Geetha Narayanan Gopal

Geetha Narayanan Gopal is an Indian chess master from Kerala. He was born on 29th March 1989 (Age: 27). He had created a history in the world of chess by becoming Kerala's youngest Grand Master at the age of 18. His current FIDE rating is 2579 (February 2017), and Peak rating is 2611 (July 2010). He had also received the prestigious Tigran Mets Medal as a joint winner in the Lake Sevan 2007. The Tigran Mets Medal is a very special honor of the Republic of Armenia. Geetha Narayanan Gopal was born in a Nair family, to Prof. B. Narayanan Pillai and Prof. Geetha Prakasini in Muvattupuzha, Kerala. G.N Gopal has an older brother Gokul who is a Computer Engineer. He started with chess when he was ten years old with the guidance of his father, and it immediately became a major part of his life since then.

He was initially trained by TM Sankaran Namboothiripad and then later trained by Ruslan Scherbakov and Evgeny Vladimirov. G.N Gopal bagged the title of Kerala's first Grand Master in 2007 at the age of 18 and became the International Grand master in 2006 at the age of 17. His achievements are extraordinary as he was the only one to become a Grand master after just eight years of taking up chess. He became the National Junior Champion when he was 15 years old and won his first international championship in Dubai Juniors, Dubai (2003). He was a part of the four members of the Indian team in the India-Israel championship in April 2012, where India won the match against Israel. He had also represented Indian in the World Mind Sports Games (WMSG), Beijing in 2008, which was held for the very first time.

He has also secured a bronze medal in Asian Games which was organized in Guangzhou, China on November 2010 and also in the World Team Championship at Bursa, Turkey in 2010. He has received a silver medal in Asian team championship, China (May 2012) and much more. In 2009, the All India Chess Federation had barred him from participating in any chess championship as he hadn't played any National Championship. However, the AICF was charged with arbitrariness, and the ban was lifted subsequently. G.N Gopal works as an Executive (Sports) in Bharat Petroleum and is currently living in Aluva. Gopal has popularized the effect of chess in Kerala like Vishwanathan Anand has done in the country.