Prithu Gupta beats IM Lev Yankelevich in fifth round of Portuguese League 2019 to become India's 64th Grandmaster

Delhi’s Prithu Gupta has become India’s 64th Grandmaster, crossing the Elo threshold of 2500 points after beating IM Lev Yankelevich in the fifth round of the Portuguese League 2019. Gupta, who picked up the sport as a nine-year-old, has achieved the sensational feat at the age of 15 years, 4 months and 10 days. His achievement came 31 years after Viswanathan Anand had become India’s first Grandmaster.

And we are complete. 64 th GM !!
Welcome our newest GM Prithu Gupta !

— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) July 19, 2019

“And we are complete. 64th GM!! Welcome our newest GM Prithu Gupta!,” Anand posted from his twitter handle. In reply, Gupta thanked Anand for his wishes. “Thank you Anand sir .. You have always been the biggest inspiration,” tweeted the youngster. Gupta received his first GM norm at the Gibraltar Masters last year, before achieving the second norm at the Biel Masters the same year. He got the final norm at the Porticcio Open early this month and finally achieved the required ELO points with win over Yankelevich. D Gukesh is India’s youngest GM at 12 years, 7 months and 17 days. He had achieved the feat in January this year.