With a score of solely 1845, 17-year-old Velpula Sarayu from India scored one of the crucial sensational ends in chess historical past, defeating masters rated greater than 600 factors increased.

Youngsters comparable to GM Gukesh D, GM Arjun Erigaisi, GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, and GM Nihal Sarin have already been stars within the chess world for years despite their younger age, however followers of the sport ought to be aware of yet one more Indian star.

17-year-old Velpula was the bottom ranked amongst 79 gamers in Pontevedra Open in Spain, which ended final week, with a score of 1845. Dealing with three GMs, 4 IMs, and one FM, she misplaced solely in opposition to the winner GM Vignesh N.R and completed sensationally in second place with 6.5/9 factors (together with one bye).

Her score efficiency was an astonishing 2575, which is unprecedented for an 1800 participant. The rating was sufficient for a WIM, WGM, and IM norm, and simply half a degree away from a GM norm, 

She ended the match in probably the most stunning manner by checkmating a Portuguese IM:

Velpula’s unbelievable end result seemingly goes down as one of the crucial unbelievable ends in chess historical past, comparable with a 13-year-old GM Vincent Keymer scoring 8/9 because the 99th seed to win the 2018 Grenke Open forward of 52 grandmasters.

Velpula has lengthy been thought of extremely underrated after missing match observe in India, in keeping with Chessbase India. She has received two nationwide titles (U11 and U13) and has overwhelmed sturdy Indian skills comparable to IM Vaishali R, WGM Divya Deshmukh, WGM V Varshini, and WIM Savitha Shri.

“I anticipated her to get WIM and WGM norms, however this efficiency actually amazed me as nicely.” her coach IM Krishna Teja,” informed Chess.com.

Having bagged greater than 400 score factors in tournaments in India and Spain this previous month, she is anticipated to be rated near 2300 on FIDE’s September checklist to make it among the many high 15 women underneath 18. This end result nonetheless shocked her coach. 

“She had a few notable performances earlier as nicely however did not carry out constantly. Common teaching and arduous work within the academy helped her get higher and extra constant,” he added.

Requested about her strengths, he says: “She is a participant who loves chess probably the most. She has good self-discipline, endurance, and oldsters who actually assist her benefit from the recreation.”

She has good self-discipline, endurance, and oldsters who actually assist her benefit from the recreation.

 —Krishna Teja

The coach expects a shiny future for Velpula. “She has good probabilities to develop into an IM, however I want her to develop into a GM although,” he stated.