Eight-year-old boy Ashwath Kaushik makes history by defeating a grandmaster

SINGAPORE: Indian-origin Ashwath Kaushik became the youngest player to defeat a Grandmaster in classical chess. The eight-year-old Ashwath defeated Grandmaster Jacek Stopa in a tournament held in Switzerland on Sunday. Stopa is 37 years old.

Kaushik, who represented Singapore, defeated Stopa, who is nearly five times older than him. Kaushik was born in India but has been living in Singapore for the past six years. Kaushik garnered attention when he won triple gold in the under-8 category at the Eastern Asian Youth Championship in 2022 at the age of six.

Kaushik spends up to seven hours a day for chess. His father Sriram said that his son has a photographic memory. 'He can solve complex puzzles very quickly. He added that he recently completed G M Jacob Agad's entire Grandmaster Series without using a single board.

Recently, Serbian youngster Leonid Ivanovic beat 60-year-old Bulgarian Grandmaster Milko Popachev to win the record.