Kolkata: Indian chewss fraternity received a boost on New Year day as the city based teenager IM Koustav Chatterjee has become the 78th Grandmaster of India and 10th Grandmaster of West Bengal, .Sara Bangla Daba Sangstha secretary Shyamol Datta informed on Sunday.
Nineteen-year-old IM Koustav achieved the feat on the last day 2022 when he drew his game against GM Mitrabha Guha. It was a tough game for him. Mitrabha missed a win in the endgame and Koustav managed to draw it to secure his final GM-norm.
Koustav earned his first GM-norm in October 2021 at a Grandmasters’ Chess tournament in Bangladesh in 2021. Exactly a year later, Koustav scored his second GM-norm at Asian Continental Championship 2022 in the first week of November. He crossed FIDE Rating 2500 in August FIDE Ratings list.
Currently, Koustav is jointly leading in MPL 59th National Senior Chess Championship with GM Abhijeet Gupta with a score of 8 out of 10. Three more rounds and a spot at the World Cup is awaiting the winner.
