At an age when three-year-olds might not be able to tell the difference between a rook and a bishop, young Sarwagya Singh Kushwaha from Madhya Pradesh has achieved a unique distinction of becoming the youngest FIDE Rapid Rated player in the world.
At just three years, seven months and 13 days Sarwagya, who hails from Sagar in the north-central region of Madhya Pradesh, has a Rapid Rating of 1572 in the international chess federation’s (FIDE) December rating list.
Sarwagya, whose journey into the sport began when his parents introduced him to chess to reduce his screen time, competed in his first Rapid Rating tournament — the 24th RCC Rapid Rated Cup in Mangaluru — in September where he beat a 1542-rated player.
“We pushed him into chess last year because we noticed his mind was a sponge and he would pick up things very quickly. In a week of being taught chess he could name all the pieces accurately,” his father Siddharth told The Indian Express.
“He loves the sport a lot. If you wake him up in the middle of the night and ask him to play, he will for hours without a break. But what separates him from other kids his age is his patience to sit on the board and not get restless,” the proud father added.
At the 2nd Shri Dadaji Dhuniwale Rapid Rating Open in October in Khandwa district in his state, Sarwagya defeated a 1559-rated opponent.
Last month, he competed in two rapid rating tournaments in the MP towns of Chhindwara and Indore where he beat the same 1542-rated player in the first event and a 1696-rated exponent in the next to earn his first rating.
Congratulations to Sarvagya Singh Kushwaha 🇮🇳 for becoming the World's Youngest Fide Rapid Rated Player!
— Rakesh Kulkarni (@itherocky) December 1, 2025
Sarvagya was born in 2022 😳
He creates history by becoming a FIDE rated player at “3 years, 7 months and 20 days”😍
Incredible! 🙌🏻 pic.twitter.com/VqS49Au3uK
In order to earn a FIDE rating, a player should beat at least one international players, but Sarwagya ended up beating three across tournaments.
In November last year, Anish Sarkar had become the world’s youngest FIDE-rated player at the age of 3 years and 10 months. With his gameplay, Sarwagya dethroned the Kolkata-based chess player to become the youngest rated player.
Speaking about the three-year-old, coach Nitin Chaurasiya told the outlet that while Sarwagya looked like a normal kid, his ability to play the game started to show soon.
Chaurasiya also said that he had found it tricky to coach his prodigious student initially, but a shift in tactic, involving toffee and chips, worked.
Sarwagya’s achievement adds to India’s rising clout in the sport. D Gukesh is currently the world champion, while Divya Deshmukh is the women’s World Cup winner.
(With inputs from the Press Trust of India)
