India’s Sarwagya Singh Kushwaha has become the youngest player in chess history to earn an official Fide rating at the age of three years, seven months and 20 days.
The chess prodigy edged out the previous record of compatriot Anish Sarkar, who was three years, eight months and 19 days when he reached the milestone in November last year.
Kushwaha, who is enrolled in nursery school in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, holds a rapid rating of 1,572. To achieve a rating from Fide, the International Chess Federation, a player needs to beat at least one Fide-rated player.
He practises for four or five hours each day, one of which is spent at a chess training centre and the rest spent playing online games and learning tactics.
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A rating is a score that measures a chess player’s strengths based on their performances and is not the same as a ranking. World No 1 Magnus Carlsen is the top in rapid chess with a rating of 2,824.
“It’s a matter of great pride and honour for us that our son has become the youngest chess player in the world to achieve a FIDE ranking,” Kushwaha’s father Siddharth Singh told Indian news channel ETV Bharat. “We want him to become a grandmaster.”
Kushwaha defeated three rated players in events across his state and other parts of the country to secure his record-breaking status.
India has form for producing chess grandmasters and has a number of top stars including latest world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and five-time World Cup winner Viswanathan Anand.
