Three-year-old Sarwagya Kushwaha has just done in chess what Max Verstappen keeps doing in Formula 1: he’s ripped up the script and rewritten history before most kids even figure out which toy they like the most. At just 3 years, 7 months and 20 days old, Sarwagya has become the youngest FIDE-rated player ever, etching his name into the record books and pushing India’s chess boom into yet another jaw-dropping chapter.
A Record Broken Before Kindergarten
Coming from Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district, Sarwagya Kushwaha has snatched the record from another Indian, Anish Sarkar of West Bengal, who previously held the mark at 3 years and 8 months. To even get a FIDE rating, you must beat at least one international player.
Sarwagya didn’t stop at one, taking down three in recent events across Madhya Pradesh, including in Bhopal, as well as tournaments in Mangaluru and other parts of the country. For a kid who wasn’t even around during the 2019 Candidates’ hype, that’s some serious early-game aggression.
Currently, Sarwagya Kushwaha finds himself ranked 1,572nd in the latest FIDE Rapid ratings, a number that looks modest on paper until you remember the age attached to it. He trains under personal coach Nitin Chaurasia and national instructor Akash Pyaasi, putting in around four hours of chess every day, which, for a three-year-old, sounds less like a schedule and more like a cheat code.
Sarwagya Kushwaha’s Origin
The wildest part of this story? It all started with something every modern parent can relate to: the fear of smartphone addiction. Sarwagya Kushwaha’s parents introduced him to chess simply to keep him away from getting hooked on a phone, not to create a record-breaking prodigy. But like a rookie pulling off a shock podium on debut, he took to the sport instantly, and within just six months of training, he was strong enough to defeat an international player.
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His rise has naturally turned into a moment of pride for the family. His father, Siddharth Singh Kushwaha, has called it a matter of “great pride and honour” that their son has become the youngest chess player in the world to achieve a FIDE ranking and shared that they see a bright future for him and hope he one day becomes a Grandmaster.
“We are celebrating the achievement of Sarwagya. It’s a matter of great pride and honour for us that our son has become the youngest chess player in the world to achieve a FIDE ranking. We see a bright future for him in chess. We want him to become a Grandmaster.” Sarwagya’s father, Siddharth Singh Kushwaha, told ETV Bharat.
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