Newswise — A Texas Tech University Knight Raiders chess team member attained the chess world’s highest ranking by earning the final norm for a grandmaster title.

International Master Davorin Kuljasevic scored five wins and four draws at the 2010 Pula Open in Croatia to become the first Knight Raider to enter the elite ranks of the approximately 1,000 grandmasters worldwide.

The graduate finance student from Croatia now has the same ranking as legendary players Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov and Knight Raiders head coach Susan Polgar, noted Paul Truong, director of marketing for Texas Tech’s Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence.

“All the training and hard work by members of the Knight Raiders chess team with Susan Polgar during the year has paid off big time,” Truong said. “These players will also be wonderful ambassadors for Texas Tech and SPICE around the globe for years to come.”

Earlier this month, Kuljasevic scored three wins and three draws to help his team, Mladost Zagreb, win the Croatian Cup Team Championship.

International Master Gabor Papp earned his second grandmaster norm in June at the Mitropa Cup in Switzerland. He needs one more norm to earn the grandmaster title, which Truong said he will try to earn by the end of summer.