India’s Tamizh Amudhan Bags FIDE Commonwealth Youth Rapid Under-10 Open Title

Tamizh Amudhan, an 8-year-old chess master from India, has been making headlines again after winning his first title at the Commonwealth Youth Chess Championship for U-10 age players. The championship was held in Kalutara, Sri Lanka.

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During the tournament, Tamizh scored 6 out of 7 points in the field of 25 players, to finish in the top 2 of the tournament and appoint himself as one of India’s best adolescent players by winning the championship.

Recently, Tamizh has gained attention when he defeated World Number-7 in an online Freestyle Friday from his home in Sivaski, Tamil Nadu. Tamizh lost only one game at the tournament to Candidates Master Sattwik Swain from Odisha, but had several other incredible wins by defeating K, Kavish Palaniappan from Tamil Nadu.

India dominates the podium in the Under-10 category

At the Under-10 Open, the Indian team had no trouble taking all three of the top three positions in the rapid portion of the tournament.

Kavish Palaniappan won the silver medal, while Sattwik Swain earned a bronze medal and helped showcase India’s strength in the junior chess arena across multiple age groups.

Tamizh Bhavan was also an eight-and-a-half-year-old boy competing in the Under-11 boys’ section of the FIDE Commonwealth Chess Championship, which added to the overall significance of his first appearance in that particular class.

His win was notable since he was competing a full class above his actual class level during the tournament.

The recent success of young players who have come out of various Indian states such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha is evidence of the increase in the number of junior chess players competing internationally.

Tamil Nadu is especially establishing itself as one of the foremost chess centres in India as a result of the previous success of players like R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh.

Tamizh Amudhan’s Strong start in the classical section

The campaign of Tamizh Amudhan is not complete in Sri Lanka, as he also competes in the classical division of the Commonwealth Championship, where Tamizh has so far enjoyed an impressive run with 3 wins from his first 3 rounds; if he continues his current form through the remaining rounds, then he should have a good chance to finish on the podium.

Gruelling travel schedule before title win

This win is even more important and memorable because he really had to work hard to reach Sri Lanka after a hectic schedule. Before the Commonwealth event, Tamizh was playing at the Tamil Nadu Under-9 State Championships in Chengalpattu, where he had been leading the Championship in 8 rounds, but chose to leave halfway through to represent India internationally.

“In the State Championships, the 9th round game was starting at 9:00 AM and matches in Sri Lanka were also starting at 9:30 AM. After the 8th round was completed at 8:30 PM, we took a flight after midnight at 1:30 AM, reached our hotel at 5:30 AM in Sri Lanka and travelled for an hour to the competition. Therefore, this win was worth it,” said his father, Sathish Arumugam, to Sportstar.

“Last year, he played in the State Championships and finished second on a tie-break and received a silver medal. This year, he would have easily won the gold medal, but he decided to represent the country,” he added.

Tamizh Amudhan’s recent victory is one item on a long list of accomplishments already achieved at a young age.