Country India | Name Murali Karthikeyan | |
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Born 1 May 1999 (age 24) Thanjavur, India ( 1999-05-01 ) | ||
Karthikeyan murali current national champion 2015
Karthikeyan Murali (born 1 May 1999) is an Indian chess grandmaster, and two time national champion.
Born in Thanjavur, Karthikeyan learnt chess at the age of five years.
In December 2011, he won the Under-12 World Chess Championship held in Caldas Novas, Brazil. Karthikeyan also became the world U16 champion in 2013 in Al Ain.
In 2014 he tied for third place at the Abu Dhabi Masters tournament and helped the Indian team to win the Under-16 Chess Olympiad in Győr, Hungary. In this latter competition he also completed all requirements for the Grandmaster title.
In 2015, Karthikeyan won India's 53rd National Premier Chess Championship in Tiruvarur edging out on tiebreak Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, whom he defeated in the direct encounter, after both scored 8.5 points from 13 games.
Karthikeyan also won the 54th edition of the championship held in Lucknow in 2016. Though he had a slow start, and last the match against eventual runner-up Aravindh Chithambaram, 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.