Karthikeyan Murali | |
|---|---|
 Karthikeyan in 2023 | |
| Country | India |
| Born | 5 January 1999 Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Title | Grandmaster (2015) |
| FIDE rating | 2651 (March 2025) |
| Peak rating | 2651 (January 2025) |
| Ranking | No. 81 (March 2025) |
| Peak ranking | No. 77 (January 2025) |
Karthikeyan Murali (born 5 January 1999) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2015. Karthikeyan is a two-time national champion.
Born in Thanjavur, [1] Karthikeyan learnt chess at the age of five. In December 2011, he won the Under 12 section of the World Youth Chess Championships held in Caldas Novas, Brazil. [2] [3] [4] Two years later he also won the world U16 title in Al Ain. [5]
In 2014 he tied for third place at the Abu Dhabi Masters tournament [6] and helped the Indian team win the Under 16 Chess Olympiad in Győr, Hungary. [7] In this latter competition he also completed all requirements for the title Grandmaster. [8]
In 2015, Karthikeyan won the 53rd National Premier Chess Championship of India in Tiruvarur edging out Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, whom he defeated in the direct encounter, on tiebreak, after both scored 8½ points from 13 games. [9] [10] Karthikeyan also won the 54th edition of the championship held in Lucknow in 2016. Though he had a slow start, and lost the match against eventual runner-up Aravindh Chithambaram, a crucial win against top seed Vidit Santosh Gujrathi on time control, followed by double withdrawals helped in gaining the lead and ultimately winning the championships. [11]
In January 2019, Karthikeyan placed second in the Gibraltar Masters open tournament [12] among a field of over 250 players. [13] In June 2019, he placed second in the Asian championships, [14] aided by a win with black against Alireza Firouzja in which Karthikeyan sacrificed his queen on move 9. [15] in 2023 Karthikeyan Murali became the only third Indian to beat Magnus Carlsen in classical chess. [16]
He was inducted in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for scholarship from 2014 to 2016. Later, he got employed in Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) since October 2017.
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