In a major boost to the Telangana chess scene, Raja Rithvik, 14, has become an International Master, the youngest from the state.
He achieved the prestigious IM title in the Paracin Open tournament 2018 held from July 6 to 12 in Paracin of Serbia in Europe.
One of the country's best talents, R Raja Rithvik, studying Class X in Orchids International School, Jubilee Hills, got the prestigious title by crossing the required 2400 rating points in the Paracin Open. Entering the tournament with a live rating of 2,381, Rithvik achieved 28 points by defeating England Grandmaster Fernandez Howard and drawing the games with two other senior Grand Masters Atalik Suat of Turkey and Lorpariz Shahin of Iran.
Raja Rithvik scored 5 points in 7 rounds in the tournament.
Telangana State Chess Association president A Narsimha Reddy and general secretary K S Prasad congratulated Rithvik for becoming an International Master at the age of just 14 years, and expressed hope that Rithvik would become a Grand Master too shortly. He has been selected to participate in the Abu Dhabi Grand Masters' Tournament in August 2018 and the Malaysia International Chess Festival in September 2018.