Breaking news: Anurag Mhamal is India's 48th grandmaster

by Sagar Shah - 11/07/2017

We recently published an article on Anurag Mhamal after he won Open Internacional de Gros that he was two Elo points away from becoming a grandmaster. On 10th of July in the beautiful town of Benasque, Spain, he defeated his his 2381 rated opponent IM Romeo-Sorin Milu and crossed the magical 2500 mark to become India's 48th grandmaster. He also became the first GM from the state of Goa. Congratulations to Anurag and his family!

Exactly one month ago we published an article where we listed the 47 grandmasters of India. The list began with Vishy Anand, the first GM of India and went all the way upto Himanshu Sharma who recently became Haryana's first GM and India's 47th.

Well, we will now have to update the list! Anurag Mhamal won his fifth round game at the XXXVII Benasque International Open in Spain to cross 2500 on the live Elo list. As he had already achieved his grandmaster norms, he became the 48th grandmaster of India and the first from the state of Goa!

Supported by Dempo, Anurag Mhamal has become the first chess player from the state of Goa to become a grandmaster

After winningOpen Internacional de Gros just a few days ago, Anurag had reached 2498 in the live Elo list

He started the Benasque Open with a win over a 1930 player and reached 2498.8. A win in the second round would have given him the title, but he drew that game against a 2120 opponent and lost four Elo points. Staying true to his calm self, Anurag fought back to score three wins in a row against 2142, 2293 and 2381 opponents. He gained 4.4 Elo points and in spite of losing the sixth round of G.N. Gopal, Anurag had crossed the magical 2500 figure.

Anurag's scorecard that shows his gain of 4.4 Elo points after round five.

ChessBase India congratulates Anurag and his family for this brilliant feat. We have already booked a time slot with India's latest GM for an interview. This will be published soon enough on the ChessBase India newspage.

Postscript: After the article was published Anurag wrote to me saying that as the results of Open De Gros, where he gained 21 Elo points, has not been published, he would not get the certificate of crossing 2500 on live ratings from the arbiters of Benasque. This is absolutely wrong. Anurag should get the certificate of having crossed 2500 in the live ratings, because he has crossed 2500 in the live ratings. After having a published rating of 2477, he gained 21 in Open De Gros International and 4.4 in Benasque. This takes him to 2502.4 and he should get the certificate which says that he crossed 2500 in the live ratings.

When Himanshu Sharma (India's 47th GM) crossed 2500 in the live ratings in a tournament in Haryana, chief arbiter S. Gopakumar prepared the following document for him.

Himanshu Sharma crosses 2500 in live rating list

Anurag must also get a similar document from the chief arbiter of the Benasque Open to confirm that he crossed 2500 in the live rating list.