Karnataka girl Charvi Anilkumar continues her winning streak, wins U-8 Asian Youth Chess Championship

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

Charvi just cannot stop winning. The goosebumps moment while the National Anthem is played 🙏🏼@Charvi_A2014 is the Gold Medal winner in the Girls U-8 category at the Asian Youth Rapid Chess Championship 🔥#chess #chessbaseindia #chessreels #nationalanthem pic.twitter.com/6w8VGTMMnj

— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) October 16, 2022

Spectacular run 

Charvi Anilkumar with the Asian Youth Chess Championship trophy. (Supplied)

FIDE ranked Charvi, a student of the Capitol Public School at Hegde Nagar in Bengaluru, in the 25-girl lineup.

The 2022 national champion won all the seven rounds she played at the tournament.

In the seventh round, the Class 3 student defeated Vo Mail Phuong of Vietnam, who finished second.

While the majority of the participants in the Under-8 girls category were from the host nation, Indonesia, three players, including Charvi, were Indians.

The other two were Pooja Shree R of Tamil Nadu and Samhita Pungavanam of Telangana. They finished eighth and ninth, respectively.

Long way to go

Charvi’s father Anil Kumar felt that she has a long way to go.

“She has won her second international tournament this year but this is the starting point in her career,” he told South First, adding that Charvi has been according equal importance to each championship, whether it is at the World or Asian level.

“She faced new opponents at the Asian championship, who did not participate in the World Championship, such as players from Vietnam and even her compatriots.”

About her winning the Asian championship, Charvi’s coach and International Master BS Shivananda told South First, “Since she is already World Number One in her age category, she was expected to win. It was a rapid event and she excels in it.”

Road ahead

Shivananda said Charvi will be participating 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 too. So the aim will be to become the Under-10 World champion or finish among the top three.”

On her future plans, Anil Kumar said, “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.