Kush Bhagat Wins Bronze in Open Chess Meet in Paris

Nine-year old Candidate Master Kush Bhagat, one of India's prodigious talents in chess has added another feather to his illustrious cap by securing a third-place finish in an open category meet in Paris. The youngster participated in the 4e Open International de Noisiel category-which has a rating category of 1400-2000 Elo points concluded yesterday in noisiel, Paris.

Leading the tournament at the end of the seventh round, the Student of American school of Bombay at BKC narrowly missed out on the title after losing the eighth round and securing a draw in the ninth. In the competition that saw the participation of 12 countries, Bhagat scored a total of six points out of the nine rounds and attained the third position.

Starting at the 18th seed, he got the better of top seed Favre Mathieu in the second round. In the third round, he got the better of Toure Shanthi who eventually went on to win the second place in the competition.

Bhagat, a student at the South Mumbai Chess Academy, gained a total of 118 ELO points to take his New rating tally to whopping 1800 ELO points.

He is a trainee under renowned coach and FIDE Master Balaji Guttula who was impressed with his ward's performance in French capital.

"This is a big victory for Kush in an open chess meet in Paris where he competed with the best players from across the world. It is good for him that he would play more such events in the future," he said.