Karthikeyan Murali (born 5 January 1999) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2015. Karthikeyan is a two-time national champion.

Karthikeyan Murali
Karthikeyan in 2023
CountryIndia
Born (1999-01-05) 5 January 1999 (age 25)
Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India
TitleGrandmaster (2015)
FIDE rating2625 (November 2024)
Peak rating2637 (January 2022)

Chess career

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Born in Thanjavur,[1] Karthikeyan learnt chess at the age of five. In December 2011, he won the Under 12 section of the World Youth Chess Championships held in Caldas Novas, Brazil.[2][3][4] Two years later he also won the world U16 title in Al Ain.[5]

In 2014 he tied for third place at the Abu Dhabi Masters tournament[6] and helped the Indian team win the Under 16 Chess Olympiad in Győr, Hungary.[7] In this latter competition he also completed all requirements for the title Grandmaster.[8]

In 2015, Karthikeyan won the 53rd National Premier Chess Championship of India in Tiruvarur edging out Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, whom he defeated in the direct encounter, on tiebreak, after both scored 8½ points from 13 games.[9][10] Karthikeyan also won the 54th edition of the championship held in Lucknow in 2016. Though he had a slow start, and lost the match against eventual runner-up Aravindh Chithambaram, a crucial win against top seed Vidit Santosh Gujrathi on time control, followed by double withdrawals helped in gaining the lead and ultimately winning the championships.[11]

In January 2019, Karthikeyan placed second in the Gibraltar Masters open tournament[12] among a field of over 250 players.[13] In June 2019, he placed second in the Asian championships,[14] aided by a win with black against Alireza Firouzja in which Karthikeyan sacrificed his queen on move 9.[15] in 2023 Karthikeyan Murali became the only third Indian to beat Magnus Carlsen in classical chess.[16]

Personal life

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He was inducted in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for scholarship from 2014 to 2016. Later, he got employed in Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) since October 2017.

References

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  1. ^ GM title application. FIDE.
  2. ^ "Chess News - Karthikayan Murali – World U12 champion – In his own words". ChessBase. 12 December 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  3. ^ "Chennai boy wins world under-12 chess championship" Archived 4 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine. The Sunday Indian.
  4. ^ "A hero's welcome for Karthikeyan". The Hindu.
  5. ^ Silver, Albert (31 December 2013). "World Youth Championship: The champions". Chess News. ChessBase. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  6. ^ "Yuriy Kuzubov wins Abu Dhabi Masters on tie-break". Chessdom. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  7. ^ Mihail Marin (23 December 2014). "India wins U16 Olympiad in Gyor". ChessBase. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  8. ^ Arvind Aaron (19 December 2014). "Karthikeyan Murali Becomes Grand Master". All India Chess Federation. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  9. ^ "Karthikeyan Murali winner of the 2015 India Premier Championship". Chessdom. 29 November 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  10. ^ Priyadarshan Banjan (29 November 2015). "Men's Premier 13: Murali Karthikeyan!". ChessBase India. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  11. ^ Priyadarshan Banjan (30 November 2016). "National Premier 2016: Karthikeyan is National Champion again!". ChessBase India. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  12. ^ Peterson, Macauley (1 February 2019). "Artemiev atop Gibraltar Masters". Chess News. ChessBase. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  13. ^ "Gibraltar International Chess Festival 2019 - Masters". chess-results.com.
  14. ^ "Asian Championship 2019".
  15. ^ Greatest Queen Sacrifice Repeated in 2019!!! || Nezhmetdinov Would Be Proud. YouTube. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021.
  16. ^ "Karthikeyan Murali Becomes 3rd Indian to Beat Magnus Carlsen in Classical Chess". 19 October 2023.
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