On Monday, FIDE world No 1 Magnus Carlsen lost in Round 7 of the Qatar Masters Open after a loss to Indian grandmaster Murali Karthikeyan.
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The win meant Karthikeyan became just the third Indian ever in classical chess to defeat the Norwegian grandmaster, whose grip on the No 1 ranking in the sport has been vice-like. The other two to have beaten Carlsen are Pentala Hariskrishna in 2005 and Viswanathan Anand in 2008.
Who is Murali Karthikeyan?
Slightly older than the rest of the young crop of Indian GMs such as R Praggnanandha and D Gukesh, 24-year-old Murali Karthikeyan hails from Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu and is a World Youth Chess champion, having won the U-12 tournament in Brazil in 2011.
Karthikeyan achieved he title of Grandmaster in 2015, at the age of 16. In the same year, he won the first of two consecutive national titles, beating Vidit Gujrathi along the way in both tournaments.
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How many titles has Murali Karthikeyan won?
Karthikeyan has won three titles overall; the U12 World Youth Championships in 2011 and the National Premier Chess Championship in Tiruvarur and Lucknow in 2015 and 2016. He also finished second in the 2019 Asian Continental Championship.
As things stand in the 2023 Qatar Masters Open, Karthikeyan is one of eight players sitting at the top of the stadings with 5.5 points after 7 rounds. He is currently in action against compatriot SL Narayanan in round eight.
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