Aarit Kapil, a nine-year-old chess prodigy from Delhi, has made history by becoming the youngest Indian to defeat a chess Grandmaster. In the penultimate round of the KIIT International Open tournament in Bhubaneswar, Aarit triumphed over Raset Ziatdinov, a 66-year-old Grandmaster from the United States. At just 9 years, 2 months, and 18 days old, Aarit is now the third youngest player globally to beat a Grandmaster under classical time control.

The game, which lasted 63 moves, saw Ziatdinov initially gaining an advantage due to his better pawn structure. However, Aarit remained resilient throughout the match. Despite being in a slightly worse position, Aarit capitalized on Ziatdinov's mistake in the endgame, where the Grandmaster lost a knight. Aarit then confidently converted his advantage into a well-deserved victory.

This victory places Aarit among the world’s elite young chess talents. He is now preparing for upcoming challenges, including the under-13 national championship in Durgapur later this month and the under-9 nationals in Pune. Aarit’s achievement is a significant milestone in Indian chess, following in the footsteps of other young players like Ashwath Kaushik, the youngest to ever beat a Grandmaster.

In other results from the KIIT International Open, Russian Grandmaster Boris Savchenko won the tournament with 8.5 points, drawing his final match with India’s Sayantan Das.