Mendonca is second in the coastal state to become Grandmaster and ranks 67th in India.
Goa’s 14-year-old Leon Mendonca has become India’s 67th chess Grandmaster. He achieved the title by winning the third and final round at a tournament held in Italy. Mendonca is the second from the coastal state to bag the Grandmaster title.
Mendonca and his father Lyndon were stranded in Europe due to the COVID-19 lockdown since March. They grabbed this opportunity and Mendonca participated in many tournaments to achieve the GM title. In the period of nine months from March to December, he played in 16 tournaments and upgraded from 2452 points of ELO rating to 2544.
Mendonca has achieved the feat at 14 years, 9 months and 17 days. He achieved his first Grandmaster title at the Rigo Chess GM Round Robin in October while the second in Budapest in November and the final one at the Vergani Cup in Italy. In the finals, he finished second with 6.5 points behind Ukraine’s Vitaliy Bernadskiy at the Vergani Cup in Bassano del Grappa.
He had participated in a camp held in Chennai in 2019 where former world champions Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand had trained several Indian players. In July, G Akash, a Chennai player, became India’s 66th Grandmaster.
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