The 8-year-old chess prodigy defeated 37-year-old Polish grandmaster Jacek Stopa in a tournament held in Switzerland.
An 8-year-old chess prodigy made history by becoming the youngest player to defeat a grandmaster in an official tournament match. The precocious competitor, Ashwath Kaushik from Singapore, beat 37-year-old Polish grandmaster Jacek Stopa in the fourth round of the ‘Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open’ in Switzerland.
According to Chess.com, Kaushik broke a chess record previously set last month by another player, an 8-year-old Serbian boy named Leonid Ivanovic, but Kaushik is five months younger than Ivanovic. The site reports that Kaushik is now the youngest player to win against a grandmaster in an official game at the age of eight years, six months, and 11 days.
The elementary school student began playing chess at the age of four and quickly mastered the game; Kaushik Sriram, the prodigy’s father, told the site that neither he nor his wife play chess and that their son learned from his grandparents; “It’s surreal,” he declared.
Ashwath, who was born in India, plays about seven hours a day and hones his skills using an old chess program; his father says he has a photographic memory, and one of his coaches, grandmaster Kevin Goh, praised the boy for being “tactically very astute” and also his family for their support while remembering he is still a child.
“His family is extremely supportive and also doesn’t put excessive pressure on him, letting the boy pursue his own goals,” Goh told Chess.com; “We are proud of Ashwath, but we also don’t set goals for him and let him grow at his own pace. Him breaking this world record is simply a bonus.”
Only 12 players in the history of classical chess have defeated a grandmaster at the age of 10 or younger; only Ashwath and Leonid have achieved this feat at the age of 8.