Sankalp Gupta becomes India's 71st Grandmaster, maestro Viswanathan Anand congratulates

Chennai: Sankalp Gupta has become India's 71st Grandmaster by scoring 6.5 points and finishing second in the GM Ask 3 round-robin event in Arandjelovac, Serbia.The 18-year-old secured the three required GM norms in just 24 days by playing three tournaments on the trot. In all the three events, his rating performances were at 2599 and above.The Maharashtra player also touched the 2500 Elo rating mark during the tournament.To achieve the GM title, a player has to secure three GM norms and cross the live rating of 2,500 Elo points.He won five games, drew three and lost one to Rudik Makrarian (Russia) to take the second place with 6.5 points in the GM tournament in Serbia which concluded late on Sunday.Markarian won the top prize on the basis of a better tie-break score though he finished equal on 6.5 points with Gupta in the 10-player field. IM S Nitin of India with 5.5 points took fourth place.Chess legend and former world champion Viswanathan Anand congratulated Gupta on becoming a GM."Been a great weekend for Indian chess again ! Congrats to our new entrant ... Now how long till we get to our 100th GM??" he tweeted. The All India Chess Federation also praised the country's newest GM."Nagpur based teenager Sankalp Gupta becomes the 71st Grandmaster of the country after completing the requirement to be next GM of the country by securing the final norm at Serbia. AICF congratulate Sankalp for the remarkable achievement," AICF tweeted.