12 year old Siddarth Jagadeesh makes IM norm in the ultra-strong Grenke Open.
Two Singaporeans competed in the ultra strong Grenke Open (56 GMs and 322 titled players!) which featured an attractive 20,000 Euros first prize. 12 year old Siddarth Jagadeesh (2132) made his 1st International Master norm with one round to spare. He started off with a big splash, beating 29th seed GM Rainer Buhmann (2581) with Black.
A loss to German IM Kopylov did not daunt him as he continued to string wins and draws against 2300+ level opposition before having to face GM Alireza Firourzja (2669) whose tactical acumen proved too much for the Singaporean. However, Alireza's high ELO pushed Siddarth's average opponent rating to 2407 (which means 5/9 would be required) and thus he had to ensure he does not lose Round 8 to make the norm. German FM Alexander Suvorov went for blood and had Siddarth on the ropes after a dangerous pawn sacrifice. Siddarth grappled on for dear life...and with some fortitude, the German failed to put him away and a queen trade was forced. The threats were eventually neutralized for the all-important draw.
I discussed with IM Kevin Goh on his observations of Siddarth and he indicated "I think he is now playing a lot more ambitiously as compared to last year. In recent events, he tries fearlessly for wins against players who out-rate him massively. Most importantly, he calculates well and doesn’t crack under pressure easily". Siddarth's father, Balakrishnan, thanked Kevin for his prior help and especially for drumming into Siddarth that 'failure is the only way to succeed in any endeavour'.
IM Cyrus Low narrowly missed the GM norm when his final round opponent IM Meilis Annaberdiev forced a draw in the final round. Cyrus had strung 4 wins in a row inclusive of a rope-a-dope win over Hungarian GM Gergely Antal where he tempted the latter into an unsound sacrifice. He had a promising attack against experienced Serbian GM Alesander Indjic in the 5th round but the latter extricated himself out of trouble and eventually prevailed. The Raffles Institution schoolboy went on to hold the renowned Dutch GM Loek Van Wely as well as French GM Jules Mossaud and put himself in contention for his first GM norm with a win over FM Robert Stein. However, it was not to be...
In any case, both youngsters demonstrated they could hold their own against high level European opposition and I hope their results will encourage other local youngsters to aspire towards higher chess goals. One thing both have in common, extremely strong parental support. I bet the parents have often asked themselves why they ever bothered to spend so much time and money for this...hobby. But today, both Siddarth and Cyrus have shown they are worth the bother.
