3 years and 8 months! Kolkata kid becomes world's youngest rated chess player

The world's youngest FIDE-rated chess player is aged just three years and eight months, and he is Indian.

Anish Sarkar, a Kolkata kid, has made history by securing a rating in the November list released by FIDE, the world chess body. Sarkar has an Elo rating of 1555 in classical format.

Young Anish became eligible for the rating by competing against FIDE-rated players in October. He participated in the West Bengal state U-13 and U-9 championships. In the U-9 event, Anish secured an impressive 5.5 points from 8 rounds, notably scoring wins against two rated players.

"Six months ago, he came to our academy aged three years and two months," said Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua, his trainer. Anish is one of the little stars at the Dhanuka Dhunseri Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy in Kolkata.

"Normally, we don't train kids younger than five. There are very few exceptions. We gave him a few puzzles, and he was able to solve them," Barua said. He spends around five hours at the academy, often just playing around. "We are always there to guide him in the long journey ahead," Barua said.