Meet Anish Sarkar, World's Youngest FIDE-Rated Chess Player at 3 Years

Kolkata: At an age when most children are drawn to cartoons, three-year-old Anish Sarkar has made history by becoming the youngest rated chess player ever. In achieving this milestone, he surpassed the previous record held by Tejas Tiwari, who became a FIDE-rated player at the age of five.

Born on January 26, 2021, Sarkar picked up the sport a year ago and made his competitive debut in October when he played in the West Bengal State Under-9 Open. By defeating two rated players, he secured 5.5 out of 8 points to finish 24th.

In an exhibition match played simultaneously, he also got an opportunity to play against India No. 1 and world No. 4 Grandmaster Arjun Erigais.

A week after that, he played his first classical rating tournament in the Bengal State Under-9 Open Rating meet, scoring 5.5/8 and finished 24th among 140 players. Next he tested his skills in the Bengal State Under-13 Open meet, where he faced the required number of five more rated players that earned him the ratings on Oct 15 after his fourth-round game.

He was also fortunate to get an opportunity to play against India No. 1 and World No. 4 Arjun Erigaisi in a simultaneous exhibition match during the Bengal Rapid Rating Open.

Former Grand Master and Sarkar's coach Dibyendu Barua revealed that the youngser's coach is astonishing to the point that he refuses to get up from the table once sat down.