Chess: Harikrishnan A RA becomes India's 87th Grandmaster

Harikrishnan A RA became India's 87th chess Grandmaster on Friday, achieving his third and final norm at the 2025 La Plagne Open in France on Friday.

A 23-year-old from Chennai, Harikrishnan has been training under the aegis of GM Shyam Sundar for the last three years.

"India's latest GM! Congratulations Harikrishnan! We have been working for 3 years and I'm glad that IM-GM transformation happened successfully," Shyam Sundar wrote in a social media post, congratulating his ward.

 Harikrishnan, who himself is a FIDE trainer, had achieved his previous two GM norms and the crossed the required 2500-rating barrier in June last year.

Harikrishnan earned 16 rating points at the La Plagne Open as he finished third in the competition with 5.5 points out of a possible nine, behind GM Yuri Solodovnichenko and GM P Iniyan.