Visakhapatnam chess prodigy gains Woman FIDE Master status

Sahithi Varshini of Visakhapatnam continues to take rapid strides towards her goal of being crowned as a Grandmaster. The city’s chess prodigy, who has been winning numerous medals and accolades across the world over the past few years, has now bagged yet another covetous merit. After impressing at the recently held FIDE rated chess tournaments in Bhuvneshwar, Cuttack, and Kanchipuram, the chess prodigy has gained the status of Woman FIDE Master (WFM).

The 11-year-old, who held the status of Woman Candidate Master (WCM), won the covetous status of WFM with a FIDE rating of 1916 as on 1 March 2019. By achieving the feat, Sahithi now stands as the first Under-12 candidate in Asia to be awarded the status of WFM, it has been reported.

Overwhelmed with the honour, the young talent looks forward to proving her mettle by rising as Woman International Master and Woman Grandmaster. Representatives of several chess groups and sports organisations in Visakhapatnam congratulated Sahithi for gaining the prestigious status.

Trained and coached by her father, Lokeswara Rao, Sahithi had started playing chess as an eight-year-old. An admirer of Bobby Fischer, Sahithi hogged the limelight by winning the National U9 Medal with just six months of exposure to chess. She then went on to bag medals at many state and national level competitions and emerged as India’s major hope in many international tournaments. Notably, Sahithi was also the first Woman Candidate Master (WCM) from Visakhapatnam.