Anish Sarkar from Kolkata, India is just 3 years and 8 months old!
He is the youngest player who has a FIDE rating (it is 1555)!
This surpasses the record of Tejas Tiwari who was five when he got his first FIDE-rating.
How does one even know if someone has a potential of being an exceptional chess player that early? Well, in this case his mother ( who had "zero knowledge" of chess!) had observed, that Anish "showed interest in chess videos on YouTube". She bought him a chess board and brought him later to GM Dibyendu Barua who serves as his coach.
In a recent under-9 Open he scored 5.5 points from eight rounds.
Now plans are underway that Anish participates in the Tata Steel Kolkata Chess tournament, where he may meet his hero, Magnus Carlsen, for the first time.
For my taste this seems all a bit too forced. Not sure, if such an early focus is good for a child. But India is very dedicated and the next generation, which will topple the Gukeshs and Erigaisies from the leader position, is already born...
