Chess: WGM Vantika Agrawal Rises To India No. 3 Rank

Rising Indian chess player Vantika Agrawal continues to take rapid strides in her career as she achieved career-high rank of India No. 3 in the womens section with a total of 2428 rating points.

The 21-year-old, who was part of the 2020 Olympiad-winning Indian team, has been impressive in her recent outings as she added 61 points from her last four international tournaments, which also includes becoming women`s champion at the Menorca Open in Spain.

"It`s an amazing feeling to become India No. 3. Honestly, I knew that I would do this but wasn`t expecting it to happen this quickly. I managed to increase rankings in the last four tournaments and get this spot," said an elated Vantika, in a media release. 

"I will not stop here and keep working harder so that I can get the Grandmaster title and become India No. 1, that`s my aim. To achieve that, I will need to play more strong tournaments now," she added.

The @FIDE_chess Rating lists for the month of May are out, and we have a youngster rapidly rising the ranks - IM Vantika Agrawal! Vantika is now the India no. 3 female player with a rating of 2428, second only to the 2 female Grandmasters of the country - Koneru Humpy and Harika… pic.twitter.com/UgX8kHKHw7

— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) May 3, 2023

Women`s Grandmaster Vantika has been a consistent performer on the international circuit. She also became the 11th Indian woman to attain the International Master title last month.

The Noida resident Vantika will look to continue her brilliant show when she plays some top tournaments later in order to prepare for the 2022 Asian Games, to be played in Hangzhou, China from September 28 to October 8.

The youngster is also confident of becoming Grandmaster this year as she required three GM norms and cross 2500 rating points to achieve that title.