David Llada News Today

The TePe Sigeman & Co tournament has been held in Malmö since 1993 — it was only cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. The organisers have once again put together a very interesting 8-player field for the 2024 tournament: Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi, Vincent Keymer, defending champion Peter Svidler (pictured), Nils Grandelius, Anton Korobov, Marc’Andria Maurizzi and women’s world champion Ju Wenjun. | Photo: David Llada

In a world where experience is often said to take the lead, young prodigies are proving it wrong. An 8-year-old boy defeated a grandmaster in classical chess — he is the youngest ever to achieve this feat! This victory over GM Jacek Stopa from Poland marked a significant highlight of the Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open in Switzerland. Tina Popli writes about Ashwath’s remarkable feat and his journey so far. | Photo: David Llada

Meet Ashwath Kaushik. He's an eight-year-old with all the right moves. So many in fact the Singaporean defeated 37-year-old Polish chess grandmaster Jacek Stopa over the weekend.

Editor's note: This story first appeared in the February 2024 issue of Chess Life Magazine. Consider becoming a US Chess member for more content like this — access to digital editions of both Chess Life and Chess Life Kids is a member benefit, and you can receive print editions of both magazines for a small add-on fee.

The Chessable Sunway Sitges Festival took place in the municipality of Sitges, not far from Barcelona, directly on the Mediterranean. The main event, a large open tournament, came to an end on Friday after ten rounds of play with the victory of Abhimanyu Puranik. The 23-year-old Indian grandmaster was the only one of the 329 participants to achieve a score of 8½/10, leaving a four-player chasing pack half a point behind. | Photo: David Llada

Four players are sharing the lead with 5½ points each after six rounds of play at the Chessable Sunway main tournament in Sitges. Sethuraman S.P. (India), Dominik Horvath (Austria), Brandon Jacobson (United States) and Iniyan Pa (India) are the current co-leaders in the 10-round open event. Two side stories from Sitges dominated the news cycle these days, though: Leinier Dominguez’s withdrawal and Faustino Oro’s participation in Sunday’s blitz tournament. | Photo: David Llada

Michael Adams became the first Englishman to win the London Chess Classic. At 52, the former World Championship candidate described this victory as “the best ever” in his career. In the final round, Adams drew Shreyas Royal with black, which meant Royal finished with 4/9 points, the score he needed to collect a second GM norm. The one decisive result of the day saw Hans Niemann beating Gukesh. Amin Tabatabaei, who signed a draw with Jules Moussard, got sole second place. | Photo: London Ches...

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In the seventh round of the World Junior Championship, decisive results were seen on the top three boards, with Marc’Andria Maurizzi, Gleb Dudin (pictured) and Santiago Avila winning to enter the next round as co-leaders. Carissa Yip, in the meantime, is now the sole leader in the women’s section. | Photo: David Llada

French grandmaster Marc’Andria Maurizzi (pictured) is the only player with a perfect 4/4 score in the open section of the World Junior Championships taking place in Mexico City. In round 4, Maurizzi got the better of Andy Woodward, an IM from the United States who came from beating top seed Hans Niemann in the previous round. Meanwhile, in the women’s section, Armenian WIM Maryam Mkrtchyan is the sole leader with 4 points to her name. | Photo: David Llada