KATHMANDU, Feb 1: Anish Giri, a teen of Nepali origin, became the youngest grandmaster in the world on Saturday, beating grandmaster Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela for his final grandmaster norm at the tender age of 14 years, 7 months and two days. [break]The wonder kid, born of a Nepali father Sanjay Giri, a scientist in Russia, and Russian mother in St Petersburg on June 28, 1994, now lives in Holland, chessbase.com reported on Sunday. He speaks four languages, with Russian being his mother tongue. He also speaks fluent English, as well as a little Nepali and Japanese. He is currently learning Dutch to add a fifth language to his growing list.
The computer freak began playing chess with his mother at age seven, and improved his skills by reading chess books and playing on the internet, according to his profile posted by the Susan Polgar Chess Daily News and Information on susanpolgar.blogspot.com.
His first achievement was a win in the U-9 section in Hokkaido (Japan) where his father was posted for a few years, following this up with the U-12 Russian title, and then tied for the third spot in the same age group at European level.The Garry Kasparov fan finished fourth at the Young Masters tournament at Enschede, beating his slightly older prodigy opponent Illya Nyzhnyk of the Ukraine, and drawing with some very strong grandmasters.
Anish finished first in the Strong Open tournament at Hilversum ahead of seven grandmasters to earn a grandmaster norm, that he completed by beating Iturrizaga on Saturday.
He was invited to play for the SK Emsdetten club in the Bundlesliga last year, reportedly making him the youngest ever to play in the Bundesliga.
His success has risen so fast that he has had no time to even earn an International Master title and directly became grandmaster from FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation) Master.
Being a scientist’s son, he earned the highest grades at school despite his chess indulgences. Also a big fan of sports, Anish has a particular love of football and table tennis.
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