S. Aswath, a 17-year-old chess player from
Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, became India’s 98th Grandmaster
¨
S. Aswath, a 17-year-old
chess player from Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, became India’s 98th Grandmaster on 8
July 2026.
¨
He achieved his third and
final Grandmaster norm at the Pune International Grandmaster Round Robin
Tournament in July 2026.
¨
The Grandmaster (GM)
title is awarded by the International Chess Federation (FIDE).
¨
To earn the GM title, a
player must secure three Grandmaster norms and achieve a FIDE rating of 2500 or
above.
¨
Aswath finished second in
the Pune International Grandmaster Round Robin Tournament with 7 points from 9
rounds.
¨
He secured his final GM
norm by defeating USA’s FM Kannan Vaidyanathan with the black pieces in the
last round.
¨
He earned his first
Grandmaster norm at the Grenke Open 2025.
¨
He secured his second
Grandmaster norm at the First Saturday GM Round Robin in Budapest in December
2025, where he also crossed the 2500 FIDE rating.
¨
With Aswath’s
achievement, India’s total number of Grandmasters increased to 98.
¨
He became Tamil Nadu’s
38th Grandmaster.
¨ He took a six-month break from classical chess to prepare for his Class X board examinations.
¨ He learned chess at the Cape Chess Academy, run by his father and coach, A.C. Siva.
