8-year-old Ashwath becomes youngest chess player to beat grandmaster

8-year-old Ashwath becomes youngest chess player to beat grandmaster

An eight-year-old became the youngest player to defeat a grandmaster in classical chess on Sunday when Ashwath Kaushik beat Poland's Jacek Stopa at the Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open in Switzerland.

The previous record was set last month by then eight-year-old Leonid Ivanovic, who became the first player under the age of nine to beat a grandmaster in a classical game, but Ashwath was five months younger than the Serbian when he beat Stopa, according to Chess.com.

"It felt really exciting and amazing, and I felt proud of my game and how I played, especially since I was worse at one point but managed to come back from that," Ashwath told Chess.com. the Indian-born kid who lives in singapore, learned to play the game at the age of four and became a World Under-Eight Rapid Champion in 2022, the website said.

"He picked it up on his own, playing with his grandparents," his father, Kaushik Sriram, said. "It's surreal as there isn't really any sports tradition in our families. Every day is a new discovery, and we sometimes stumble in search of the right pathway for him."

Ashwath finished the tournament in 12th place after losing to International Master Harry Grieve. He is currently ranked as world No. 37,338 on FIDE.