GMLeon Luke Mendonca

Leon Luke Mendonca grew up in Goa and became an international master in 2019, shortly before his thirteenth birthday. Pandemic restrictions stranded him in Europe in March 2020, where he continued competing in the tournaments available. He earned his first grandmaster norm at the Rigochess tournament in Hungary that October. Within twenty-one days he won another tournament in Budapest to secure a second norm. In December he completed the requirements by finishing second at the Vergani Cup in Bassano del Grappa, Italy. He was fourteen years and nine months old. FIDE awarded the title in January 2021, making him India's sixty-seventh grandmaster and Goa's second. In January 2024 he won the Tata Steel Challengers tournament. That victory earned him a place in the 2025 Masters field.