Chandra, 15, picked up chess in New Delhi.
By Raif Karerat
Follow @ambazaarmag
WASHINGTON, DC: Akshat Chandra, a 15-year-old International Master based in New Jersey, won the United States Junior Chess Championship.
The Indian American prodigy swept the competition on July 15, when it was held at held at the prestigious Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.
Amidst the top rated young players in the country, Chandra, “playing with supreme confidence and refined chess technique,” notched up 5 wins and 4 draws for 7 points, reported the Alabama Media Group.
Chandra outpaced his nearest rival, Grandmaster-elect Jeffery Xiong by one and half points.
By winning the U.S. Junior Championship, Chandra takes home $6,000 and he is automatically seeded into the 2016 United States Chess Championship.
According to the Boston Globe, Chandra hails from Iselin, N.J. Born in 1999, he picked up chess when his family relocated to New Delhi, India for a few years.
“Since I couldn’t play my regular sports of basketball and American football, I needed a new activity, and that’s when I stumbled into chess,” Chandra wrote on ChessBase.com. “I got pulled into it really quickly, and was fascinated by its intricacies and subtleties. I started playing in 2009, and received a FIDE rating of 1548 in January 2010.”
He went on to play in tournaments across India and Europe before returning to the U.S. in 2013 and becoming a regular participant in the United States’ national chess circuit.
“Recently, I had a significant breakthrough, earning my first grandmaster (GM) norm.” Chandra wrote. “It’s not going to be easy to reach the coveted GM title, and it requires a lot of support and training. But like others before me who have walked the difficult road, I’ll continue putting in the hard work that has got me so far in less than five years …” he continued.
A list of Chandra’s accomplishments and titles can be found at his personal website.