Akshayraj Kore

Background

Kore was born on 1 September 1988 in Ahmednagar, India.

Education

He graduated in Bachelor of Engineering, Computer from Marathwada Mitramandal"s College Of Engineering University of Pune. Although seeded 49th at the start of the championship he finished in the top 10.

Career

In February 2013, he became India"s 32nd Grandmaster. Shortly thereafter his family moved to Sangli, Maharashtra, India. In 1996, his family moved to Pune.

There he went to MAEER"s Massachusetts Institute of Technology High School and the MAEER"s Massachusetts Institute of Technology Junior College.

Early career (1998-2006)

Kore was initially coached by Narhar Venkatesh, a well known chess coach, also known as Bhausaheb Padasalgikar. He had also previously coached Swati Ghate and Bhagyashree Sathe-Thipsay, well known Indian female chess players.

He also represented India in the under 12 World Youth Chess Championship (boys), 2000. In early 2001, Sekhar Chandra Sahu, IM, accepted the offer to coach him.

Later that year he increased his ELO rating to 2300+ by his performance in the National B Chess Championship, 2002.

He played on the first board. The medal was the first one for the country in an Olympiad. In Piloo Mody International Open Chess Tournament, Lucknow, 2004 he beat General Motors Pavel Kotsur.

In the 7th United Insurance & United Leasing Grand Masters"s Chess Tournament, Dhaka, 2005, he beat Ukrainian General Motors Ruslan Pogorelov.

In 2006, he gained his second IM norm in Alushta Summer 2 Invitational IM Norm Round Robin Tournament at Alushta, Ukraine. He gained his third and final norm in a tournament in Luhansk, Ukraine by winning the Invitational IM Norm Round Robin Chess Tournament, scoring 12 points in 16 games.

He received a special appreciation for his combination in the 5th round against Soshnikov Mikhail. Post IM career

Kore played a blitz qualifier for National Rapid Knockout Chess Championship in July 2006 held at the Poona Club, Pune.

He took a hiatus from chess concentrating on his Engineering studies but continued to play tournaments at irregular intervals.

During this period, Kore stood joint-third in the Indian National Challengers Chess Championship, 2008. In the penultimate round he managed to beat General Motors Neelotpal Das from a highly inferior position, thus securing one out of nine qualifying spots for the Indian National Premier Chess Championship, 2008 with a round to spare. In the Indian National Premier Chess Championship, he beat General Motors Parimarjan Negi in one of the rounds.

Since 2012

Kore has been playing active chess since January 2012.

In the 4th Rethymno International Chess Tournament, in Rethymno, Greece, he stood 2nd, thus getting his 2nd General Motors norm with a Total Performance Rating (TPR) of 2660.

Achievements

• In 2006, he became Maharashtra"s youngest International Master at the time after he won the Invitational IM Norm Round Robin Chess Tournament in Luhansk, Ukraine. He won a state silver medal in the under 12 age category in 1999. In 2000, he won the State Championship. That year Kore won the bronze medal in the U-16 Sub-Junior National Chess Championship. The next year Raj won the National U-14 Rapid Chess Championship. The same year, he also won the silver medal in U-16 Sub-Junior National Chess Championship. He played fewer games due to examinations, but in 2003, he won the U-16 Commonwealth Chess Championship and was a member of the team which won the bronze medal at The Youth Chess Olympiad held at Denizli, Turkey. In 2004 he won his first International Master norm in Alushta 3 2004 Intrnational, Ukraine and also increased his rating to 2400+. He won the tournament with a round to spare scoring 8 points in the first eight rounds. He stood joint 2nd in SDAT – RMK 4th Chennai International Open Tournament, also achieving his 1st General Motors norm in the process.