Complaint filed against India's 3-year-old chess prodigy, status as youngest-ever FIDE-rated player questioned
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The boy's father, Siddharth Singh Kushwaha, and coach Nitin Chaurasiya have revealed that they are aware of the complaint to FIDE.
The complaint states, "It appears that the rating was achieved through unfair means, involving clear violations of FIDE’s fair play principles by the coaches or individuals supervising the games."
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Sarwagya hails from Sagar in Madhya Pradesh. His father, Siddharth Singh Kushwaha, and coach Nitin Chaurasiya have revealed that they are aware of the complaint to FIDE, but also dismissed the allegations, blaming factional politics in the Madhya Pradesh chess federation.
Siddharth told The Indian Express, "In Sagar, there are two factions in the local chess body. One faction is trying to target the other by trying to prove my son’s record came by unfair means."
The boy defeated Abhijeet Awasthi (1,542), Shubham Chourasiya (1,559), and Yogesh Namdev (1,696) in tournaments hosted at Khandwa, Indore, Chhindwara and Mangaluru. He hit the headlines as his opponents were older and better-ranked players. But according to the complaint, the opponents are coaches at the same academy where he trains in Sagar.
“Just because these people are from Sagar and we know them, it cannot prove that there was anything unfair. I know these three people by face, as someone who also runs a chess academy. They are like our competitors,” the boy's father further added.
Meanwhile, it is also alleged that at one of the tournaments, both the boy and Namdev joined the event after the draw and were manually inserted into the draw, where they were paired to play against each other. The boy beat Namdev, and in the same tournament, the former lost out in time after going to the washroom for the final minutes of a 10-minute rapid game.