M.R. Venkatesh becomes Grandmaster

International master M.R.Venkatesh of Bharat Petroleum Corporation, chennai became India's 28th grand master at philadelphia in the united states on july 4. Besides his grand master norm he also finished second in the prestigious philadelphia international.

After narrowly missing out on the Gm norm at-least on the three occasions, Venkatesh finally completed his mission. Venkatesh had won five national titles, each in various categories.


His three Gm norms came from the National "A" at Visakhapatnam 2006, Aeroflot open in Moscow 2012 and the final norm at philadelphia 2012. He had won medals at Asian, World and Commonwealth Championships.