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Akshayraj Kore
Kore GM Chess Paris.jpg
Kore in 2013
Country India
Born (1988-09-01) 1 September 1988 (age 36)
Ahmednagar, India
Title Grandmaster (2013)
FIDE rating 2482 (July 2025)
Peak rating 2512 (March 2013)

Akshayraj Kore (born 1 September 1988) is an Indian chess player. He is a Grandmaster, which is the highest title a chess player can get.

In 2006, he became Maharashtra's youngest International Master. An International Master (IM) is another high title in chess. He earned this title after winning a special tournament in Luhansk, Ukraine. Later, in February 2013, he became India's 32nd Grandmaster.

About Akshayraj Kore

His Early Life

Akshayraj Kore was born on September 1, 1988, in Ahmednagar, India. His family soon moved to Sangli, Maharashtra. In 1996, they moved to Pune. There, he went to MAEER's MIT High School and Junior College. He later studied Computer Engineering at the University of Pune.

His Chess Journey Begins (1998–2006)

Akshayraj started his chess training with Narhar Venkatesh. This coach was well-known for teaching other famous Indian female chess players.

  • In 1999, Akshayraj won a silver medal in the state championship for players under 12.
  • He won the State Championship in 2000.
  • He also played for India in the 2000 World Youth Chess Championship for boys under 12. He was ranked 49th but finished in the top 10!
Kore vs. Soshnikov, Luhansk 2006


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Kore's smart move in a 2006 game.
White plays 36.Qc5+! and wins in five moves.

In 2001, International Master Sekhar Chandra Sahu became his coach. That year, Akshayraj won a bronze medal in the U-16 Sub-Junior National Chess Championship. The next year, he won the National U-14 Rapid Chess Championship. He also got a silver medal in the U-16 Sub-Junior National Chess Championship. His ELO rating, which measures a player's skill, went over 2300 in 2002.

He played fewer games for a while because of school exams. But in 2003, he won the U-16 Commonwealth Chess Championship. He was also part of the team that won a bronze medal at The Youth Chess Olympiad in Turkey. This was the first medal for India in a Youth Olympiad!

In 2004, he earned his first International Master "norm" in Ukraine. A norm is a high-level performance needed to get a chess title. His rating also went over 2400. He beat Grandmaster Pavel Kotsur in a tournament in India. In 2005, he beat Ukrainian Grandmaster Ruslan Pogorelov in Bangladesh.

In 2006, he earned his second IM norm in Ukraine. He got his third and final IM norm in a tournament in Luhansk, Ukraine. He scored 12 points out of 16 games and became an International Master. He was even praised for a clever move he made in one game!

After Becoming an International Master

In July 2006, Akshayraj won a blitz chess tournament in Pune. He won with one round to spare, scoring 8 points in his first eight games.

He took a break from chess to focus on his engineering studies. But he still played in tournaments sometimes. During this time, in 2008, he finished joint-third in the Indian National Challengers Chess Championship. He qualified for the Indian National Premier Chess Championship. In that championship, he even beat Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi.

Kore vs. Satyapragyan, Manglore 2008
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From the Indian National Premier Chess Championship, 2008.
White played 17.Bxg7!?
Kore's sacrifice helped him win the game.
Negi vs. Kore, Manglore 2008
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From the Indian National Premier Chess Championship, 2008.
Negi gave up after Black played 42....Rb4+.

Becoming a Grandmaster (Since 2012)

Akshayraj started playing chess actively again in January 2012. He finished joint-second in a tournament in Chennai, India. This helped him earn his first Grandmaster (GM) norm.

  • In Greece, he finished second in another tournament, getting his second GM norm. His performance rating was very high, at 2660.
  • His third GM norm came at a tournament in Rochefort, France, in 2013.
  • At the Cannes Chess Festival in France, he earned his fourth GM norm. He also met the rating requirements to become a Grandmaster. He even won that tournament with an amazing performance rating of 2743!

Akshayraj Kore was officially given the "Grandmaster" title by FIDE (the world chess organization) in April 2013.

In late 2013, Kore started a graduate program in Computer Science in the United States. He helped his university chess team reach the finals of the President's Cup. In one exciting game in 2013, he beat GM Julio Sadorra. His king even walked all over the board! This game was important for his team's victory.

Sadorra vs. Kore, Lubbock 2013
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From the Pan-Am InterCollegiate Chess Championship, 2013.
Kore won after his own King made a long journey to the center of the board.
So vs. Kore, New York 2014
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From the President's Cup, 2014.
Kore surprised everyone by beating Wesley So, who was ranked 12th in the world at the time.
This was Wesley So's last loss for a whole year!

At the President's Cup in 2014, Kore caused a big upset by beating Wesley So, who was a rising star. Kore was praised for his original and aggressive playing style. Later that year, he tied for first place at the Atlantic Open 2014 tournament.

Chess Coaching

Akshayraj Kore has also been a successful chess coach.

He has helped train young chess players since he became an International Master in 2006.

  • He coached Abhimanyu Puranik, an Indian chess player, before the U-10 World Chess Championship in 2010. Puranik won a bronze medal there and later became a Grandmaster in 2017.
  • Shardul Ghagare also trained with Kore in 2011 and is now a Grandmaster himself.
  • Kore also worked with Advait Patel, a young American chess player, in 2013.
  • He has also helped his friend and fellow Grandmaster, Abhijeet Gupta, in some tournaments.
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