2024-02-21 15:55:43
A child set a record in the history of chess. At 8 years, 6 months and 11 days old, Ashwath Kaushik made history by becoming the youngest chess player to beat a grandmaster in a classical chess tournament.
The Singapore-based boy achieved the feat after beating 37-year-old Jacek Stop of Poland in the fourth round of the Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open in Switzerland.
The previous record was set just last month by then-eight-year-old Leonid Ivanovich, who became the first player under the age of 9 to beat a grandmaster in a classic game – but according to Chess.com, Ashwath was five months younger than the Serb when he beat Stopa , bTV broadcasts.
“It felt really exciting and amazing and I felt proud of my game and the way I played, especially since at one point I was worse but I was able to get back into shape,” Kaushik told Chess.com after the win above the Stop.
Born in India in 2015, Ashwath has won a number of youth tournaments around the world — most notably after becoming the 2022 Under-8 Rapid World Champion, according to Chess.com.