BHOPAL: After winning the national championship, 8-year-old Madhvendra Sharma of Bhopal won a silver medal in the West Asian chess championship in the under-8 age open category organised recently. He will now represent India in the Asian Championship. He is a class 3 student in St Xavier’s School.
Due to Covid this year the West Asian chess youth championship was organised online. There were 136 players from 11 countries in the championship. With 7.3 points Madhvendra won the silver medal and helped the Indian team win the gold medal in the championship. His father Mahendra Sharma is a railway employee in Bhopal.
“Even I am surprised by the way he played in the tournament. He has made all of us proud,” said champion’s father Mahendra Sharma. He said that Madhvendra had started playing chess at the age of 4 years only.
“His interest towards chess has been from an early age. Despite being at such a tender age he proved that he could be a big chess player in the future,” said Sharma. Notably, he had participated in the same championship in 2019 where he had won the gold medal.
Talking to TOI, Madhvendra said, “I love playing chess. It was a tough competition this time. I am keen to win a gold medal in the Asian championship.”
This is his second national title as earlier he had won the under-5 age category. It is worth noting that this competition of the Under-8 category was conducted online recently. Under the supervision of the Academy of Chess Education in the city, Madhavendra is rapidly learning the nuances of chess.
He said that he aspires to make his son a grandmaster. Madhavendra practices chess for five-six hours every day. Along with this, he also pays full attention to studies.
Secretary, MP chess association, Kapil Saxena said that Madhvendra has proved that proper guidance can help budding players to prove their talent at the national level. “He is a good talent. The way he is winning medals has made him a future prospect for the country. I wish him all the best for the next championship,” said Saxena.
