15-year-old Indian chess player defeats Magnus Carlsen

Vandan Alankar Sawai, a 15-year-old chess player from Delhi, defeated world number one Magnus Carlsen in an online blitz tournament. But he took one of the biggest victories of his career with great composure and did not immediately tell his parents or coach about it.

Vandan, who has a FIDE rating of 2,288, defeated Carlsen, who has a rating of 2,823, in the 50th move of the Titled Tuesday tournament on Chess.com on August 18, according to the Times of India.

"I had nothing to lose, but a lot to gain. I decided to play comfortably and started the game with a typical 'e4' move for white," Vandan said.

The player's family learned of the victory later. His father, Alankar Sawai, accidentally saw his son's result when he logged onto Chess.com. His mother says that Vandan initially did not want to participate in the tournament.

"I was at home with my husband, and Vandan came and told me that he had played in the tournament. It was only when his father asked him what the result was that he said that he had played against Carlsen and won. Actually, Vandan did not want to participate in the tournament. We forced him to play," says his mother.

The young chess player's coach, Gurpreet Pal Singh, also learned of his student's victory the next day. After the clash with Carlsen, Vandan played two more rounds and ended his participation in four games with three wins and one loss, before going to bed because he was tired.

In the second round, Vandan, who faced Carlsen, was not at all afraid of his famous opponent and showed his usual game. In the five-minute match, the young Indian made good use of the time. In a situation where Vandan's bishop threatened Carlsen's king, the Norwegian made a mistake and lost the advantage to his opponent.

"I was shocked when he made a blunder," says the young chess player.

Coach Singh, who has been working with Vandan for seven years, describes him as an aggressive guy behind the board, but a very calm and quiet person in real life. Vandanda's interest in chess came from his family - his mother said that when he was young, she played chess with her brother and taught her the game. Later, when his talent was noticed, they brought him to coach Singh.