Meet Aarit Kapil, The 9-Year-Old Chess Prodigy Who Nearly Defeated Magnus Carlsen

A nine-year-old Delhi boy has become the latest Indian chess sensation after pushing five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen to the brink during the Early Titled Tuesday competition. Aarit Kapil faced the world no. 1 Norwegian in an online blitz game and drew the game after 49 moves.

The Early Titled Tuesday competition is open to players with FIDE titles and featured the likes of Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana and Vladimir Kramnik.

Aarit, who lives in Mayur Vihar and studies in Vth standard, played the game from his hotel room in Georgia where he’s currently taking part in FIDE World Cadets Cup (under-10 category).