A young star in rising in Kerala chess and the other day he inched closer to the prestigious International Master (IM) title.

Jubin Jimmy, a 16-year-old from Kollam is now just a step away from becoming an IM as he completed the second of the three requisite norms at the 28th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival that concluded Thursday.

Jubin scored victories over two IMs and drew with four others, including GM Temur Kuybokarov in Abu Dhabi making him eligible for the second IM norm.

Jubin's impressive performance in the Abu Dhabi event, which was won by Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi, is set to put him back in the 2300+ club of Elo ratings.

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That would make Jubin the fourth best-rated active Kerala player after GMs Nihal Sarin, SL Narayanan and IM K Rathnakaran.

"He got his first IM norm in Chennai in 2018 but due to lack of sponsorship we could not play in quality competitions regularly and that stalled his progress a bit," said Jubin's father Jimmy Joseph.

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