 "Chess pieces and boards at a tournament. Image: Reuters")
Sarwagya Singh Kushwaha, who recently became the youngest FIDE-rated player ever, is facing questions over his historic achievement as a complaint has been filed about him achieving the rating by “unfair means”. The complaint with the International Chess Federation, FIDE, alleges that the three opponents who lost to Sarwagya Singh Kushwaha were coaches from the academy where he trains, reported the Indian Express.
A player needs to beat at least one international player to be rated by FIDE. Sarwagya Singh Kushwaha, who hails from Sagar district in Madhya Pradesh, achieved the feat at the record age of 3 years, 7 months and 20 days by beating not one but three international players. He defeated Abhijeet Awasthi (Rating 1,542), Shubham Chourasiya (Rating 1,559) and Yogesh Namdev (Rating 1,696).
With this, Sarwagya broke the record of West Bengal’s Anish Sarkar, who had created the same record at the age of 3 years and 8 months.
India’s chess feat questioned
But Sarwagya’s coaches and the player now face the allegations of violating FIDE’s fair play principles. The complaint alleges that Chourasiya, Namdev and Awasthi work at the same academy where Sarwagya trains.
“It appears that the rating was achieved through unfair means, involving clear violations of FIDE’s fair play principles by the coaches or individuals supervising the games,” the complaint against Sarwagya says, according to the Indian Express.
Sarwagya’s Siddharth Singh Kushwaha, who runs a chess academy in Sagar called Olympio Chess Club, and his coach Nitin Chaurasiya have defended the young chess prodigy, claiming that the complaint is a work of a rival chess faction in Madhya Pradesh.
“In Sagar, there are two factions in the local chess body. One faction is trying to target the other by trying to prove my son’s record came by unfair means,” Siddharth Singh Kushwaha told The Indian Express.
“Just because these people are from Sagar and we know them, it cannot prove that there was anything unfair. I know these three people by face, as someone who also runs a chess academy. They are like our competitors,” he added.
The complaint against Sarwagya claims the player and Namdev tried to beat the system by entering a tournament after the draw was made by FIDE’s electronic system. As they entered late, they were added to the tournament list manually and were paired against each other.
The report added that Sarwagya beat Namdev as the coach went to the washroom during the final minutes of a 10-minute rapid game and lost out on time.
The FIDE is yet to react to the matter officially.