RomaniaEver since he was very young, Deac Bogdan-Daniel was very well known to be a talented young player and a real chess prodigy. — He acquired his FM title in 2014, probably upon reaching the mandatory rating qualification of 2300 in March 2014. He was awarded his first IM norm for his result at the Gibraltar Masters (2014), the second IM norm for his 7.5/11 at the Romanian Championship 2014 in May 2014, and his third IM norm for his result at the 29th Swarzach Open in Austria in August. As he had already achieved an official rating of 2400 in July 2014, his IM title took effect on 23 August 2014, at the 9th and final round of the Swarzacher Open when he clinched his final IM norm by drawing with GM Vitaly Kunin.
Two years later, he gained his GM title when he won his third GM norm at the Zalakaros Open on 4 June 2016, having won his first two GM norms at the Zalakaros Open in 2015 and at the Graz Open in February 2016. He had already reached the 2500 rating mark the previous month. He was both the youngest IM and GM in history at the time he obtained these titles
And even though he later slowed down a little bit and didn’t immediately storm the chess world (or top 10) as you might expect for someone with such potential, he recently joined the exclusive 2700 club and is knocking on the door of the world’s elite.
