All- Round Toppers
Raghav Srivastava
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welve-year-old chess prodigy Raghav Srivastava set five new records for the Limca Book of Records on Saturday in Andhra Pradesh's Nizamabad. Srivastava played five rounds of chess blindfolded from start to finish to create new records. Each round had different difficulty levels.
infrastructure developer), and all the grandmasters and all the members present here…thank you. My inspiration is (chessplayer) Viswanathan Anand and (former President of India) Abdul Kalam. My aim is to become a world champion and scientist,” said Srivastava. Gathered grandmasters were all praise for the 12-year-old's prodigious memory.
In the first round, a panel RAGHAV SRIVASTAVA comprising three Grandmasters, Pravin “Well, definitely this is a record of a Thipsay, Sriram Jha and S. kind. During such a record in such an Vijayalakshmi, a referee, V V age, I think he is extremely talented R Murthy, and the assistant in his memory. All I would like to Editor of Limca Book of say, that I would like to see him on Records, Amreen Toor, chessboard, playing chess for India selected one of 24 short-listed because that way we can see another games, which had been Viswanathan Anand in the making played by world champions, such as because he has an amazing memory,” said Viswanathan Anand, Paul Morphy, Garry Vijaya Lakshmi Subbaraman, chess Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Alexander grandmaster. Alekhine. Records are not new for the sixth-grader as Srivastava played all the moves of the he entered the Guinness Book of World selected game by memory, from beginning Records in 2005 for spelling correctly 50 toend. words backwards in two minutes and 40 Round three saw the blindfolded chess seconds. whizard, who has an ELO grade of rivastava played five rounds of chess blindfolded T h e s t u d y, 1622, play the from start to finish to create new records. conducted by same games in A b e r d e e n reverse from start University staff, to finish, while in found that youngsters who started round four, Srivastava played against an playing chess became mentally opponent who called out his moves, verbally. In the final round, Srivastava played out both sharper and their behaviour also his and his opponent's moves in reverse. improved in comparison to those who “I am very happy and thankful to Limca did not. World Records and GMR (Indian "The big question is why this is
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At first look, Raghav Srivathsav comes “Raghav’s first public performance came at across as just another bespectacled schoolthe age of three-and-a-half. It was surprising going kid with a penchant for books and initially. But with this marvelous talent and online games. An insight will reveal much mental ability, I thought it was best for him to more.This 12-year-old is a Guinness and start playing chess,” said Shyam Sundar. Limca World “Raghav had the ecords are not new for the sixth-grader as he entered highest IQ record holder the Guinness Book of World Records in 2005 for for his rapid rating in the spelling correctly 50 words backwards in two minutes world in 2004 skill of and 40 seconds. spelling — 122 points. words He even stood backward. What is more surprising is that fifth at district-level chess without any Raghav is a genius at playing chess blindfold. coaching or practice,” Sundar goes on about He also boasts of an impressive ELO rating his son. — 1622. With no chess background as such, Raghav Raghav has quite a few feathers in his cap seems to be the inspiration for his younger namely a silver medal at the Asian School sibling — Vathsalya, who is also a chess Chess Championship in Colombo (Sri Lanka) player. in 2008 and a bronze medal at the state-level “Because of both our children, we also have chess championship at Thadepalligudem in developed a keen interest for the game,” Andhra Pradesh. Sundar said, adding, “However, Raghav He also went on to defeat higher-rated plays it with a difference.” players at an international Fide-rated tournament in Palghat, Kerala. Raghav also represented India in the Asian Chess Championship in Vietnam in 2008. He has also been awarded the “Child Prodigy” in 2007, National Junior Excellency Award, Samaikya Bharat Gaurav Satkar Award, Balaratna Award and Ugadi Puraskaaram. Come April 24 and Raghav will once again showcase his skills with a unique feat of making five Limca World Records in Hyderabad. “I am happy to represent my country and I hope to do well,” said Raghav, who is a Class VI student at Glendale Academy. While many see him as a future chess champion, Raghav is more keen on following the footsteps of his idol — Viswanathan Anand. “Anand is my favourite chess player and I try to pick up a lot from him,” said the young lad. Since the age of three, Raghav has surprised many with his miraculous feats. His parents, Shyam Sundar and Krishna Veni were the first to spot his ability when he picked words from conversations and started to spell them backwards.
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happening," The Scotsman quoted Dod Forrest, of the university's School of Education, as saying. "We looked at reading skills before they play chess and afterwards, and it improves significantly, but we don't f u l l y u n d e r s t a n d i t . "The social aspect could be just as important as the development of the cognitive process chess playing demands. Playing in tournaments leads to travelling about a bit and getting involved in a wider section of society, building contacts and confidence," Forrest added. In the year long study, the researchers studied children from two primary schools in Aberdeen where free school m e a l s a r e t h e n o r m . It was found that disruptive pupils would volunteer to help out in afterschool chess classes and that spilled over into improved behavior in other
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"We noticed that being interested and enthusiastic about chess led to a welcome modification in behavior elsewhere," Forrest said.n