Harikrishnan A Ra becomes the 87th Grandmaster of India
IM Harikrishnan A Ra became the 87th Indian to achieve the Grandmaster title on Friday 11th July 2025 at 5th La Plagne Masters 2025. A draw against the reigning National Rapid 2025 champion, GM Iniyan Pa in the final round secured his final GM-norm. Harikrishnan earned his first GM-norm in July 2023 at 56th Biel Chess Festival Master Tournament (MTO) 2023. Nearly two years later, he scored his second GM-norm at Lince Andújar Open 2025 in Andújar, Spain. Before that, in June 2024, he got a published rating of 2502. The Grandmaster title has always been an inevitability for him. There was never a question of if, it was always when he will fulfill the GM title requirements. Check out the journey of the talented boy from Chennai.
Final two GM-norms in consecutive tournaments 15 days
Harikrishnan A Ra loves to play a lot of tournaments in his trip to Europe. That is probably one of the many reasons he has won a total of nearly two dozen tournaments including Classical, Rapid and Blitz tournaments, eight of them were in seven different countries outside of India since 2021. Most of them have been reported on our newspage. We cannot wait to see him conquer more tournaments in various formats and countries across the world. Harikrishnan is training with GM Shyam Sundar M at his academy, Chess Thulir for the past few years and also at Chola Chess from the beginning of this year.
First GM-norm: 56th Biel Chess Festival Master Tournament (MTO) 2023
Harikrishnan earned his first GM-norm at 56th Biel Chess Festival Master Tournament (MTO) in July 2023 in Biel, Switzerland. He scored 6/10 to earn his first GM-norm, including wins against GM Nikita Meshkovs (LAT), GM Daniil Yuffa (ESP), draws against GM Pranav Anand, GM Luis Ernesto Quesada Perez (CUB), GM Ngoc Truong Son Nguyen (VIE) and GM Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera (CUB).
Harikrishnan - Nikita, Round 2
GM Nikita Meshkov's (LAT, 2565) position was in shambles. 25...Qxa2?? did not help his case. IM Harikrishnan A Ra (2406) seized his opportunity 26.Qxa2 Rxa2 27.bxc4 dxc4 28.Bb4 cxd3 29.Bxe7 d2 30.Rf1 Rxe7 31.d5 Rc2 32.d6
White beautifully used his connected passed pawns on c and d-file to win the game.
Second GM-norm: Lince Andújar Open 2025
Nearly two years later, Harikrishnan scored his second GM-norm at Lince Andújar Open 2025 in Andújar, Spain. A little over a year ago, in June 2024 FIDE Rating list, he got a published rating of 2502. He scored 7/9 to finish third overall. He drew against GM Brandon Jacobson (USA) and GM Nikita Meshkovs (LAT) en route to his second GM-norm.
Suyog - Harikrishnan, Round 9
Earlier, Harikrishnan (2465) sacrificed an exchange 16...Rxh4. In the above position, he found a nice fork 24...Nef2! 25.Rxf2 Nxf2 26.Rd2 Nh3+ 27.Kf1 exf4 28.Re2 fxe3 29.Qg3 Qxg3 30.hxg3 f4 31.Bd4 Bg4 32.Re1 Rf8 33.Be4 e2+ and Black won.
Third GM-norm: 5th La Plagne Master 2025
Harikrishnan scored his final GM-norm at 5th La Plagne Master on May 2025 in La Plagne, France. The third GM-norm was scored in consecutive tournaments, which means the last two GM-norms were scored within a span of 15 days. He defeated GM Jules Moussard (FRA), drew against GM Yuri Solodovnichenko (UKR), GM Alberto David (ITA) and GM Iniyan Pa to earn his third GM-norm and finished fourth overall.
Harikrishnan - Jules, Round 8
Harikrishnan won an extremely complex endgame against GM Jules Moussard (FRA, 2591) in the penultimate round to get himself close to the coveted GM title.
Replay Harikrishnan's games
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What helped Harikrishnan become India's 87th Grandmaster?
@ 14/07/2025 by Shyam Sundar (en) |