Isha Sharma becomes Karnataka's first and India's 27th Woman Grandmaster
21/11/2025 - Isha Sharma became India's 27th Woman Grandmaster at IM RR SahArt in Subotica, Serbia on 14th November 2025. She scored her final norm at that event last week. The first WIM of Karnataka, also became the state's first WGM. She earned her first IM and WGM-norm at Slovakia Open Piestany in July 2022. A little over a year later, she scored her second WGM-norm at 4th S M le Roi Mohammed VI Crown 2023 in Casablanca, Morocco. Two years and almost three months later, she earned her final WGM-norm. Her better half is IM Sharan Rao with whom she got married a few months ago. Thus, Karnataka's strongest chess couple got stronger. Her journey towards the next title - IM, continues. Photo: Shahid Ahmed