12-year-old Indian 2nd youngest Grandmaster in chess history
Twelve years and ten months old, R Praggnanandhaa made history by becoming the youngest Indian Grandmaster and the second youngest overall by earning his third GM norm during the Gredine Open in Italy. After being paired with Dutch GM Roeland Pruijssers for the final round, Praggnanandhaa was assured of a third norm irrespective of the result of the match.
He is placed joint-top on the table at the end of 8 rounds, with 6.5 points. To become a GM you need to earn three norms and a 2500 rating. He had won his first GM norm at the World Junior Championships in Tarvisio in November 2017. He achieved his second norm by winning the Herkalion Fischer Memorial GM Norm tournament in Greece in April this year.
He missed out on becoming the youngest ever by three months with Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine holding the record of being the youngest Grandmaster in the world at 12 years, 7 months - a feat achieved in 2002. Incidentally, the fourth spot in youngest Grandmasters is also held by an Indian - Parimarjan Negi at 13 years, 4 months and 22 days.
Legendary Viswanathan Anand lauded Praggnanandhaa's feat and picked him out as a bright hope for the future. "What impresses me about Praggnanandhaa is that he's not just a strong player but mixes imaginative middle game play with patient endgame skills and is uncompromising in not settling for easy, quick draws," Anand was quoted as saying by ESPN India. "He's also shown a level of sophistication in handling tournament games. I think he will go far."
Magnus Carlsen became a GM when he was 13 years and 4 months old, while Anand, India's first ever GM, was 18 years old when he earned his third norm.
Youngest Grandmasters in history:
Sergey Karjakin (Ukraine) 12 years, 7 months
R Praggnandhaa (India) 12 years, 10 months
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) 13 years, 1 month
Parimarjan Negi (India) 13 years, 4 months
Magnus Carlsen (Norway) 13 years, 4 months
courtesy : ndtv.com
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Jhansi fire: Nurse's heroic efforts helped save over dozen babies
Lucknow/Jhansi (UP), Nov 17: Nurse Megha James was on duty when the fire broke out at the Jhansi hospital and she threw herself headlong into the rescue efforts, playing a hero's role by saving several babies.
Even when her salwar got burned, she refused to give up and was able to evacuate 14-15 babies with others' help.
"I had gone to take a syringe to give an injection to a child. When I came back, I saw that the (oxygen) concentrator had caught fire. I called the ward boy, who came with the fire extinguisher and tried to put it out. But by then, the fire had spread," James said.
Ten babies perished in a fire that broke out at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi Friday night.
Faced with an enormous blaze, James's mind worked with a frenetic speed, to the extent she cared little about burning herself.
"My chappal caught fire and I burned my foot. Then my salwar caught fire. I removed my salwar and discarded it. At that time, my mind was virtually not working," she told PTI Videos.
James just wore another salwar and went back to the rescue operation.
"There was a lot of smoke, and once the lights went out, we could not see anything. The entire staff brought out at least 14-15 children. There were 11 beds in the ward with 23-24 babies," she said.
Had the lights not gone out they could have saved more children, James said. "It all happened very suddenly. None of us had expected it."
Assistant Nursing Superintendent Nalini Sood praised James's valour and recounted bits from how the rescue operation was carried out.
"The hospital staff broke the glasses of the NICU ward to evacuate the babies. It was then Nurse Megha's salwar caught fire. Instead of caring for her safety, she stayed there to rescue the babies and handed them over to people outside," she said.
Sood said James is currently undergoing treatment at the same medical college. She said she did not know the extent of her burns.
"The rescued babies were shifted to a ward very close to the NICU ward… When I recall the scene, I feel like crying," she said.
Dr Anshul Jain, the head of the anaesthesiology department at the medical college, explained the standard rescue operation and claimed the hospital followed the protocol to the T.
"In the triage process during an ICU evacuation, the policy is to evacuate less-affected patients first. The rationale behind this approach is that patients requiring minimal support can be relocated quickly, enabling a larger number of evacuations to be completed in a shorter time.
"In contrast, patients on ventilators or requiring high oxygen support demand more time and resources for evacuation," he said.
"This principle was successfully implemented in Jhansi, playing a significant role in saving many lives," Jain said.
A newborn rescued from the fire died due to illness on Sunday, Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar said.
