Praggnanandhaa scores final GM norm

It looks like R. Praggnanandhaa from India is about to become the second youngest GM in history. At one stage he looked on track to beat Sergey Karjakin's record, who earned the title at 12 years and 7 months, but he was unable to score the final norm required. However, at 12 years and 10 months he is still the second youngest player to earn the title, 6 months younger than when both Carslen and Negi became GM's.
He earned the title on the way to finishing equal first in the Gerdine Open in Italy, scoring 7.5/9 along with GM Ivan Saric. But while Praggnanandhaa is celebrating his title, another competitor in the event is far less happy with the title process. Australian IM Justin Tan (who scored 6/9 in the event) found out the GM norm he thought he had scored in the 2017-18 4NCL season is invalid on the grounds he did not play the right mix of international players. Previously a national teams championship was exempt from 'foreigner' requirements (in the same way a National Championship is), but a change to FIDE regulations meant this only applied to players from the host Federation.As a result Tan still needs one more norm for his GM title.


Pruijssers,Roeland (2514) - Praggnanandhaa,R (2529) [C78]
4th Int. Chess Festival ad Gredine Open Ortisei - St. Ulrich (9.2), 24.06.2018

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bb7 7. c3 Nxe4 8. d4 exd4 9. Re1 d5 10. Ng5 Qf6 11. Bxd5 Qxf2+ 12. Kh1 O-O-O 13. Nxe4 Qf5 14. Bb3 dxc3 15. Qf3 Qxf3 16. gxf3 Ne5 17. Nbxc3 b4 18. Bg5 f6 19. Bf4 bxc3 20. Bxe5 fxe5 21. bxc3 Be7 22. Rab1 Kb8 23. Re2 Ka7 24. Kg2 Rhf8 25. Rd1 Rxd1 26. Bxd1 Rd8 27. Bc2 Bd5 28. Bb3 Bc6 29. Bc2 g6 30. Kg3 a5 31. h4 h6 32. Rh2 Rb8 33. Bb3 a4 34. Bf7 Rb1 35. Rd2 Rg1+ 36. Kh2 Rc1 37. Bxg6 Bxh4 38. Kh3 Be1 39. Rd3 Rc2 40. Re3 Bd7+ 0-1