Congratulations to Kingston member Ameet Ghasi on his tremendous achievement in gaining the grandmaster title at the age of 37
Earlier this week came the heartening news that IM Ameet Ghasi had secured (subject to Fide ratification) the third and final norm he needed to be awarded the grandmaster title. He got the all-important final norm at a very strong tournament in Fagernes, Norway, where he came joint third with 6.5/9 and recorded a tournament performance of 2609.
It will have pleased Ameet that his good friend, 21-year-old IM Jonah Willow, with whom he has recently trained, secured his first GM norm with 7/9 and a tournament performance of 2630, which gained him joint first place alongside Kazakh grandmaster Rinat Jumabayev, a two-time champion of Kazakhstan and a player with a peak rating above 2650.
Ameet is England’s 42nd GM and the oldest to win the title in active competition (Jonathan Penrose was awarded the title retrospectively in 1993 at the age of 60). It marks a neat double this year, as in August 15-year-old Shreyas Royal became the UK’s youngest ever GM.
Ameet would have achieved the GM title decades ago were it not for the fact that he prioritised getting a degree and working full time as an accountant. What is remarkable about his achievement is that he has made it to GM as an amateur player and after taking an eight-year break from the game. His great natural talent was underlined when in 2000, at the age of just 13, he shared first prize in the British Rapidplay Chess Championships. In 2015 he again shared the title, this time with Mark Hebden, and in 2023 he won it outright.
Chess journalist John Saunders dug out his British Chess Magazine report on the 13-year-old Ameet’s remarkable performance back in 2000: “About 400 players took part in the British Rapidplay Championships at Leeds Metropolitan University over the weekend of 18/19 November. There were five grandmasters among the 47 entrants in the Open, which had been won by Michael Adams in 1999. There was a two-way tie for first place between Aaron Summerscale and 13-year-old Ameet Ghasi. This was a sensational performance by the youngster from Birmingham, who plays for Slough second team in the 4NCL. After a steady start, during which he drew with experienced IMs Ferguson, Turner and Williams, he reeled off four successive wins in the final rounds, including the scalps of grandmasters Arkell and Hebden.”
Saunders was delighted by confirmation 24 years later of the Birmingham schoolboy’s prodigious talent. “I’ve been following Ameet’s progress avidly via the [English Chess] Forum these past few days. It was on the 65 bus from Richmond to home, browsing the Forum on my smartphone, that I first read that Ameet had achieved his title. I surprised myself (and my wife Elaine rather more) when I punched the air with pleasure on reading the news. Yesterday I sent Ameet a congratulatory message, mentioning his remarkable feat in defeating Hebden and Arkell on the same day aged 13. That should have counted as a GM norm in itself!”
Kingston club president John Foley also expressed his delight at the news in the October Kingston Chess Club Bulletin, publication of which fortuitously occurred on the very day Ameet secured the title. “This is a remarkable achievement for an amateur player who, in the real world, is an internal auditor for an American pharmaceutical company, which leaves him little time to devote to chess,” he wrote. ” It is a tribute to Ameet’s grit and determination that he carried this personal project though to a successful conclusion.”
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Ameet. “It’s like a huge milestone, and one that was challenging enough for me. But I can’t say I’ve been celebrating. It’s more just a relief, to be honest. I’ve been given a tag for many years, since I won the British Rapid event at the age of 13, of being a rapid and blitz specialist who should be a GM. Covid didn’t help, and I’ve always been basically working full time. I also took a long break from chess, so there were reasons for the delay. It’s been frustrating, but It’s good that it’s done now. That’s the main thing.”
Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain
* Thanks to John Saunders, former editor of both British Chess Magazine and Chess, for allowing us to use his photographs of Ameet playing Shreyas Royal at the 2023/24 Hastings Congress and in action for Kingston against Epsom. John also kindly allowed us to quote his BCM report on the British Rapidplay Chess Championships in 2000 at which Ameet first came to national prominence.
** Note to GM-elect Ghasi: Are you by any chance available for the first-team match against Coulsdon on Monday? 7.30pm start and we might be able to go halves on your ticket from Clapham Junction as conditions for playing.
