On Sunday, Ashwath Kaushik of Singapore beat Polish chess grandmaster Jacek Stopa, 37, in the Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open competition in Switzerland. Kaushik is 8 years old. He's now the youngest person ever to beat a grandmaster in a classical tournament game.
Curiously, the prior record holder—Serbian player Leonid Ivanovic—only grabbed that honorific last month. Ivanovic was also 8. However, he's five months older than Kaushik.
"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," Kaushik said.
From Chess.com:
[Kaushik's father] says his son learned the rules of chess at the age of four, thanks to ChessKid. "He picked it up on his own, playing with his grandparents," he recalled, pointing out that neither he nor his wife play chess.
He has been following his son's progress with excitement, but also a bit of surprise. "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."
