Singapore’s youngest chess grandmaster Siddharth Jagadeesh believes the World Chess Championship, which will take place at Resorts World Sentosa from Nov 25 to Dec 15, will attract a lot of interest in the sport.
After all, it was also how he himself got hooked on the game after watching the 2013 World Championship clash in Chennai between India’s Viswanathan Anand, the reigning champion at the time, and Norway’s Magnus Carlsen, the sport’s current No. 1.
“It will surely interest a lot of kids,” said the 17-year-old who attained chess’ highest rank on May 21 at the Sharjah Masters in the United Arab Emirates.
“At every World Championship, there’s usually something new that we learn about chess. I’m not sure what it will be, but I’m sure we will learn something from the Singapore event.”
Siddharth is a year younger than India’s Gukesh Dommaraju, who is the youngest contender ever for the world title. The Indian will take on China’s Ding Liren over 14 matches in Singapore.
“I have known Gukesh since he was a kid and have been following him,” said Siddharth. “He is a strong player and has improved very fast. Ding too is a very strong player. Their contest, for sure, will be interesting.
“I learn from their games, but they are too good for me to try and copy.”
Siddharth is tipping Gukesh to win because the Indian is in top form. Ding, on the other hand, has a had a poor run in recent months.
“Indian players are currently doing very well at the world level because there’s a lot of competition among themselves. They push each other really hard,” said Siddharth.
“I think it’ll be a close match; it won’t be a blowout.”
Siddharth, who was born in India and moved to Singapore when he was 1½ years old, started playing chess when he was seven.
“My dad liked chess, and he taught me,” said the teenager, who gained Singapore citizenship with his family in 2022.
His parents Jagadeesh Balakrishnan, a 47-year-old delivery lead, and Anitha Jagadeesh, 42, a programme manager, have spent large sums of money to provide him with the best playing opportunities.
Siddharth, a grade 11 student, equivalent to the first year of junior college, claimed the international master title – the second-highest rank in chess – in March 2022.
Following that, however, he hit a plateau. For about a year, his Fide (International Chess Federation) rating remained in the 2,380-2,420 range. Siddharth then realised he was too “conservative” in his play and paid too much respect to his opponents.
He adopted a riskier approach and reaped the rewards last May, when he beat three higher-ranked players en route to becoming Singapore’s fifth and youngest chess grandmaster.
“It felt good to become grandmaster,” said Siddharth, who has a current rating of 2,510. “It was a big relief that I finally achieved it.”
He had initially set targets for what he wanted to achieve by a certain age – but Covid derailed those plans.
The teenager will compete in the upcoming Singapore International Open, which will take place alongside the World Championship at Resorts World Sentosa from Nov 29 to Dec 5.
V.K. Santosh Kumar
