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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ED gets MHA sanction to prosecute Arvind Kejriwal in excise policy case
New Delhi (PTI): The Union Home Ministry has granted sanction to the Enforcement Directorate to prosecute former Delhi chief minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy linked money laundering case, officials said.
The federal agency has filed a chargesheet against the 56-year-old politician before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court here last year after arresting him in March.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has recently granted the required sanction to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for prosecuting Kejriwal under the anti-money laundering law in the Delhi excise policy case, officials said.
The development comes ahead of the Delhi Assembly on February 5.
Kejriwal has been made made an accused in his personal capacity as well as in the capacity of being the national convenor of his political party AAP.
The former chief minister was called the "kingpin and key conspirator" of the Delhi excise "scam" by the ED.
It was alleged that he acted in collusion with Delhi government minister, the AAP leaders and others.
The ED had earlier claimed that AAP, being a political party, is defined as an association or a body of individual citizens of India under the Representation of the People Act and hence it can be categorised as a "company" as contemplated under Section 70 of the PMLA.
As Kejriwal was "in-charge of and responsible" for the said company i.e. AAP during the time of offence, he and his party "shall be deemed guilty" of offences mentioned under the anti-money laundering law and liable to be prosecuted and punished, it had said.
The excise case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena had recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities. Subsequently, the ED registered a case under the PMLA.
Taking cognisance of a CBI FIR lodged on August 17, 2022, the ED filed its money laundering case on August 22, 2022 to probe the alleged irregularities.
