PR from Leon Watson

[John Upham]

The latest PR from Leon Watson / ECF:

"England’s newest and OLDEST to qualify as chess grandmaster: Ameet Ghasi, from Birmingham, earns title aged 37



Ameet Ghasi, a grandmaster at 37. Photo: Brendan O'Gorman / ECF

• Ghasi, from Birmingham, is England’s 42nd grandmaster
• England’s youngest Shreyas Royal also qualified this year
• Leamington Spa hosts the UK Open Blitz Champs on Nov 16



If you thought only chess prodigies become grandmasters these days, you are mistaken. England’s newest chess grandmaster Ameet Ghasi has shown age is no barrier to chess success after qualifying for the title aged 37.

Ghasi, from Birmingham, becomes England’s 42nd grandmaster and second to qualify for the honour this year. No English player has qualified at an older age.

It comes after 15-year-old Shreyas Royal, from London, broke the age record to become the UK’s youngest-ever grandmaster in August. Qualifying for grandmaster is also extremely rare: Ghasi and Royal are only the fourth and fifth English Chess Federation players to do so since 2014.

Ghasi, who works full-time for pharmaceutical company Biogen, cleared the final hurdle at the weekend by scoring 6.5/9 in the Fagernes International tournament in Norway. He is now a GM-elect, awaiting confirmation of his title from FIDE.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Ghasi said, talking about his journey to achieving the three “norms” he needed. “It's like a huge milestone, and one that was challenging enough for me. But I can't say I've been celebrating. It's more just a relief, to be honest. I've been given a tag for many years, since I won the British Rapid event at the age of 13, of being a rapid and blitz specialist who should be a GM.

“Covid didn’t help and I've always been basically full time working. I also took a long break from chess, about eight years, so when I look back in totality there were reasons for [getting the title] to be slightly delayed. But it's been frustrating. It's good that it's done now. That's the main thing.”

He added: “I'm 80 per cent working, 20 per cent chess at the moment, but even that only started a few months ago.”

Ghasi is only the third grandmaster to come from Birmingham after the legendary Tony Miles, the first Englishman to earn the grandmaster title in 1976, and Keith Arkell, the previous oldest to qualify. Jonathan Penrose, the 10-time British champion, was awarded the honorary title of Grandmaster Emeritus in 1993 aged 60.



Ameet Ghasi, England's newest GM. Photo: Brendan O'Gorman / ECF

Miles was an England international who played at the highest level in the 1980s and hit a peak world ranking of nine. He died in 2001.

Ghasi said he was “very fortunate” as a junior to have known Miles who would “occasionally rock up” on a Saturday to the Checkmate! Birmingham chess club. Both were former pupils of King Edward's School in Edgbaston.

“Mike Fox and Geoff Lawton were my actual coaches up until the age of 11 or 12,” Ghasi added. “But I was very lucky and fortunate to have the opportunity to spend a lot of time playing with Tony Miles as well.

“He was just a legendary figure, a very inspirational character. He was one of the nicest coaches, and one of the nicest people, who ever came to the club.”

On taking the age qualification record from fellow Brummie Arkell, Ghasi said: “Keith held on to it for a long time. But I think we have good banter. He's told me that he's happy for me to take that off him.”

Ghasi, who flew back to the UK on Monday, added: “There's been a lot of support from friends and family. I've got a lot of family and friends in England, but also even from India, where I originate from. So I've been receiving a lot of messages and it's been a bit crazy for the last day or so.”



The Fagernes event also saw 21-year-old Jonah Willow, from Nottingham, pick up his first GM “norm” for a grandmaster-level performance. Willow, currently an international master, finished second overall in Norway.

He needs two more grandmaster norms at future events and to push his rating above 2500 to follow Ghasi and Royal.

Malcolm Pein, the English Chess Federation’s Director of International Chess, said: “Two new grandmasters in the same year is a huge boost for English chess.

“Ameet has worked extremely hard, playing as an amateur throughout his career. He follows in the footsteps of England’s first GM Tony Miles, under who he studied in Birmingham 30 years ago.

“The English Chess Federation is grateful for the support of the DCMS through the grant for elite chess. This enabled both Shreyas Royal and Ameet to be able to compete at the levels required to secure the game’s highest honour."

Royal will feature in the upcoming UK Open Blitz Championships on November 16 at the Woodland Grange Hotel in Leamington Spa.



About the English Chess Federation:

The English Chess Federation (ECF) is the governing chess organisation in England and is affiliated to FIDE (the Fédération Internationale des Échecs). Its mission is to promote the game of chess, in all its forms, as an attractive means of cultural and personal advancement to the widest possible public. In addition, the ECF exists to develop chess by creating the means to enable the highest forms of chess excellence to be achieved, and to expand the game as a social and sporting activity.

For more information contact:

Leon Watson
English Chess Federation
[email protected]
07786078770

--ENDS--


"

[Richard Bates]

Nice write-up.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Jonathan Penrose, the 10-time British champion, was awarded the honorary title of Grandmaster Emeritus in 1993 aged 60.

I thought Leonard Barden had cleared that up years ago and that Jonathan Penrose's Grandmaster title was a "real" one, not emeritus; based on evidence that Leonard and Bob Wade presented to FIDE. (see viewtopic.php?f=27&t=632&start=15#p7787). Since the final performance that was presented as being GM norm strength was in 1968, perhaps you could argue that Jonathan Penrose became a Grandmaster then, at the age of 34/35.