Karjakin's youngest GM record still stands

by Sagar Shah - 23/12/2018

Two Indians came very close to breaking Karjakin's record of the youngest GM in the world at the age of 12 years and 7 months. They were Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh. While Pragg missed the target by three months, Gukesh had a highly realistic chance if he made his third GM norm at the Sunway Sitges International 2018. The youngster was very close, but in the end missed out on the train. We tell you what happened in the ninth round. More good news from Sunway Sitges is 11-year-old Bharath Subramaniyam making his first IM norm. The last round will be played today at 2 p.m. IST and the exciting pairing is Praggnanandhaa versus Nihal Sarin.

It was quite an important day for the record keepers in chess. Gukesh who was on 5.0/8 at the Sunway Sitges International 2018 had a chance to break Karjakin's record of becoming the youngest GM in the world if things went his way. This is what the situation was before the ninth round:

Gukesh playing against Alexander Demianjuk in round 9 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Gukesh D's current opponent average rating is 2438.11. Checking in FIDE Handbook you realize that for this rating average he needs 6.5/9. As he was on 5.0/8, this is theoretically impossible. So he needed to win the ninth round against Alexander Demianjuk (2344) to get on 6.0/9.

If he did win his final tenth round he needed his average rating of opponents to go up to 2451 so that 7.0/10 gives him a GM norm. In order to push his average opponent's rating to 2451, he needed a minimum of 2567 rated opponent in round 10 and Gukesh had to beat him. So in a nutshell, to beat Karjakin's record of becoming the youngest GM in the world Gukesh needed the following to go his way:

1. He needed to beat his 2344 rated opponent in round 9 with black pieces

2. He needed to be paired with a 2567 or above Elo rated opponent in round 10

3. He needed to beat that opponent in round 10!

Gukesh was not able to beat his ninth round opponent Alexander Demianjuk and had to settle for a draw. With 5.5/9 he has chances of breaking into 2500 if he won his final round, but the GM norm is out of grasps.

Gukesh tried really hard and almost beat Karjakin's record. In the end he missed it by a whisker! | Photo: Rupali Mullick

On our Facebook post, Gukesh's father Rajinikanth wrote:

"It's been a fantastic year for Gukesh. Honestly at the start of 2018, if someone would have predicted and told me that at the year end he will be close to 2500 and completed IM title and also has 2 GM norms in addition to Asian and World gold medals, I would have laughed it off. So it's that sort of miracle year. I am pretty happy with his efforts and results. Keep supporting him with all your blessings and prayers as I feel he wasn't destined for this record but who knows he has better things to target! Heartfelt thanks for all your support."

Gukesh's pillar of strength - his father Rajinikanth | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Another excellent news for Indian fans is 11-year-old Bharath Subramaniyam | Photo: Rupali Mullick

With wins and draws over strong players Bharath Subramaniyam achieved his IM norm

Sasikiran drew his ninth round game and is currently in fifth position. If he manages to beat Evgeny Romanov in tenth round, he can finish in top 3 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Krishna Teja continued his dream tournament by drawing his game against Awonder Liang | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Nihal Sarin played a fine game to beat his 2336 rated opponent | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Pragg drew his game against higher rated Adly Ahmed | Photo: Rupali Mullick

The interesting thing is that Pragg and Nihal will face each other once again in the tenth round of the Sunway Sitges International 2018. The above picture was taken at the Aeroflot Open 2018 earlier this year. Nihal was black in the game and it ended in a draw. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The final round will begin 7 hours before scheduled at 2 p.m. IST

Overview of Indian performances:

SNo		Name	RtgI	RtgN	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pts.	Rk.	Rp	Group
4	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2673	0	IND	1	1	1	½	½	1	1	0	½		6,5	5	2663	Group A
16	GM	Nihal Sarin	2576	0	IND	1	1	1	1	½	½	0	0	1		6,0	17	2586	Group A
25	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2530	0	IND	½	1	1	1	½	½	½	½	½		6,0	21	2560	Group A
35	IM	Gukesh D	2466	0	IND	1	1	0	1	½	0	1	½	½		5,5	34	2509	Group A
41	IM	Sadhwani Raunak	2434	0	IND	1	1	1	0	1	0	½	0	1		5,5	36	2527	Group A
42	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2428	0	IND	1	1	0	½	1	0	½	½	½		5,0	59	2379	Group A
45	IM	Vardaan Nagpal	2415	0	IND	½	½	½	½	1	0	½	½	1		5,0	75	2190	Group A
46	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2415	0	IND	1	1	½	0	½	½	1	½	½		5,5	39	2388	Group A
48	IM	Arjun Kalyan	2406	0	IND	1	1	0	0	½	½	½	1	1		5,5	49	2234	Group A
49	CM	Rohith Krishna S	2399	0	IND	1	0	0	1	1	½	½	½	½		5,0	70	2305	Group A
59	IM	Roy Prantik	2382	0	IND	1	½	0	1	0	½	1	½	0		4,5	77	2336	Group A
68	IM	Krishna Teja N	2340	0	IND	1	0	1	1	½	1	½	1	½		6,5	9	2612	Group A
73	WGM	Vaishali R	2329	0	IND	1	1	0	0	1	½	0	½	1		5,0	54	2369	Group A
74	IM	Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad	2328	0	IND	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	½	½		5,0	62	2312	Group A
81	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2293	0	IND	1	½	0	1	0	½	½	½	1		5,0	67	2145	Group A
85	CM	Mullick Raahil	2276	0	IND	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	½		4,5	82	2211	Group A
86	FM	Pranav Anand	2274	0	IND	1	0	1	½	1	½	0	½	0		4,5	83	2309	Group A
90		Sreeshwan Maralakshikari	2244	0	IND	1	0	1	½	½	0	½	1	0		4,5	76	2353	Group A
95	CM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2234	0	IND	0	1	1	1	½	½	0	½	1		5,5	40	2426	Group A
96		Moksh Amit Doshi	2233	0	IND	0	1	1	½	½	½	0	0	1		4,5	85	2297	Group A
106		Alok Sinha	2187	0	IND	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0		3,0	142	2093	Group A
108		Natarajan C	2177	0	IND	0	1	½	0	0	½	1	1	0		4,0	108	2176	Group A
115	CM	Dev Shah	2159	0	IND	0	0	1	½	0	½	1	½	0	0	3,5	138	1961	Group A
116		Manu David Suthandram R	2153	0	IND	½	½	½	0	1	½	½	½	1		5,0	55	2369	Group A
120		Ajay Karthikeyan	2143	0	IND	0	1	½	½	1	½	0	1	0		4,5	84	2311	Group A
121		Rakshitta Ravi	2141	0	IND	0	½	½	½	0	1	½	½	½		4,0	118	1972	Group A
139	WFM	Cholleti Sahajasri	2069	0	IND	½	½	0	0	1	½	½	1	1		5,0	72	2276	Group A
148		Shyam Prasad Reddy K	2030	0	IND	0	1	0	½	1	1	0	0	1		4,5	91	2313	Group A
160		Aarav Dengla	1955	0	IND	0	0	½	½	0	1	0	½	½		3,0	155	2008	Group A
164		Mahitosh Dey	1931	0	IND	0	1	½	½	½	0	½	½	½		4,0	117	2160	Group A
167		Arjun C Krishnamachari	1895	0	IND	0	1	0	½	½	½	½	½	0		3,5	132	2107	Group A
177		Ilamparthi A R	1796	0	IND	½	0	1	0	1	0	½	1	1		5,0	74	2224	Group A
179	AGM	Vignesh B	1740	0	IND	0	½	½	0	1	½	½	1	0		4,0	114	2114	Group A

Pairing of round 10 of Indian players:

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
10	4	4	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2673	6½		6½	GM	Romanov Evgeny	2614	11
10	8	6	GM	Vocaturo Daniele	2629	6		6½	IM	Krishna Teja N	2340	68
10	12	25	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2530	6		6	GM	Nihal Sarin	2576	16
10	16	48	IM	Arjun Kalyan	2406	5½		5½	GM	Lagarde Maxime	2616	9
10	20	35	IM	Gukesh D	2466	5½		5½	IM	Sarkar Justin	2332	71
10	22	62	FM	Pablo Mari Alejandro	2375	5½		5½	IM	Sadhwani Raunak	2434	41
10	23	95	CM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2234	5½		5½	IM	Seyb Alexander	2419	43
10	24	46	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2415	5½		5½	FM	Ortega Ruiz Jose Miguel	2298	79
10	27	42	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2428	5		5	WGM	Vaishali R	2329	73
10	28	74	IM	Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad	2328	5		5	IM	Vardaan Nagpal	2415	45
10	30	97	FM	Sande Edreira Jose Antonio	2230	5		5	CM	Rohith Krishna S	2399	49
10	32	54	IM	Duran Vega Sergio	2391	5		5	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2293	81
10	34	60	IM	Borocz Istvan	2377	5		5	WFM	Cholleti Sahajasri	2069	139
10	36	177		Ilamparthi A R	1796	5		5	GM	Pogorelov Ruslan	2354	65
10	37	69	FM	Lillo Castany Victor	2336	5		5		Manu David Suthandram R	2153	116