Srihari L becomes the first International Master from Pondicherry

Two IM-norms and 2400+ in just over a month

Srihari L earned his first IM-norm in September 2022. He scored his second IM-norm in the first week of January 2024. After starting the year 2024 with 2288 Elo rating, Srihari reached 2400 and secured two IM-norms in five weeks. The teenager from Pondicherry has certainly made a great start to the year and one can hope he will continue his momentum for the rest of 2024.

First IM-norm: Chhattisgarh CM Trophy GM Masters 2022

Srihari L scored his first IM-norm at Chhattisgarh CM Trophy GM Masters in September 2022. He scored 6.5/9 including wins over GM Duc Hoa Nguyen (VIE), then IM Koustav Chatterjee, IM Aronyak Ghosh and drew against GM Valeriy Neverov (UKR), IM Neelash Saha and IM Ratnakaran K.

Duc Hoa - Srihari, Round 3

GM Duc Hoa Nguyen (VIE, 2365) was down by an exchange when he blundered 44.Rd2?? Srihari L (2214) showed his tactical alertness and won the game. Find out what he did.

Second IM-norm: 51st Rilton Cup 2023-24

A little over 15 months later, Srihari L scored his second IM-norm at 51st Rilton Cup 2023-24. He scored an unbeaten 6/9, including wins over IM Peka Koykka (FIN), IM Sampsa Nyysti (FIN), drew against GM Tiger Hillarp Persson (SWE), GM Ido Gorshtein (ISR), GM Oleg M Romanishin (UKR), IM Kevin Terrieux (FRA), IM Goran Djurovic (CRO) and IM Sidhant Mohapatra.

Srihari - Tiger Hillarp, Round 1

Almost everything here is winning for Black, except 42...Bxe3 and a2. GM Tiger Hillarp Persson (SWE, 2493) played the latter in the game 42...a2 43.Qh8+ and now draw is inevitable as White sacrifices both his queen and rook to force stalemate, a study-like finish. Srihari L (2272) showed fantastic resiliency despite being lost for a major chunk of the game.

Third IM-norm and 2400 rating: 17th Tamil Nadu IM-norm Round-Robin 2024

A little over a month after scoring his second IM-norm, Srihari earned his final IM-norm and reached exactly 2400 in the following month of February at 17th Tamil Nadu IM-norm Round Robin 2024. He started by scoring a hat-trick of wins, drew the fourth round and then won four games in-a-row. His scored wins over IM Sevan Buscara (FRA), IM Olivier Touzane (FRA), IM David Gochelashvili and IM Sai Agni Jeevitesh J. He drew against IM Anton Sitnikov (UKR).

Srihari - Sevan, Round 1

Srihari L (2360) first sacrificed his bishop 19.Bxh6 to expose his opponent, IM Sevan Buscara's (FRA, 2256) king. Later, he again sacrificed an exchange 25.Rxe6 to further weaken his opponent's already vulnerable king. 25...Rxe6 26.Bh7+ Kh8 27.Nxf7+ Qxf7 28.Bg6+ Kg8 29.Bxf7+ White went on to win this game.

Srihari - Touzane, Round 5

After 32.Bxe7 a1Q IM Olivier Touzane (FRA, 2084) got a second queen on the board. However, it was not able to come to the aid of the king. Srihari played correctly to win the game. 33.Bxd8+ Kxd8 34.fxe6 Kc8 35.Ra7 Rh8 36.Rxa1 White got rid of one of the queens and eventually went on to win the game.

Srihari's Best Achievements

Srihari L has few accolades in his chess career so far. Here are the best ones:

• Silver - Asian Junior (Under-20) Rapid Open 2023

• Runner-up - 11th Mayor's Cup Category B (Below 2000) 2018

• Champion - 7th Visalakshi Arunachalam 7th SCS Rating Open 2023

• Champion for SRM IST, Chennai - All India Inter Zonal Universities National Men 2022-23

• Champion - Pondicherry State Rapid 2023

• Runner-up - Pondicherry State Senior Rating 2017

• Runner-up - Pondicherry State Blitz 2023

Replay Srihari's games

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