This Polite Teenager Is A Grandmaster!

Aravindh Chithambaram may seem like any teenager pursuing his BCom at a university in Chennai, but he is actually a grandmaster. He earned the Grandmaster (GM) title- the highest a chess player can attain – when he was just 15. Aravindh’s grandfather introduced him to chess as he wanted to instill discipline and patience in his grandson. Soon Aravindh started taking weekly chess classes to beat his grandfather. He won his first title in the under-11 national championship. At 12, he won the under-19  Junior Open. That’s when (GM) R.B. Ramesh took him under his wing after which there was no looking back. Aravindh idolizes the “fighting spirit” of Vishwanathan Anand and the “endgame skills” of Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen.