An 8-year-old boy made history when he defeated a chess grandmaster

A child prodigy set a new record in the chess world by defeating a grandmaster nearly 30 years older than him.
 
According to the website Chess.com, Singaporean chess prodigy Ashwath Kaushik (8 years old) became the youngest player to defeat a grandmaster in a traditional chess tournament.
 
On February 19, Ashwath defeated Polish grandmaster Jacek Stopa (37 years old) in round 4 of the Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open tournament held in Switzerland.
Ashwath Kaushik taught himself chess through computer games. Photo: Singapore Chess Federation
Ashwath Kaushik taught himself chess through computer games. Photo: Singapore Chess Federation
“I feel really interesting and wonderful. I feel proud of the match and the way I played today, especially that I came back," young Ashwath expressed about his victory.
 
The previous record was set just last month when 8-year-old Leonid Ivanovic of Serbia defeated grandmaster Awonder Liang. However, Ashwath is nearly 5 months younger than Leonid.
 
At the end of the Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open, Ashwath ranked 12th. His chess ranking is expected to increase after his historic performance.
 
Ashwath made a name for himself before entering the tournament. The boy became the World U8 Acceleration Champion in 2022.
 
According to Kaushik Sriram - Ashwath's father, the boy learned the rules of chess since he was 4 years old from the online platform ChessKid. Every day, he spends up to 7 hours on this game.
 
Mr. Sriram was surprised when his son became a talented chess player: "Ashwath taught himself and played with his grandparents. We were also surprised because there really wasn't any tradition of playing this sport in our family." .