Arjun Kalyan

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2021

Becomes GM

Prasad RS, April 20, 2021: The Times of India

Arjun Kalyan became India’s 68th Grandmaster on Tuesday evening. The 18-year-old from Chennai crossed the 2500 ELO mark after scoring a win over Dragan Kosic in the 5th round of the ongoing GM Round Robin “Rujna Zora-3” in Serbia.

Arjun had come close to becoming a Grandmaster in the previous tournament last week, but the nerves got the better of him. “I needed a win in the penultimate round of the event. Despite being in a good position --- I made a mistake and went on to lose that game. I thought becoming a Grandmaster will take more time. Thankfully, I did well in this event to get the monkey off my back,” Arjun told TOI.

Interestingly, the 2500 ELO mark had eluded Arjun for a long time. “In June 2019, I was playing an event in Italy and needed 3-4 points to cross the 2500 barrier. But I failed to do so. This time, things were a little shaky but I am happy to have pulled it off,” said Arjun, who has five GM norms.

He left for Serbia on April 1 to be part of three back-to-back over-the-board events. “Winning my first over-the-board event in the last 12 months boosted my confidence. I finished joint first in the second event and this tournament too has gone as per plan,” said Arjun, who learned the nuances of the sport from AL Kasi at the T Nagar Chess Academy.

He is also coached by IM Saravanan and Ukrainian GM Aleksandr Goloshchapov. Saravanan isn't surprised by Arjun's feat. "He is someone who has a great temperament and is bound to have great success in this sport in the coming years," Saravanan mentioned. In a bid to manage both studies and chess, Arjun took a break from the sport in January last year. During the board exams, Arjun suffered an eye injury while playing badminton.

“I injured my left eye and had to undergo a surgery as well. But I was happy to have not missed out on the exams,” said Arjun, who wrote the papers with vision only in his right eye and scored 95%. He is pursuing his bachelors’ course from SRM College.

The Covid-19 pandemic left Arjun without any tournaments for over a year. He got an opportunity finally during this trip to Serbia. Arjun’s father Saravana Prakash, who runs a hotel in Chennai, felt his son never gave up hopes despite missing the GM norm previously.

“Be it chess or in studies, Arjun has always looked to give his best. Becoming GM is just a first step as the real test will begin now,” he said. Arjun’s mother M Vinu was a national level 200M athlete.