The eight-year-old chess prodigy made history over the weekend by becoming the youngest player ever to defeat a grandmaster in an official tournament match.
Ashwath Kaushik, a young player from Singapore, defeated Poland’s Jacek Stopa, 37, in the fourth round of the Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open on Sunday, breaking the chess record just set last month by another 8-year-old player from Serbia, Leonid Ivanovic.
But Ashwath, who is five months younger than Ivanovic at 8 years, 6 months and 11 days, surpassed him by beating Stopa on Sunday in Switzerland.
“It felt really exciting and amazing, and I was proud of my game and how I played, especially because at one point I was worse, but I was able to come back from it,” the boy told Chess.com after wins over the grandmaster, the title is given to the highest ranking players in the game.
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Ashwath Kaushik.
Singapore Chess Federation/ Facebook
Only 12 players in the history of classical chess have beaten a grandmaster at the age of 10 or younger. All 12 of those matches have been held since 2011. Only Ashwath and Leonid have done it at the age of 8.
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Ashwath came into the tournament ranked number 59 out of 127 competitors, according to Chess.com. The Indian-born octogenarian finished 12th overall after losing his final game to International Master Harry Grieve — the second-highest grandmaster when it comes to chess ratings. Vitalij Kunin, the grandmaster, ultimately won the tournament in Switzerland.
But Ashwath’s days of winning competitive tournaments may not be far away. The eight-year-old has reportedly already made a name for himself in the chess community in recent years, winning several youth tournaments around the world.
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Ashwath won triple gold in the under-8 category at the 2022 East Asian Youth Championship when he was 6 years old, according to Chess.com, and later went on to win the under-8 World Rapid Championship tournament in the same year.
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His father, Kaushik Sriram, told the website that Ashwath started learning to play chess when he was 4, using ChessKid, a website dedicated to teaching children how to play the game. Ashwath’s father, who does not play chess, said his son also routinely played games against his grandparents when he was first learning to play.
Now, the eight-year-old spends up to seven hours a day studying the game and practicing against other competitive players.
“It’s surreal because there’s not really any sports tradition in our families,” Ashwath’s father told Chess.com. “Every day is a new discovery, and sometimes we stumble in search of the right path for it.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education