Who is Ashwath Kaushik, the 8-year-old Indian origin boy who defeated a grandmaster? | Chess News

Ashwath Kaushik, an eight year-old Indian origin boy hailing from Singapore, stunned Polish chess grandmaster Jacek Stopa at the Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open on Sunday. With this feat, he became the youngest ever player to beat a grandmaster in the classical version of the game.
The previous record was held Serbia’s Leonid Ivanovic, who is also 8 years of age but is several months older than Kaushik, beat 60-year-old Bulgarian grandmaster Milko Popchev at the Belgrade Open almost a week ago.
According to a Channel News Asia report, Kaushik, who represented Singapore, defeated Stopa, who at 37 is nearly five times older than him.
“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, who is ranked world No. 37,338 on FIDE, said.
Kaushik ultimately finished the tournament in 12th place after losing against Harry Grieve and he is set to gain 84 rating points on the next l, as per Chess.com.
Kaushik was born in India but has been living in Singapore for the past 6 years. He first came into the limelight when he won triple gold in the Under-8 category of the Eastern Asian Youth Championship in 2022 when he was just 6.
In the same year, he also became the World Under-8 Rapid Champion while he was two years shy of the age limit.
According to Chess.com, the 8-year-old spends up to seven hours a day on chess and solves thousands of puzzles on his old chess program. His father Kaushik Sriram also revealed that his son has a photographic memory, saying, “He solves long complex puzzles visually. He finished GM Jacob Aagaard’s entire Grandmaster series recently without using a board.”
Singaporean grandmaster and CEO of the Singapore Chess Federation Kevin Goh lauded Ashwath’s feat on ‘X’, saying, “Dad is super supportive, boy is dedicated, school allows flexibility and of course he has natural talent.
“Remains to be seen how far he can go as interests can change as the boy gets older. Still, we are hopeful.” Goh also joked that as he is only eight years old, Ashwath still “needs a booster cushion to reach the other side of the board”.
He also attributed Ashwath’s success to the “many other coaches and supporters” on his journey.
(With agency inputs)