Karthikeyan Murali (born 5 January 1999) is an Indian

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

in 2015. Karthikeyan is a two-time national champion.

Chess career

Born in

Thanjavur Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the Gr ...

, Karthikeyan learnt chess at the age of five. In December 2011, he won the Under 12 section of the

World Youth Chess Championship The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015, the event has been split into "World Cade ...

s held in

Caldas Novas Caldas Novas () is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Goiás. It is considered by many to be the largest hydro-thermal resort in the world. Location Caldas Novas is located 170 km south of state capital, Goiânia, with good roads link ...

, Brazil. Two years later he also won the world U16 title in

Al Ain Al Ain ( ar, ٱلْعَيْن, , ) is a city in the western side of Tawam (region), Tuwwam region and the seat of the administrative division of its namesake, Al-Ain Region, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. ...

. In 2014 he tied for third place at the

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

Masters tournament and helped the Indian team win the Under 16 Chess Olympiad in

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia ...

, Hungary. In this latter competition he also completed all requirements for the title Grandmaster. In 2015, Karthikeyan won the 53rd National Premier Chess Championship of India in

Tiruvarur Thiruvarur () also spelt as Tiruvarur is a town and municipality in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Thiruvarur district and Thiruvarur taluk. The temple chariot of the Thyagaraja temple, weighing and mea ...

edging out

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (born 24 October 1994) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He attained the title of grandmaster in January 2013, becoming the 30th player from India to do so. he is the second highest rated player in India (behind Viswana ...

, whom he defeated in the direct encounter, on tiebreak, after both scored 8½ points from 13 games. Karthikeyan also won the 54th edition of the championship held in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

in 2016. Though he had a slow start, and lost the match against eventual runner-up

Aravindh Chithambaram Aravindh Chithambaram Veerappan (born 11 September 1999) is an Indian chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster. He won the Indian Chess Championship, Indian chess championships twice, in 2018 and 2019. Personal life Aravindh was born in Thiruna ...

, 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. In January 2019, Karthikeyan placed second in the

Gibraltar Masters The Gibraltar International Chess Festival is a chess tournament held annually at the Caleta Hotel in Gibraltar. Its eleven days of competition usually run from late January to early February. The inaugural edition, then known as the '' Gibteleco ...

open tournament among a field of over 250 players. In June 2019, he placed second in the Asian championships, aided by a win with black against Alireza Firouja in which Karthikeyan sacrificed his queen on move 9.

Personal life

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

External links

* * * * 1999 births Living people Chess grandmasters Indian chess players World Youth Chess Champions People from Thanjavur {{India-chess-bio-stub