Karnataka's First GM
By Arvind Aaron

The 1981-born M.S. Thejkumar of Mysore qualified to become Karnataka's first grand master when he obtained the third GM Norm in the International Open at Mumbai on May 20, 2008.

Rated 2414, he will have to push his rating higher to 2500 to complete his mission a brilliant one. He made his third norm with 8/10 and had made two earlier norms at New Delhi in the Commonwealth Championship and in the National A at Chennai.

Like Vladimir Kramnik, Thejkumar need not apply for his IM title. He can go for his GM title directly. His growth in chess has been both very swift and steep.

The United Karnataka Chess Association website www.karnatakachess.com is all excited and he is about to be felicitated. He is going into history as Karnataka's greatest chess player though rating wise and National A title wise IM D.V.Prasad has a better record.