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Indian-origin Singapore boy becomes youngest to beat grandmaster

Kaushik works with strong coaches, including grandmaster Kevin Goh Wei Ming.

Ashwath Kaushik / (Image: FIDE)

Ashwath Kaushik, an Indian-origin boy from Singapore, emerged as the youngest chess player to defeat grandmaster Jacek Stopa (Poland) at the 22nd Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open in Switzerland. 

The eight-year-old Kaushik has reportedly joined the list of young talents who have defeated a grandmaster before the age of ten.
 



The game against the 37-year-old grandmaster marked Kaushik's fourth victory in the tournament. He finished the tournament in 12th place, even after being seeded 59th out of the 127 participants at the start, Indian Express reported.

Kaushik lost his final game to international master Harry Grieve. The tournament was won by Russian grandmaster Vitaly Kunin.

Commenting on his performance at the tournament, Kaushik, who is ranked 37,338 on the FIDE International Chess Federation told Chess.com, "It felt really exciting and amazing, and I felt proud of my game and how I played, especially since I was worse at one point but managed to come back from that."

The prodigy's elated father, Sriram Kaushik, was quoted as saying, "He solves long complex puzzles visually. He finished GM Jacob Aagaard’s entire Grandmaster series recently without using a board.”

Kaushik bagged triple gold in the Under-8 category of the Eastern Asian Youth Championship in 2022 at the age of six. He works with strong coaches, including grandmaster Kevin Goh Wei Ming, chief executive officer of the Singapore Chess Federation. 
 



According to Wei Ming, Kaushik is currently a member of the Under-14 squad and is being trained by grandmasters Thomas Luther and Andrey Kvon. Sharing the information on X, Wei Ming wrote, "At the age of 8 years, 6 months and 11 days, is this a record?"
 

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