Just a month after 8-year-old Leonid Ivanovic (Serbia) set a historical record and became the youngest chess player ever to beat the Grandmaster in classical chess, Ashwath Kaushik (Singapore) broke the record at the 22nd Burgdorfer Stadthaus Chess Open in Germany!
At the age of 8 years, 6 months and 11 days, Ashwath Kaushik defeated GM Jacek Stopa (POL, 2351) in the fourth round of a strong international open. Kaushik will now place himself on the first spot of the unofficial list of youngest chess players to beat those with the highest chess title. The previous record was held by Leonid Ivanovic who was 8 years, 11 months, 7 days old when he took a victory against Milko Popchev and stunned the world.
Seeded 59th in the 22nd Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open, Ashwath Kaushik scores impressive 4/4 in the tournament, and meets IM Harry Grieve in the fifth round. Kaushik currently performed with 2716 rating in the tournament (!) and he’s earned 84.8 ELO points so far. Results and rankings from the event can be found here.
Speaking for The Straits Times last year, Ashwath Kaushik spoke about his goals in chess saying that he aims to become a super grandmaster: “I hope to get to a 2,000+ ELO rating soon to get my candidate master title, and then become a super grandmaster (2,700+ rating) by playing attacking chess“. When he was asked if he intended to continue playing chess competitively, he nonchalantly said: “Yes, till I become the world champion.”
Anish Giri commented on the news with the short comment “8 is the new 12” referring to chess prodigies who became Grandmasters at the age of 12. Three years ago, Abhimanyu Mishra became the youngest player ever to qualify for the grandmaster title at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days, but with such performances seen by younger players, the record may be broken soon. Anish Giri himself became a Grandmaster at the age of 15, after FIDE’s approval of the title in June 2009.
