| Karthikeyan Murali | |
| Country: | India |
| Birth Date: | 5 January 1999 |
| Birth Place: | Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Grandmaster (2015) | |
| Peakrating: | 2637 (January 2022) |
| Fideid: | 5074452 |
Karthikeyan Murali (born 5 January 1999) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2015. Karthikeyan is a two-time national champion.
Born in Thanjavur,[1] Karthikeyan learnt chess at the age of five. In December 2011, he won the Under 12 section of the World Youth Chess Championships held in Caldas Novas, Brazil.[2] [3] [4] Two years later he also won the world U16 title in Al Ain.[5]
In 2014 he tied for third place at the Abu Dhabi Masters tournament[6] and helped the Indian team win the Under 16 Chess Olympiad in Győr, Hungary.[7] In this latter competition he also completed all requirements for the title Grandmaster.[8]
In 2015, Karthikeyan won the 53rd National Premier Chess Championship of India in Tiruvarur edging out Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, whom he defeated in the direct encounter, on tiebreak, after both scored 8½ points from 13 games.[9] [10] Karthikeyan also won the 54th edition of the championship held in Lucknow in 2016. Though he had a slow start, and lost the match against eventual runner-up Aravindh Chithambaram, a crucial win against top seed Vidit Santosh Gujrathi on time control, followed by double withdrawals helped in gaining the lead and ultimately winning the championships.[11]
In January 2019, Karthikeyan placed second in the Gibraltar Masters open tournament[12] among a field of over 250 players.[13] In June 2019, he placed second in the Asian championships,[14] aided by a win with black against Alireza Firouja in which Karthikeyan sacrificed his queen on move 9.[15] in 2023 Karthikeyan Murali became the only third Indian to beat Magnus Carlsen in classical chess.[16]
He was inducted in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for scholarship from 2014 to 2016. Later, he got employed in Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) since October 2017.