CHENNAI: Since the beginning of this year, AR Ilamparthi, all of 16, has been traveling alone for international chess tournaments. A rice cooker is an essential part of his travel bag. Meal preps, planning travels and booking accommodation eat into his practice time and, at times, stresses him out. But none of it could stop him from becoming India's 90th Chess Grandmaster on Thursday.

"I have never put any pressure on him. When we introduced him to chess at about 4-5 years, he was good at it and started winning age group tournaments. We continued to support him. Even now, I tell him to not worry about the ratings of opponents and only focus on his game," said V Ravikumar, Ilamparthi's father. Ravikumar works as a software engineer in a private firm.

Ilamparthi's mother, P Gayathri, a sc

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