After Raunak Sadhwani and Swapnil Dhopade, IM Sankalp Gupta is all set to become another GM from the region when he earned his first GM norm in the Serbia tournament on Thursday.
Gupta who was just half-point short of earning GM norm played out a draw with country mate Shantanu Bhambure. Now after nine rounds he has seven points to his credit.
On his way to GM norm Gupta whose ELO rating is 2446 defeated FM Acor Corey of USA in the first round. In the second round Gupta stunned GM Damljanovic Branko of host Serbia. In the third round, continuing his winning streak, Sankalp surprised another GM Dizdarevic Emir. In the fourth round, Gupta overcame his country mate Rittiz Parab. The fifth round saw Sankalp defeating Russian IM Makarian Rudik to take his points tally to five. However, his winning streak was halted in the sixth round when he played out a draw against GM Kosia Dragan. In the seventh round he bounded back and went on to win against Rahul VS of India.