India’s 5-year old Tejas Tiwari is world’s youngest player with FIDE rating

The kindergarten student achieved his first rating (of 1149) at the first Late Dhiraj Singh Raghuvanshi Open FIDE rated chess tournament in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, FIDE said.

When Tejas was three-and-a-half-years old, he got interested in the sport watching his family members playing.

At the age of four, he started playing in district and state-level competitions and soon was competing in national-level events outside the state.

Tejas played his first FIDE-rated rapid tournament at the age of four years and three months. Since then, he has played various FIDE-rated events in 13 states of India.

He won first place in the Under-8 category in the Uttarakhand State open tournament in 2022. Last year, he won the Under-5 category of the National School Championship in Bhubaneswar. According to Sharad Tiwari, his father, who coaches him, Tejas practises two to three hours a day and aims to become a Grandmaster and world champion.

“He is a UKG student of Dikshant International School in Haldwani and practises 2-3 hours a day. His aim is to become a GM and world champion one day,” Sharad told PTI.

Sharad further said that Tejas has so far participated in five national championships.

FIDE, the international chess federation, said in a tweet: “Meet Tejas Tiwari, the youngest FIDE-rated player! He is five years old and has a FIDE Standard rating of 1149!

“The Indian chess player got interested in chess by watching family members playing when he was three and a half years old. He understood how the game is played very quickly. At four, he started playing in district and state-level competitions, surprising people with his game. Soon, he was competing in national-level competitions outside the state.”