M. Chakravarthi Reddy is all set to become the first-ever, ‘original’ International Master from the newly-formed Telangana State after winning the Asian Youth Chess Championship under-18 open category title in Delhi.
It’s a highly remarkable achievement by the first year student of CBIT in ECE, considering the fact that the first ever IM from the then united Andhra Pradesh was Lanka Ravi way back in 1987 amongst the very few from this part of the country.
It was an event, which was clearly dominated by Indians who won three gold, five silver and two bronze besides, the overall championship.
A proud father, Venkat Reddy, who is an agriculturist hailing from Halia mandal near Nagarjunasagar in Nalgonda district, says that his son started playing chess from class 6 onwards.
Coached by Shiva Kumar and C.R.G. Krishna, this happens to be the first major win for Chakravarthy as his only other big achievements were gold, silver and bronze in the last three editions of the National School Games.
New rulesBecause of the change in rules in awarding the IM title, the FIDE will now confer it to the continental champion directly unlike in the past when a player has to complete three IM norms despite winning these kind of events.
The new rule clearly states that on a title gained by achieving a certain place or result in a tournament -- winning or achieving with a result of 50 per cent, the respective national federation in Chakravarthi’s case, AICF, will have to send the application and confirmation by the qualification commission, the title will be awarded automatically.
Mosadeghpur Masoud of Iran and Serikbay Chingiz of Kazakhstan settled for silver and bronze respectively in the U-18 Open category.
