World champion Charvi Anilkumar from Karnataka wins 5 golds, 1 silver in Asian Youth Chess Championships

The 2022 Asian Youth Chess Championship is being organised by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in coordination with the Asian Chess Federation (ACF).

Meanwhile, last month Charvi became the World Champion in the Under-8 category at the World Cadets Chess Championship held in Batumi, Georgia.

Congratulations, @Charvi_A2014! You’re a BIG Little Wonder ????@aicfchess https://t.co/6dGeK3epXd

— Dr. Sanjay Kapoor Chess AICF (@DrSK_AICF) October 22, 2022

A rich medal haul

Charvi won medals in the Rapid, Standard, and Blitz formats. The youngster, a native of the Shravanabelagola town in the Hassan district of Karnataka, apart wining from the individual title, also carried the Indian team to the podium finish in the three formats.

The class 3 student, who won gold in the individual rapid category on 16 October, suffered her only loss in the first round of the individual standard category to Vietnam’s Duong Ngo Nga.

Due to this, the capital public school student had to satisfy with the silver medal finishing behind Iran’s Salma M Hematian.

In the individual Blitz event, Charvi scored six points in seven rounds to secure her second individual gold in the championship.

In the team event, the trio of Charvi Anilkumar, Pooja Shree R, and Samhita Pungavanam scored a total of 17 points to lift the title, whereas they scored 15 points in the rapid event to win the gold.

In the Standard event, the team scored a combined 18.5 points to make it a hat-trick of gold medals.

Road ahead

Charvi’s coach and International Master BS Shivananda told South First she will participate in another competition in the Under-10 age category from January 2023.

“A tougher competition is expected, but she is ready for it as she is the current Under-10 national champion. So, the aim will be to become the Under-10 world champion or finish among the top three.”

On her future plans, Charvi’s father Anil Kumar told South First, “She will strive to become a grandmaster first and enter the super grandmaster club 2700 (Hungarian chess grandmaster Judith Polgar is the only woman to do so). The ultimate goal will be to win the World Championships in the open category.”

Both Shivananda and Kumar are confident that Charvi will finish first at the next month’s Commonwealth Chess Championship, scheduled to be held at Kalutara in Sri Lanka.