Flash: Srinath Narayanan is India's 46th Grandmaster!

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 28/03/2017

ChessBase author Srinath Narayanan has become India's 46th grandmaster. 23-year-old Srinath, who is a former prodigy, former World Under-12 Champion, and had become an International Master at the age 14 has crossed the 2500 mark a few moments back by beating David Anton Guijarro (2676) with black at the Sharjah Masters 2017.

Flash: Srinath Narayanan is India's 46th Grandmaster!

After years of unswerving and, at times, shocking, loyalty to the International Master title, Srinath is an IM no more!

His painstakingly patient rise has been a thing of chess lore in India, yet the moment arrived when hardly anyone had an inkling of what was to come.

Srinath Narayanan has crossed the 2500 mark, and thanks to his five GM norms, which may very well become six in this tournament, he has become India's 46th grandmaster.

Note: We are assuming that Karthikeyan P. will be the 47th as he has already completed the title requirements but still needs a foreign GM norm.

Gabriel Sargissian (2666) vs Srinath Narayanan (2472)

Srinath analyzes his Round 05 draw against Gabriel Sargissian—a very interesting game, and entertaining video!

David Anton Guijarro (2676) vs Srinath Narayanan (2472)

[Event "1st Sharjah Masters 2017"]
[Site "Sharjah"]
[Date "2017.03.28"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Anton Guijarro, David"]
[Black "Narayanan, Srinath"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E06"]
[WhiteElo "2676"]
[BlackElo "2472"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. d4 {0} Nf6 {0} 2. c4 {0} e6 {0} 3. Nf3 {0} b6 {0} 4. g3 {0} Bb4+ {0} 5. Bd2
{0} Be7 {0} 6. Bg2 {0} c6 {0} 7. Bf4 {784} O-O {94} 8. O-O {31} d5 {10} 9. Nc3
{68} Bb7 {243 E06: Closed Catalan: Early deviations} (9... Ba6 10. cxd5 cxd5
11. Ne5 Nfd7 12. Nxd5 exd5 13. Nxf7 Rxf7 14. Bxd5 Nc6 15. Bxc6 Rc8 16. Bd5 Nf6
17. Bxf7+ Kxf7 18. Re1 Rc4 19. Be5 Bb4 20. Rf1 Ng4 21. Qb3 Qd5 22. Rac1 Bd2 23.
Rc2 Nxe5 24. dxe5 b5 25. e4 Qd4 26. Rd1 {1-0 (25) Ponomariov,R (2715)-Vallejo
Pons,F (2700) Madrid 2016}) 10. Qd3 {71} Nbd7 {241} 11. Rfd1 {109 LiveBook: 3
Games} Ba6 {799} 12. b3 {256} dxc4 $146 {456} (12... Rc8 13. e4 c5 14. exd5
exd5 15. Nb5 cxd4 16. Nfxd4 Nc5 17. Qc2 Qd7 18. a4 Nce4 {1-0 (38) Samarin,I
(2395)-Kharlamov,V (2405) Briansk 1995}) 13. bxc4 {26} Nd5 $1 {18} 14. a3 {1016
} Nxf4 {304} 15. gxf4 {9} Qc7 {28} 16. e3 {40} Rfd8 {54} 17. a4 {321} Rac8 {300
} 18. Rac1 {218} g6 {142} 19. Qe2 {98} Ba3 {1301} 20. Rb1 {159} Bf8 {193} 21.
Qa2 {177} Bg7 {44} 22. Qb3 {90} Qb8 {396} 23. h3 {1031} Qc7 {149} 24. Ra1 {118}
Bb7 {226} 25. Rac1 {27} Qb8 {56} 26. Rb1 {61} Ba6 {50} 27. Rbc1 {381} Bb7 {37}
28. h4 {4} c5 {205} 29. d5 {9} e5 {5} 30. Ne2 {188} Bh6 {256} (30... exf4 $15
31. Nxf4 Bh6) 31. f5 {151} e4 {55} (31... Qc7 $14) 32. Ng5 {64} gxf5 {78} 33.
Ng3 {31} Bxg5 {116} 34. hxg5 {5} Qe5 {3} 35. Qc3 {27} Qe7 {19} 36. Nxf5 {129} (
36. Bh3 $16) 36... Qxg5 {6} 37. Nd6 {48} Nf6 {52} 38. Nxb7 {148} Rd7 {4} 39.
Na5 $2 (39. Kf1 $11 {and White is okay.}) 39... bxa5 {6} 40. Rb1 {389} Ng4 {52}
41. Kf1 {92} Nh2+ {42} 42. Ke2 $2 {48} (42. Kg1 Nf3+ 43. Kf1) 42... Qg4+ {12}
43. Kd2 {60} Qxg2 {6} 44. Qf6 {21} Nf3+ {36} 45. Ke2 {19} Qg4 {134} 46. Rh1 {14
} Rcd8 {94} 47. Qh6 {62} f6 {44} 48. Kd1 {122} (48. Qh5 $142 Qxh5 49. Rxh5)
48... Qg5 {140} 49. Qh3 {17 [#]} Rxd5+ $1 {20} 50. Kc1 {85} R5d7 {31} 51. Rb8
$19 {56} Rxb8 {154} 0-1

Srinath speaking with his mother after winning.

Read Srinath's previous article on Tigran Petrosian here.

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