New Delhi, June 29 (UNI) Nine-year-old Chess boy wonder Aarit Kapil, who recently held the legendary Magnus Carlsen to a draw in an online tournament, has the potential to reach the top in the game, says International Master (IM) Vishal Sareen.

Aarit held Carlsen to a draw in an online blitz game at the ‘Early Titled Tuesday’ chess tournament on June 24.

Besides holding the Norwegian great to a draw, Aarit is the youngest Indian and third youngest in the world to have defeated a Grand Master when he overcame veteran GM Raset Ziatdinov in the 15th KIIT International Chess Festival in Bhubaneswar in December 2024.

The Delhi resident also won a silver at the Under 9 Chess nationals, a silver medal in both classical and rapid categories at the Under 8 Asian championships besides several other exploits at such a young age.

Aarit's coach International Master (IM) Vishal Sareen describes him as the Sachin Tendulkar of Chess and says that he has the potential to reach the heights of D Gukesh, the reigning World Champion in the Classical format and R Praggnanandhaa, India's current number one player.

"Aarit is the Sachin of Chess, the pace at which he picks up things is amazing, I think that going forward there will be no flaws in his game, he is just nine and is meant for very big things. He actually was in a very strong position against Carlsen. He was not overexcited after the match, and said that he wil beat him the next time, of course next time Magnus will be sharper and won't take him lightly, he can reach the level of Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa."

Sareen points out that Chess is an expensive sport and without proper international exposure Aarit runs the risk of not reaching his full potential

"I hope he gets a sponsor soon as Chess is an expensive sport, training modules, coaching all have high cost and for reaching one's full potential the player needs to compete at international events, so financial support is going to be crucial for him at the moment, which I hope he gets soon."

Aarit's father Vijay who works as a Mutual Funds agent says that he has tried to support Aarit as much as possible but going forward it will be very difficult to sustain his training and participation in competitions without a sponsor.

"Going abroad for tournaments needs a lot of money yet those tournaments are important in terms of his learning and world ranking is concerned, so I am looking for a sponsor for him right now."

Vijay recounts Aarit's meteoric rise in Chess "He was five and a half when he started Chess, his elder sister Aarna taught him, after just one week of learning Chess he defeated me! I recognised that he had great potential we started his coaching.

"Soon within a few weeks he registered for an online tournament which he won, he played a few online tournaments after that where he won, later he started winning offline tournaments and state level tournaments as well. He was second in the Under 7 nationals and went on to win Silver medal in both classical and rapid categories at the Under 8 Asian championships," he said.

A Class V student of Somerville School, Vasundhara Enclave, Aarit idolises Magnus Carlsen, says Vijay. “He idolises him (Magnus) and was thrilled to face him, though he was not overawed by the situation, he was in a winning position against him but it ended in a draw."



Deputy President of Asian Chess Federation Bharat Singh Chauhan was all praise for Aarit, calling him a resolute fighter,

"Aarit is tactically very good and the thing that sets him apart is that he is a fighter who thinks about winning irrespective of the situation, his success again proves that we have very good junior players who are capable of beating anyone in the world," UNI RKM SSP