Delhi's Aryan, 14, secures Grandmaster title

PUNE: Fourteen-year-old Aryan Chopra confirmed his Grandmaster title on Tuesday when he breached the Elo 2500 mark in live ratings with consecutive victories in the opening three rounds of the Dato Arthur Tan International Open chess championship in Malaysia.
The Delhi had attained his third and final GM norm in Abu Dhabi last month, but had to earn four more Elo points to complete the formalities for securing the title.
Aryan is currently the youngest of all active Grandmasters. At 14 years, nine months and three days, he is 19th youngest ever in the all-time list. So far 26 players have attained their GM titles before turning 15.
As luck would have it, after completing the rating requirement, Aryan lost to compatriot GM Swapnil Dhopade in the fourth round. The loss will not hamper his GM title credentials.
However, the Indian lad might have to go some distance to be mentioned on par with IM Parham Maghsoodloo (Iran), IM Li Ruifeng, GMs Jeffery Xiong and Samuel Sevian (all USA) who can be called the world's strongest young players at the moment due to their higher Elo ratings.
Aryan has been largely playing in Europe and Asia.
He has played in India just twice in last five years.
Aryan's father Rajeev, who is a chartered accountant and writes on astrology and astronomy, said that playing in Spain, Hungary and Czech Republic was expensive but players got to play more tournaments in a two-month period; whereas in India, the tournaments were scattered in different cities over a four-five month span which was physically and financially taxing. "In this year's Mumbai tournament, the title winner and third-placed players have not got their richly-deserved norms due to lack of enough foreign federations," said Rajeev. "We also play limited amount of tournaments in a year because of financial limitations. There is career in chess only if you reach Elo 2700. The path to reach there is quite expensive. But we are trying because Aryan loves the game so much."
Chopra Senior said Aryan didn't want to apply for his International Master (IM) title.
"He said he wants to see only GM title before his name. But, I told him it's not practical. We get a grant of Rs 1.5 lakh for becoming an IM."