Who is Sarwagya Singh Kushwaha? India’s 3-year-old chess prodigy faces complaint shortly after his FIDE rating milestone

A formal complaint has been lodged against Sarwagya Singh Kushwaha, who recently made history by becoming the youngest player to receive a FIDE rating. Allegations indicate that he obtained this grade through dishonest methods. The complaint alleges that his three opponents were actually coaches from the academy where he trained, The Indian Express reported.

“The rating appears to have been achieved through unfair means, involving clear violations of FIDE’s principles of fair play by coaches or persons supervising games,” the complaint said.

Sarwagya is from Sagar in Madhya Pradesh. His father Siddharth Singh Kushwaha, along with his coach Nitin Chaurasiya, acknowledged the existence of the complaint to FIDE but vehemently denied the accusations, attributing them to internal politics within the Madhya Pradesh chess federation.

“There are two groups in the local chess structure in Sagar. One group is trying to target the other by trying to prove that my son’s record came through unfair means,” Siddharth told The Indian Express.

The young prodigy defeated Abhijeet Awasthi (1,542), Shubham Chourasiya (1,559) and Yogesh Namdev (1,696) in tournaments held in Khandwa, Indore, Chhindwara and Mangaluru. Their remarkable victories attracted attention, especially because their opponents were older and higher-ranked. However, the complaint alleges that these rivals were coaches from the academy where he trained in Sagar.

The boy’s father further added, “The fact that these people are from Sagar and we know them does not prove that there is something unfair. I know these three people face to face as someone who also runs a chess academy. They are like our rivals.”

Additionally, in one of the tournaments, it was alleged that both Sarwagya and Namdev entered the event after the draw and were manually added to the draw, as a result of which they were paired with each other. While Sarwagya prevailed against Namdev, in the same tournament Namdev lost due to time constraints after walking away for a bathroom break in the final moments of 10-minute quick play.

“The problem was not just my son; several children arrived late and were paired manually. There was nothing unusual,” Kushwaha said.

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