Indian teenager Aarav Dengla wins oldest French chess tournament moved out of Paris for Olympics

Indian teenager Aarav Dengla won the 2024 Grand Paris Masters Championship, the oldest French chess tournament last Sunday. The tournament was conducted outside the capital city for the first time due to the upcoming Olympic Games.

Held at the Blanche de Castille High School in Villemomble outside Paris, the Masters chess event had 250 players in contention for the coveted title. The 15-year-old Dengla took the spotlight in the Masters tournament. Dengla achieved a perfect score of 7 points to secure a clear victory to mark his first Parisian championship title. He finished ahead of his compatriot Dalvi Aaakash who received an International Master (IM) norm.

“I started learning (chess) when I was five. I played my first few day tournaments when I was six. Since then I’ve always been in love with the game,” Dengla had told chess.com in 2022 after he received his first IM norm.

“Initially, it started out as a hobby. My mom taught it to me and within three-four weeks, I was playing in local tournaments. After a while, I began playing in FIDE tournaments and that’s when I wanted to get a bit further into chess and become a grandmaster,” Dengla added.

In 2016, Dengla had set a then record for becoming the youngest gold medal winner at the under-10 Mumbai School Sports Association (MSSA) chess tournament, shortly after his seventh birthday.

This win is special for Dengla, having previously earned his first and third IM norms at the tournament in 2022 and 2023. He was handed the IM title during the first FIDE Council in 2024. Russian Grandmaster (GM) Andrei Shchekachev shared the podium and won the title of 2024 Party Champion.

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