Pravin Mahadeo Thipsay (born 12 August 1959) is an Indian

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player who holds the

FIDE title FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

of Grandmaster. He is the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster

Norm Norm, the Norm or NORM may refer to: In academic disciplines * Normativity, phenomenon of designating things as good or bad * Norm (geology), an estimate of the idealised mineral content of a rock * Norm (philosophy), a standard in normative e ...

and the first Indian to win the

Commonwealth Chess Championship The Commonwealth Chess Championship is a gathering of chess players from Commonwealth countries. The event offers direct titles: IM titles to the winners, and FM titles (and IM norms) to the Silver and Bronze medalists. Winners : Women Winners ...

Biography

In 1984, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

conferred its highest sports award, the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

on him. Thipsay won his first Grandmaster norm in the same year but he could not convert into the Grandmaster title within the stipulated five years.Hari Hara Nandanan,
The long awaited reward for Barua
', Indian Express, 1 February 1991 (accessed on 28 November, 2023) He won the

Indian Chess Championship The National Premier Chess Championship is the annual national chess championship of India. It was established in 1955 by the Andhra State Chess Association as a biannual event, but since 1971 it has been played yearly. The first edition was held ...

in 1982 (Kanpur), 1984 (Ahmedabad), 1985 (Tenali), 1989 (Bikaner), 1992, 1993 and 1994 and played for India in the

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...

s of 1982, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998 and 2002. He was the Joint Silver Medalist in the

in 1986 (London), in 1989(London), in 1991 (London), in 1994 (London), in 1996 (Kolkata, India), while he won the bronze medals in the

in 1999 (Bikaner, India), in 2000 (Sangli, India) and in 2004 (Mumbai, India). He was also the Individual Gold Medalist in Asian Teams Chess Championships in 1983 (New Delhi, India) and in 2003 (Jodhpur, India) In 1985, Thipsay tied for first with

Kevin Spraggett Kevin Spraggett (born November 10, 1954, in Montreal) is a Canadian chess grandmaster. He was the first Canadian-born player and fourth Canadian overall to earn the grandmaster title, after Abe Yanofsky, Duncan Suttles and Peter Biyiasas. ...

in the

. In 1998, he tied for 4-7th with

Sergey Zagrebelny Sergey Zagrebelny (; born April 9, 1965) is an Uzbekistani chess Grandmaster (1993). Career In 1988 and 1990 he won the Uzbekistani Chess Championship. In 1992, as a member of the Uzbekistan national team, he won two silver medals (team and in ...

, Mohamad Al-Modiahki and Amanmurad Kakageldyev in the

Asian Chess Championship The Asian Chess Championship is a chess tournament open to all players from Asian chess federations (FIDE zones from 3.1 to 3.8). It is held with the Swiss system and consists of two divisions, Open and Women's, the latter of which is reserved to ...

in Tehran, in 2004 tied for 2nd–6th behind

Marat Dzhumaev Marat Dzhumaev (born 12 January 1976) is an Uzbekistani chess Grandmaster (2001) and twice national champion (2012, 2015). He played for Uzbekistan in the Chess Olympiads of 2000 and 2002, in the World Team Chess Championship of 2001 and in th ...

in Pune and in the same year tied for 2nd–3rd with

Saidali Iuldachev Saidali Iuldachev (; born January 31, 1968) is an Uzbekistani chess Grandmaster (1997). He won Uzbekistani Chess Championship in 1993 and 2003. In 2004 he tied for 2nd–4th with Praveen Thipsay and Chakkravarthy Deepan in the Piloo Mody In ...

and Chakkravarthy Deepan in Lucknow. In 2007, he won the FIDE Rated All India Open Chess Tournament in Mangalore. According to

Chessmetrics Chessmetrics is a system for rating chess players devised by Jeff Sonas. It is intended as an improvement over the Elo and Edo rating systems. Implementation Chessmetrics is a weighted average of past performance. The score considers a player's ...

, at his peak in August 1981 Thipsay's play was equivalent to a rating of 2571, and he was ranked number 141 in the world. His best single performance was at Brighton (BCF Championship) 1984, where he scored 6,5 of 10 possible points (65%) against 2549-rated opposition, for a

performance rating The PR (performance rating, P-rating, or Pentium rating) system was a figure of merit developed by AMD, Cyrix, IBM Microelectronics and SGS-Thomson in the mid-1990s as a method of comparing their x86 processors to those of rival Intel. The idea ...

of 2623. In 1997, he became the third Indian to attain the Grandmaster title after

Anand Anand may refer to: People * Anand (name), a surname and given name (including a list of people with the name) * Anand (clan), a clan of an Indian caste * Anand (actor), Indian actor * Anand (Maoist), Indian communist * Anand (writer) (born 1936 ...

and

Dibyendu Barua Dibyendu Barua (born 27 October 1966) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He is a three-time Indian Chess Champion. He was the second Indian chess player, after Viswanathan Anand, second Bengali after Niaz Murshed, and third South Asian after ...

. He used to play on FIDE online arena with the username "Thipsay" and on ChessCube with the username "Hyunthi". Pravin Thipsay is married to

Woman International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

Bhagyashree Sathe Thipsay. The Former Judge of Bombay High Court

Abhay Thipsay Justice Abhay Mahadeo Thipsay (born 10 March 1955, in Bombay) is a retired judge of the Bombay High Court and the Allahabad High Court.Pravin Thipsay - Articles - New In Chess
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thipsay, Pravin 1959 births Living people Indian chess players Chess Grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Recipients of the Arjuna Award Chess players from Mumbai