Under-8 girls’ chess at the Asian level is fiercely competitive, featuring top players from countries such as South Korea, China, Mongolia, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia.
The field for the 7th Eastern Asian Youth Chess Championship in Hainan, China, in August was no less challenging, with South Korea’s Kim Joo-yeon expected to win titles across all formats – rapid, standard and blitz.
But to everyone’s surprise, Singapore’s eight-year-old Tanvi Trivedi caused a big upset by beating Kim in the rapid final. Tanvi, who has an Elo rating of 1218 in the format compared with Kim’s 1339, played fearless chess to triumph.
The Primary 2 pupil from Unity Primary School also gave the South Korean a stiff fight in the standard and blitz finals, losing only narrowly.
While Tanvi (Elo rating 1028) squandered a winning position in the standard final against Kim (1286), they tied in the blitz final before Kim won the gold medal in the tie-breaker. The players are not rated in blitz.
“Special and honourable mention to Tanvi Trivedi, who was the only one in the Singapore contingent to secure three medals across all formats,” the Singapore Chess Federation (SCF) posted on Facebook.
“The ever-cheerful young lady had an outstanding event, and we look forward to her many successes ahead.”
According to her father, National University of Singapore senior research scientist Anupam Trivedi, Tanvi trained hard for the tournament, spending up to four hours after school hours and eight hours on weekends. “She was very confident and played fearless chess during the tournament,” he said.
Tanvi, who picked up chess when she was four years old and started competing at age six, is part of the SCF’s National Training Programme for Under-10s. She trains thrice weekly at SCF Bishan with fellow national chess players like Mia Wang and Audelle Sim.
The admirer of Hungarian Grandmaster Judit Polgar significantly ramps up her training before important tournaments. Tanvi plans to become a Grandmaster herself.
V.K. Santosh Kumar
