At the tender age of eight years, six months, and 11 days, Singaporean Ashwath Kaushik became the youngest player ever to defeat a grandmaster in classical tournament chess.
He beat out the previous record holder by 4 months after defeating Poland’s Jacek Stopa, 37, in round four of the Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open in Switzerland.
CNN describes his parents seeing the “inevitability” of their son spending more time than they did growing up looking at screens, and explained they tried to get out ahead of the habit by introducing the boy to the ancient board game through ChessKid.com.
Then as the pandemic arrived and Singaporean authorities instituted strict lockdowns, Kaushik had all the time in the world to practice.
“I feel proud of my game and how I played. I felt amazing, just unbelievable,” Ashwath told CNN Sport in the wake of his victory.
“I practice a lot each day,” Ashwath says. “A lot of children have a natural talent, so I think I’ve got a natural talent at chess.”
Born in India, Ashwath has been living with his family in Singapore for 6 years. In the Bergdorfer Open, he finished in 12th place after beating Stopa, and losing to International Master Harry Grieve. He is set to pick up 84 rating points, settling him at 1894—extremely close to the highest rating of any player under 8.
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His parents aren’t pushing him, they merely allow him the time and space to pursue chess as far as he wishes. He currently enjoys the personal coaching of Chess GM Kevin Goh Wei Ming, CEO of the Singapore Chess Foundation, and recently completed GM Jacob Aagaard’s entire Grandmaster series without using a board, something which Ashwath’s father attributes to his “photographic memory.”
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The coaches say his tactical nouse is very developed, but that he needs to work on his strategy.
His next stop? A 2,000 rating, and then world champion, the youth says.
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