International Master Nitish Belurkar achieved his second Grandmaster norm at the 5th International Festival of La Plagne Soliel Masters tournament in France. It means that the Goan chess player is just one norm away from achieving the coveted GM title.
Nitish remained undefeated in the tournament, scoring 7 points out of 9 with a performance rating of 2624 and a rating gain of 19 Elo points. He now moves from 2453 to Elo rating of 2472, 28 Elo rating points away from becoming a GM.
Nitish defeated amongst others, tournament top seed GM Jules Moussard (2591). He also drew with GM Iniyan Pa (2558), GM Bauer Christian (2552), GM Yuri Solodovnichenko (2521) and GM Girrel Joseph (2500), besides defeating Van Volsem Merlijn (2453), FM Hald Falkesggard Jeppe (2307), Riberie Damien (2227) and FM Fantin Ludwig (2117).
Altogether 171 players from 23 countries participated in tournament in France. GM Yuri Solodovnichenko of Ukraine won the tournament scoring 7.5 points while IM Nitish Belurkar was placed 3rd with 7 points.
Nitish had achieved his first GM norm in the Vezerkepzo GM tournament in Hungary.
