Eight-year-old Divith Reddy became a world champion in the Under-8 World Cadets Chess Championship in Montesilvano, Italy on Tuesday.
The Hyderabad’s chess prodigy accumulated 9 out of a possible 11 points, the same as his compatriot Sattwik Swain. However, Divith clinched the gold based on his superior tiebreak score.
Divith, who has a FIDE rating of 1784 points, prevailed overcoming a three-way tie against compatriot Sattwik and China’s Ziming Guo.
Sattwik and Guo had to settle for the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Making a rollicking start to his campaign, Divith won his first four matches, but a brief slump followed with two consecutive losses.
Showing his mental strength, he bounced back in the tournament, winning his final five rounds to secure the top spot.
His opponents included players from strong chess-playing nations: Wiktor Stankowski of Poland, Nurali Nurshin of Kazakhstan, Zhihan Xu (Samuel) of Canada, Rizat Ulan of Kazakhstan, and Aiden Linyuan Li of the USA.
Linyuan has a better FIDE rating of 1877, while Rizat has a rating of 1783.
Despite the challenges, Divith clinched the title. “Divith was in slightly difficult positions at times, but he found some brilliant tactical resources that helped him clinch the victories,” India coach Abhishek Kelkarn, an International Master, told PTI.
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