Bengaluru, May 16 -- In the oasis town of Al-Ain in Abu Dhabi, a group of young Indian chess players from Tamil Nadu have been training together, exchanging opening ideas, rigging up quick cricket sessions with squeeze balls and exam pads inside their coach's hotel room, and chasing GM norms. One of them - 19-year-old Srihari LR - checked off his final GM norm at the Asian Individual Men's Chess Championship, held in the eastern part of the UAE, becoming India's 86th Grandmaster. Between 2020 and 2023, India churned out 19 Grandmasters. Seven of them in 2023 alone. In 2024, just one new Indian GM was added - 32-year-old Shyaam Nikhil, whose final GM norm arrived after over a decade. After over a year's wait, India now has a new GM. Srihari ...