Raja Rithvik receives 2nd GM Norm, bags runner-up title at Skalica Open

Hyderabad: International Master R. Raja Rithvik of Hyderabad received the second GM Norm after finishing runners-up in the Skalica International Open Chess Championship 2021 at Slovakia, Europe. The nine-day championship concluded on August 29.

Raja Rithvik, a class 12th student of Bhavan's Sri Ramakrishna Vidyalaya, Sainikpuri, Hyderabad, got his 2nd GM Norm by scoring 7 points out of 9 rounds. During the process he settled for a draw in 2 rounds, lost one and bagged six wins against top players from Russia, Hungary, Netherlands and Slovakia.

In this prestigious championship, Rithvik (with rating of 2,433) has played against five Grand Masters and performed well to achieve this feat. Apart from achieving his 2nd GM Norm, Raja Rithvik, a sixth seed, clinched the runner-up title.

IM Raja Rithvik needs one more GM Norm to get the coveted title of Grand Master. In the penultimate round ( 8th round) Rithvik playing with black pieces s created sensation by defeating top seed Hungarian GM Hera Imre (rating 2601) in 66 moves. Further, in the final 9th round Raja Rithvik, once again he got black pieces and faced Russian Senior Grand Master Gunina Valentina (3-times Russian Woman Champion).

Placed in a must-win situation in order to get his 2nd GM nor, Raja Rithvik started the game with Catalan Opening and played aggressively from the start. Facing imminent defeat, GM Gunina Valentina resigned after 50 moves.

With his consistent performance in this tournament, Raja Rithvik has improved his rating by 22 points and got a live rating of 2,483.

As many as 66 players, including grand masters from 14 countries such as Russia, Germany, Spain,Hungary, Netherlands, Slovakia, Latvia, Poland, Italy, Ukraine, Malta, Czech Republic and France participated in this tournament.

Raja Rithvik, has been undergoing advanced coaching at RACE Chess Academy under the guidance of reputed coach N.V.S. Rama Raju. Raja Rithvik is also taking on-line chess training from the renowned Ukrainian Coach and Grand Master Alexander Goloshchapov.

Rithvik clinched his 1st GM Norm in Elllobregat International Open Championship at Spain in Dec,2019. The Covid-19 pandemic brought a long break in conducting and participation of on-board international tournaments all over the world.

Telangana State Chess Association president K. S. Prasad congratulated Raja Rithvik for achieving his 2nd Grand Master Norm in Slovakia and said that, it is an excellent achievement and with his brilliancy on the board, he will become Grand Master soon.