Murali Karthikeyan won his Grandmaster title at the age of 15 years 7 months and 17 days.

The then-untitled 12-year old Karthikeyan scored 5.5/9 at Hastings Congress (2011/12), achieving a plus score of +1 =3 against the 4 IMs he faced (the win being against the Frenchman Maxence Godard). At the 10th Parsvnath International Open held in Delhi in January 2012, he scored 7.5/11 recording a plus score against 3 GMs and against 3 IMs, scoring +1 =2 against each group. His GM scalp was Richard Bitoon while his sole loss in the event was to Bhave Kaushik (rated 1868). Good results in the National Team Championships (4/8) in February and in the 14th Dubai Open (2012) (5/9) boosted his rating further. He scored his 1st IM norm at the Orissa GM Open in May 2012. In June 2012, he came =1st in the Asian Youth Chess Championships 2012 Under 14 Open. He scored his 2nd IM norm at the Al Ain Classic and World Cities in December 2012 and his 3rd IM norm and 1st GM norm at the 11th Delhi International Open in January 2013, achieving his 2400 rating at the same time. He placed =1st alongside Ghosh Diptayan in the Indian National Sub-Junior Championship held in West Bengal in August 2013, scoring 9/11. He finished 2013 with a flourish, picking up his 2nd GM norm at the Kokata Open and winning the World U16 Championship.

Karthikeyan started 2014 placing =7th with 7/10 at the Delhi Open in January 2014. In August 2014, he placed a superb 3rd at the Abu Dhabi Masters, scoring 6.5/9, including 5.5/8 against his grandmaster opponents, and easily scoring his 3rd GM norm. He met the final criterion for achieving his GM title when his rating passed the 2500 mark during the U16 Olympiad on 18 December 2014 after defeating Canada's Jason Cao in round 7. During that event, he played board 2 for India, scoring 8/10.

He is the second player born in 1999 to have won a GM title, the first being Wei Yi.