Safal Bora

Safal Bora
Country	United States
Born	(1998-05-19) May 19, 1998 (age 26) Troy, Michigan
Title	International Master (2015)
FIDE rating	2501 (January 2025)
Peak rating	2501 (December 2024)

Safal Bora is an American chess player.  

Chess career

In March 2016, he earned his first GM norm at the Charlotte Chess Center GM norm tournament after winning his last three games of the event.[1]

In November 2018, he played for the University of Michigan's team at the Ivy Chess Challenge, where the team finished in 3rd place.[2]

In December 2023, he tied for second place with grandmasters Aram Hakobyan and Yasser Quesada at the SPICE Cup Chess Tournament.[3]

In July 2024, he achieved his final GM norm at the NYC Chess Norms tournament after defeating grandmaster Oliver Barbosa in the final round.[4] He then surpassed the 2500 rating mark in December 2024, achieving the GM title.

Personal life

He attended the University of Michigan for a bachelor of business administration and a bachelor of engineering. Off the chessboard, he works as a software engineer at Microsoft.[5] Safal co-wrote a research paper while studying at the University of Michigan - https://msp.org/involve/2024/17-3/involve-v17-n3-p01-p.pdf, https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.06136

References

1. Shahade, Jennifer (April 1, 2016). "3 Norms Earned in First Charlotte Chess Center Norm Invitationals".
2. Zhou, Qiyu (November 30, 2018). "Princeton wins Ivy Chess Challenge".
3. "13-Year-Old Prodigy Wins SPICE Cup Tournament". January 2, 2024.
4. Ostrovskiy, Alex (July 24, 2024). "Norms Earned, Rating Thresholds Reached, and Gotham Dominance Highlight July NYC Norms Invitational".
5. "Safal Bora".