Mysuru: Girish A. Koushik, former World U-10 champion from Mysuru, became India’s 63rd Grand Master when he gained 11 points in the Balaton International Chess Festival GM Round Robin Tournament in Europe on Monday, by reaching a live rating of 2500.7 Elo points.

The 1997 born Girish Koushik becomes the third chess player from Karnataka after GM M.S. Thejkumar and GM G.A. Stany to achieve this feat.

Girish went to Europe to play three tournaments in May and June 2019 with a rating of 2444 and one GM norm. His first GM norm was scored way back in the World Juniors in 2001.

Girish’s first tournament in Europe in May 2019 was the Liu Major Open where he scored his second GM norm and also gained 25.4 Elo points. In the second event of the Europe trip, in the first week of June, Girish scored his final GM norm and also gained 203 Elo points. This completed his norm requirements for the GM title and took his live rating to 2489.7.

Girish, an electrical engineer, had shown lot of promise in his younger days and had won the World U-10 title. He also won the Asian U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14 & U-16 titles and also represented India in the World Juniors and many international tournaments.

He had also won multiple National titles. He has come back with a bang after a break due to his studies and has made all Mysureans proud with his achievement.