis Das (6); R. Praggnanandha (5.5) drew with Marin Bosiocic (Cro, 5.5); Shardul Gagare (5.5) drew with Benjamin Gledura (Hun, 5.5); Evgeny Zanan (Isr, 5.5) drew with G. N. Gopal (5.5); Prasanna Rao (5.5) drew with Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 5.5); M. R. Venkatesh (5.5) drew with Kateryna Lagno (Rus, 5.5); Swapnil Dhopade (6) bt Eric de Haan (Ned, 5.5); P. Hari Krishna (5.5) bt Daniel Cawdery (RSA, 4.5); Christiansen Johan-Sebastian (Nor, 4.5) lost to Prithu Gupta (5.5).