Tamil Nadu continues to be the cradle of Indian chess as 16-year-old Ilamparthi AR from Chennai grew to become India’s ninetieth Grandmaster on Thursday, after securing his closing GM norm on the Bijeljina Open in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Born in 2009, Ilamparthi had earlier achieved his first GM norm on the Ha Noi event in Vietnam (December 2023), adopted by his second on the Singapore Worldwide Open (2024). He crossed the 2500 Elo mark throughout the Rilton Cup (2024–25), and the ultimate norm in Bosnia sealed his grandmaster title.The teenager, who trains beneath Shyam Sundar M, is supported by a number of initiatives.A scholar of Velammal College, the identical establishment that nurtured stars like D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa, Ilamparthi has lengthy been seen as one in all India’s brightest younger minds in chess. His early promise was seen by the worldwide neighborhood, with Dutch GM Anish Giri famously donating his Loss of life Match prize cash in 2022 to help Ilamparthi’s coaching.Congratulating the teenager, AICF president Nitin Narang posted on X: “Grandmaster No. 90 for Bharat! Congratulations to Ilamparthi AR on fulfilling all the necessities to grow to be the ninetieth Grandmaster of the nation. Wishing you a lot extra laurels and continued success in making the nation proud.”5-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, beneath whose academy Ilamparthi trains, wrote: “Blissful to announce Ilamparthi as a GM! He missed the title on a number of events however got here again stronger every time. He has lots of potential, and we hope to work collectively in direction of larger achievements.”