A Bushey resident and Radlett schoolboy has been named a national chess champion in his age group.
Following months of online competition, Advait Kumar finished first in the Under 8 section of the Delancey UK Schools’ Chess Challenge Terafinal on October 9 and 10, winning all six of his games.
Advait has been lucky to be coached by Badrinath S from Pondicherry India over the last 15 months, who Advait summarizes as “the best coach I have ever had”.
The Radlett Preparatory School Year 4 pupil took part in the competition held at Blenheim Palace, which saw 60 players competing over the board for the top spots in their age groups.
Advait, eight, started playing chess from the age of six after his grandmother introduced him to the game.
He played his first ever chess tournament in St Albans, November 2019 where he became a London Junior Chess Championships qualifier.
He was able to slowly improve his chess skills during lockdown and participated in various online tournaments – a highlight was finishing runner-up in U8 Standard British Championship this year.
Advait won Watford U12 Open Junior event in July this year and enjoyed playing challenging FIDE rated rapid games in Golders chess, as well as receiving runner-up in the U8 Blitz final in UKCC 2021.
He plays casual games of chess with his parents, Ambika and Keerthi Kumar, and grandparents, and had lots of fun beating.
Advait was spotted by his first coach, Sandesh, of Watford Chess Club, who noticed him playing in a casual event and encouraged him to participate in classified events.
Advait has also continued his interest in chess by watching videos in YouTube and chess.com in his own time.
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