Bengaluru teen Pranav Anand becomes India's 76th Chess Grandmaster
Chennai(PTI): Bengaluru teenager Pranav Anand became India's 76th Grandmaster after he crossed the 2,500 Elo mark in the ongoing World Youth Chess Championship in Mamaia, Romania.
The 15-year-old, having already met the other requirements that are necessary for a GM title, achieved the honour late on Thursday.
To become a GM, a player has to secure three GM norms and cross the live rating of 2,500 Elo points. Anand had scored the third and final GM norm at the 55th Biel Chess Festival in Switzerland in July.
"He is passionate towards chess. Extremely interested and passionate towards the game. He can work for any number of hours," Anand's coach V Saravanan told PTI.
"He is especially good in calculation and end games...they are his two biggest strengths right now," Saravanan said about his ward's ninth round win in the under-16 section of the World Youth Chess Championship 2022.
"Also, the most important reason for Pranav's achievement is the dedication of his family, his mother, father...They have spent so much time on and supported him,"
"If the pandemic was not there, Pranav could have become a GM at least a year ago. He is one of the most talented kids I have ever come across," the International Master added.
Anand had secured his third and final GM norm in Biel by drawing his game against Spain number five GM Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli (2619) in the penultimate round.
He had also beaten GM Maxime Lagarde of France (2631), GM Sethuraman S P(2623), drawn with GM Aryan Chopra (2610) and GM Shant Sargsyan of Armenia (2661) in the event.
His first two GM norms came in the Sitges Open (in January 2022) and Vezerkepso GM Round Robin (March 2022) tournaments.
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Two officials booked in UP; for showing elderly man dead, missing file
Ballia (UP) (PTI): Police registered separate cases against a village development officer and an assistant accountant for showing an elderly dead and disposing of a file related to documents of staff, respectively, an official said on Thursday.
In the first case, an FIR has been lodged at Bhimpura police station against the then village development officer (secretary), Savita, on charges of falsely showing an elderly man as dead during a verification, leading to the stoppage of his old-age pension.
According to police, a case was registered on Wednesday, based on the complaint of Assistant Development Officer Siyar block, Manoj Kumar Singh, under Section 198 (public servant disobeying law with intent to cause injury to any person) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The complainant alleged that Umashankar, a resident of Govindpur Dubauli village, was shown dead despite being alive, resulting in the discontinuation of his pension.
District Magistrate Mangala Prasad Singh ordered the registration of a case against the verification officer, police said.
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Police are probing the matter, Rasra Circle Officer Alok Gupta said.
In a separate incident, an FIR has been registered at Ballia city Kotwali against Manish Kumar Ojha, assistant accountant at Kasturba Gandhi Residential Girls’ School, Belhari, under Section 316(4) (criminal breach of trust) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The case was registered based on the complaint of the District Basic Education Officer Manish Kumar Singh, police said.
According to the complainant, the assistant accountant had allegedly made files related to discrepancies in PAN cards of some teachers and staff working in government-run council schools in the district go missing.
Police officials said investigations are underway in both cases.
