Meet Aditya S Samant, 17-year-old boy who became India's 83rd chess grandmaster

Aditya S Samant, at the mere age of 17 became India's 83rd chess Grandmaster on Wednesday. Samant reached the place of a grandmaster (GM) as he began his ninth-round game against compatriot Aryan Chopra at the BielChess MTO 2023 tournament.

Samant was drawn from his eighth-round game against Bu Xiangzhi and needed to achieve his final GM norm by playing the ninth round, no matter the result.  Samant has already crossed the 2500 Elo mark in the live ratings and had obtained two GM norms, Hence, the third and final norm was all he needed to become India's latest Grandmaster.

Aditya S Samant hails from the state-- Maharashtra. Samant earned his first GM norm at the age of 16 at the ABU Dhabi Masters in August andby December, Samant had already bagged his second GM norm at the 3rd El Llobregat Open. 

The Twitter handle of the Biel Chess Festival said in a post, "Exciting! Congratulations to Aditya Samant S!#BielChess seems to be a good place to crown Indian Grandmasters! - 2021 it was @HarshitRaja1 who earned his 3rd GM-norm in Biel - in 2022 it was @GMPranavAnand who earned his 3rd GM-norm in Biel - and in 2023 now Aditya Samant S!" Telangana's V Prraneeth had in May become the country's 82nd GM.

Exciting! Congratulations to Aditya Samant S!#BielChess seems to be a good place to crown Indian Grandmasters!
- 2021 it was @HarshitRaja1 who earned his 3rd GM-norm in Biel
- 2022 it was @GMPranavAnand who earned his 3rd GM-norm in Biel
- and 2023 now Aditya Samant S! pic.twitter.com/uuQF5e5KNW

— Biel Chess Festival (@BielFestival) July 26, 2023

How does one become a GM?

To become a GM, a player has to secure three GM norms and cross the live rating of 2,500 Elo points. His live rating going into the ninth-round game is 2525.4.

Who was the 82nd Indian chess GM?

Before Aditya S Samant, Telangana's V Prraneeth became India's 82nd and the state's sixth GM when he defeated GM Hans Nieman of the US in the penultimate round of the Baku Open 2023.