Madurai Gets New IM

By Arvind Aaron

The southern city of India, Madurai got an International Master when B.T. Muralikrishnan of Southern Railways completed his third and final norm in the Mayor's Cup International Open at Mumbai on May 20.

Born on April 26, 1974 in a chessplaying family, Muralikrishnan started chess late at the age of eleven and a half. His grandfather Hariram and his brother taught him the moves and he also learnt from them.

Muralikrishnan is helped by his employers, Railways who give him 120 days special leave and also other travel and higher class benefits. "I am not in the higher league of Madurai's GMs Magesh and Deepan," ceded Muralikrishnan.

Muralikrishnan, 34, still not married has won a dozen FIDE rated events and the prestigious one is the Tamil Nadu State Championship of 2006. His national title is the Under-25 title of 1995 at Secunderabad.

His three norms came from the Win TV Tournament at Chennai (6.5/9) during Feb 2004, International Open at Kolkata (6.5/10) 2008 and International Open at Mumbai (8/11) 2008. He is hot and you can count on him for more.

"I missed a GM norm in the International Open at Mumbai," said Muralikrishnan  whose current ambition is to advance to the Grand Master title. He believes that by playing continuously he can achieve it.