Akshat Chandra

I was born in 1999 and learnt chess when my family relocated to New Delhi, India, for a few years. Since I couldn’t play my regular sports of basketball and American football, I needed a new activity, and that’s when I stumbled into chess. I got pulled into it really quickly, and was fascinated by its intricacies and subtleties. I started playing in 2009, and received a FIDE rating of 1548 in January 2010. When I competitively got involved in chess I realized that at around ten years of age I’d started very late, compared to peers in US and India. The leading players in and around my age-group had started playing chess at five or six years of age, and were hundreds of Elo points above me. Whoa!

I played tournaments across India, and also in Europe. In March 2013 my family returned to the US, after which I became a regular member on the national chess circuit. I won the 2013 North American Youth Championship U18, and the SuperNationals K-9 in 2013, one of the largest chess tournaments in the world, with over 5000 players in all sections. Recently, I had a significant breakthrough, earning my first grandmaster (GM) norm (see above). It's not going to be easy to reach the coveted GM title, and it requires a lot of support and training. But like others before me who have walked the difficult road, I'll continue putting in the hard work that has got me so far in less than five years, from unrated to a 2440 IM. As famous American Football quarterback Joe Namath once said: "If you're not going all the way, then why go at all." More can be learnt about me and my quest to the GM title on my blog QuestToGM.

Recent news

US Junior Championship: winner's impressions (2)

8/4/2015 – In part one of his article 15-year-old Akshat Chandra described the course of the first first seven rounds of the Championship. He was undefeated but had drawn his last three games, while his closest rival, Arthur Shen, had reeled off four straight wins to join him in the lead, both players with 5.0/7. In part two Akshat tells us how he defeated Shen and went on to win the title.

US Junior Championship: winner's impressions

8/2/2015 – The US Junior Closed Chess Championship is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the United States – next only to the US Championships. The ten-player round robin event, open to best juniors younger than 21 years, was won by 15-year-old Akshat Chandra – who often writes for our news page. Today he tells us in his captivating style what it is like to play and win such a prestigious event.

Two Days with Garry Kasparov

1/29/2015 – The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis has partnered with the Kasparov Chess Foundation on a five-year grant program to help develop chess prodigies from across the United States. Normally five young talents are invited for a two-day evaluation session with Garry Kasparov. How does that feel? Well ask our very own author Akshat Chandra, who was one of the candidates.

Final impressions of the Qatar Masters

12/21/2014 – "The best tournament I have ever played in," and "definitely the strongest of my life." These were some of the opinions of participants of the Qatar Masters 2014 – incidentally the first Open with Vladimir Kramnik in 22 years. Our reporter in Doha, 15-year-old IM Akshat Chandra, spoke with him and with the winner Yu Yangyi. The latter interview was conducted on a Google Translate page.

Yu Yangyi wins Qatar Masters Open 2014

12/4/2014 – He started as the 13th seed, rated 2705, but went on to beat two Top Ten players, both in great form, to take clear first. Chinese GM Yu Yanyi has gained 25 Elo points and now has a live rating of 2730 (no. 24 in the world). A remarkable achievement of a player who is still in the Juniors section of the FIDE ratings. We bring you the games and pictures in our final report from Doha.

Qatar Masters: Anish heading for a 'Caruana'?

12/2/2014 – YAAW – Yet Another Anish Win, in round six. But this time he had to work hard for it and do a 'Carlsen', which we define as using relentless pressure to win a drawn position. In round seven, starting at 3:00 p.m. local time today, Anish Giri faces Vladimir Kramnik, with the black pieces. Don't miss it! But while you are waiting you can enjoy a lot of chess in our round six report.

Qatar Masters Open begins on Wednesday

11/26/2014 – Which is the strongest open in the world? Not Aeroflot, Moscow or Millionaire Chess. It is the 2014 Qatar Masters Open, organised by GM Mohamed Al-Medaihki, with 92 grandmasters participating, 56 of them over 2600, and 14 over 2700. Our reporter in Qatar, Akshat Chandra, worked out that if only the top twenty were participating it would be a Category 19 tournament.

The missed combination of a lifetime

11/14/2014 – We’ve all had games where we have overlooked a dazzling combination, and in fact went on to lose. It’s an extremely painful feeling when you find out that you missed out on winning the game with a beautiful finish. Akshat Chandra spotted a particularly dramatic example from the Asian Continental in 2012, and discussed it with the player involved. It's a jewel of a combination.

Nine-year-old rips through GMs!

7/2/2014 – When a 2600 GM loses a game to a player 550 points lower on the rating scale, this will cause us to take note. But if the winner is just nine years old, then surprise turns to stunned shock – especially if the win did not come through a fluke blunder by the GM, but was a gritty, square-by-square grind-down in which the youthful master prevailed. Akshat Chandra has carefully annotated the game.
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