Meet Ilamparthi AR, another whizkid and 90th chess GM from India

Ilamparthi A.R., a 16-year-old from India's chess capital of Chennai, became India’s 90th grandmaster (GM) when he received his final GM norm at the Bijeljina tournament in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday.

The ward of WestBridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA) — which has been at the forefront of the country’s chess revolution with the likes of world champion D. Gukesh, R. Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi — has taken rapid strides over the last few years. He achieved his first GM norm in the Ha Noi tournament in Vietnam in December 2023 and followed it up with his second GM norm at the Singapore International Open 2024.

The Rilton Cup in 2024-25 saw Ilamparthi cross the 2500 mark before following up with his final GM norm. Speaking to ChessBase India, trainer G.M. Shyam Sundar said: ‘’Ilamparthi is a dedicated and hardworking boy with zero distractions. He spends most of his time at my academy whenever he’s in Chennai.’’

Anand’s academy supports the promising youngster with a purse of Rs 20 lakh per year, while the famous Velammal School is also one of his sponsors. He is also supported by Ambit scholarship for 2024-25 through HelpChess while a number of others like Group e4 and Energi Projekt.

Born in 2009, Ilamparthi first caught global attention when he won the World U-14 Open Championship in September 2022 at Mamaia, Romania, scoring an impressive 9.5 points from 11 rounds. His early promise was evident when, at just seven, he was already ranked world no. 1 in the Under-8 category with a FIDE rating of 1764, and gained recognition for increasing his rating by a remarkable 235 points in a single month in January 2017.​

Anand, the five-time world champion and chess guru of India, congratulated Ilamparthi on social media: “Happy to announce Ilamparthi as a GM. He missed the title on a few occasions but came back stronger each time. He has a lot of potential, and we hope to work together towards greater achievements”. ​